The Top End - Northern Territory

The Top End in the Northern Territory, home to the Saltwater Crocodile, Box Jellyfish, Mosquitoes, Snakes, Other Harmful Wildlife, Melioidosis, High Temperatures, Cyclone and Storms all according to the first page warning in the brochure 'Essential Top End Holiday Guide 2014-2015

Katherine - in the natural thermal springs which bubble out of he ground at a constant 32 degrees situated just behind the town and caravan park. A nice warm bath for all.

Katherine Gorge in the Nitmiluk National Park. Penny standing above one of the 13 gorges in the Katherine River system. The area was the spirituel foundation tor the first inhabitants of the area the Jawoyn and Dagomen people. 

Litchfield National Park at the Burley Rockhole a series of cascading waterfalls and rock pools with nice warm water again. We dropped in meaning to have a quick look and ended up staying 4 hours playing in the water. Highly recommended.

Litchfield National Park Florence Falls. Just down stream from the Burley Rockhole the river dives off the edge into a plunge pool set in a monsoon forest. Another swim in the warm water plunge pool over to the waterfall for a full on hair rinsing - for those with hair.

Litchfield National Park - Beside the Magnetic Termite Mounds, one of the many thousand which stand up to 5 metres high. The mounds thin edges point north-south minimising their exposure to the sun to keep them cool. Hence the name magnetic due their orientation, they don't attract spoons, we tried.

Darwin - outside the NT Parliament Building. Another spectacular Australian Government Building built to house those necessary to govern a Territory with a population of 235,000 people. Perhaps the idea is that the entire NT population can all turn up at once and fit in the Parliament Building for tea.

Darwin - Fleur and Ellie inside the World War 2 Oil Storage Tunnels constructed to protect the Navy's oil supplies from bombardment during WWII. The five steel lined storage tunnels extend under the City but where never used as construction was not completed before the end of the war.

Kakadu - despite our plan to do the loop to see the National Park, extensive wet season rain meant that nearly all the sights were closed due to high water flow and also saltwater crocodiles so we gave it a missed and moved south to get some relief from the humidity.