Where are we? 
A two week tour of Australia’s Northern Territories and the Red Centre
For full itinerary please click here.

Part 4: Kakadu, Katherine & Litchfield
On Sunday night I watched Crocodile Dundee, the iconic film starring Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski, a story of a croc wrestling bushman in Kakadu called Mick. Do you know how old that film is? This will make you feel old. This year it will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
 
Kakadu
My first piece of advice for this part of the trip is: Don’t go in the wet season. Most of the park is shut. We visited in early April, which according to Kakadu’s Park Pass pricing system is considered to be the start of the Dry Season. However, after handing over AUS$100 we found that most of the park was shut and still waterlogged, making the fee a very expensive toll to drive on the only road that runs through the park.
 
When they are open, there are some beautiful walks however, and if you get the chance to go, take it. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t like walking. Most of the routes are very short, just a kilometre or so. Ubirr and the Sandstone walks are pretty, as is the climb to the Mirrai lookout.
 
There’s a short walk at Nourlangie, which will give you a flavour of the views, as well as some interesting rock paintings, or if you go early enough you can walk the full 12km. The routes are generally well signposted, although some of the maps and noticeboards are a little worn.
 
Before heading out get advice from the Bowali Visitors’ Centre on what’s open, what to see and what provisions you’ll need. Our girls loved the exhibition at the centre so it’s worth visit, and there’s free wifi!
 
One of the highlights, although a little pricey, was the Yellow River cruise. With an interesting commentary and a guide who had better eyes than a hawk, there was plenty to see. Who doesn’t want to search for crocodiles from the safety of a boat? Just keep all body parts inside the vessel. These snappers really do bite.
 
To cool off from the heat and humidity visit the Yurmikmik Motor Car Falls, which are free of crocodiles. (Don’t take our word for it. Crocs have a tendency to move around with the changing water levels so check before you go.)  The water is clear, clean and cool. Although a linear walk of 7-9km, you can break it up with a short detour to climb to a look out.
 
Katherine
You don’t visit for the upbeat, cool vibe of the town, because it doesn't have one. It’s a pleasant enough place to stop, but our real focus was a visit to the Katherine Gorge. Owned by the local Jawoyn people, the Nitmiluk Gorge, as it is also known, offers an insight into the cultural significance of these rocks. Our guide was brilliant at giving us information on the indigineous way of life, as well as the geology, flora and fauna.
 
We also spent time at the Katherine hot springs. The water is beautifully clean, but unfortunately the river bank has been concreted and reinforced, and the changing rooms are now derelict.
 
Litchfield National Park
Batchelor is the gateway to the park, a interesting little hamlet built on what was a demonstration farm established in 1912 by EL Batchelor. The discovery of uranium in 1949 led to an economic boom, although the mines were shut in the early 1970s.
 
You can spend days exploring the falls and walks of the park, but for a short refresher on the way back to Darwin we dipped into Florence Falls, a double waterfall with a natural splash pool for swimming.
 
If you’ve been to the Red Centre, this circular route at the Top End of Australia is a great trip, especially with children. Whether you’re looking for restaurants and bars, swimming, walking, wildlife, culture or history, there is something for everyone.
 
Trip details
Kakadu:
Where we stayed:
Kakadu - Cooinda Lodge. Tired and could do with sprucing up, but good location, clean linen and great dinner (not so impressed with the breakfast) and swimming pool.
 
What we ate:
Fish and chips, kangaroo burgers and lamb shank from Cooinda. Sandwiches, pastries and ice cream from Jabiru bakery.
 
Katherine:
Where we stayed:
Shady Lane Tourist Park, one of the best I've been to. A clean, neat and pleasant family-run campsite, which also has great little cabins on stilts. The river flooded in 1998, rising to a peak of 20.4m, hence the stilts.

Where we ate:
Not a great selection, but the Katherine RSL Club is the hub of the community.

Part 1: Darwin
Part 2: Alice Springs
Part 3: The Red Centre
More photos
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Where are we? 
A two week tour of Australia’s Northern Territories and the Red Centre
For full itinerary please click here.

Part 3: Uluru and King’s Canyon
Today is the day we met Joe, from Outback Tour Services, our tour guide for five days. We usually go it alone when we travel, but the Red Centre is one place you may wish to enroll a little help. I could list a hundred reasons why, but I’ll start with five:

• You don’t want to get lost – it’s hot, remote, and full of things trying to kill you,
• There’s a lot of driving,
• You can take a backseat and enjoy the scenery,
• A knowledgable guide will give you an insight into the land, flora and fauna,
• And you’ll cram in more than if you do it yourself.

 
You might think that there isn’t much to see in this great expanse of dust. After all, some of the cattle stations are the size of European countries. You could be a seagull tourist, just flying in and flying out again. But if you really want to get to see why people visit and stay, book yourself on a tour.
 
(If you do go it alone, you’ll need a 4WD, as not all the roads are sealed. You’ll need to know how much petrol and water you’ll use if you’re planning to travel off road. You’ll need a sat phone, as your iPhone certainly won’t work.)
 
Jolly guide Joe was full of relevant information that enabled us to understand not only how the rock in front of us was formed, but what it meant to the local tribes. It’s not just a rock. It’s a snake or a paw print, wrapped in stories that have been passed on verbally and through rock art over centuries.
 
If you’re expecting luxury, you’ll be disappointed if you go with thoughts of crisp white linen and chandeliers. This is not luxury in terms of glamping. The outback is a hard and harsh environment. Aussies are rugged, fit and keen. Luxury camping means that you’ll be offered a bed in a tent with a solid floor instead of a sleeping bag on the ground (although the latter can be arranged, and is worth doing). You’ll be able to sit at a table to eat dinner from plates, although there’ll also be opportunities to roast marshmallows over an open fire. And you can’t beat the glass of bubbly and nibbles on offer as you watch the fantastic sunset over Uluru.
 
Sights to see
Uluru
Let’s face it, Uluru is just a rock. That’s it. It’s a huge rock in the middle of nowhere. Except it’s not. It has a magical spirit that draws in travellers from far afield with a force field that can’t be explained. And the more you learn, the more mystical it becomes. For example, you’re only looking at the very tip of a gigantic rock that sits on its end, reaching a depth of 2.5km below ground. It’s about 3.6km long, 1.9 km wide, and has a circumference of 9.4km. As I say, it’s a big rock. 
 
It’s swaddled in Aboriginal stories and tales that go back centuries, and you’re asked to respect the rock in the same way. You’re asked not to climb it, although you can if you want to disregard the locals’ wishes. Try the 10km base walk instead, which is dotted with paintings and sacred Aboriginal sites. (You’ll be asked not to take photographs of these areas.)
 
Essentially, the rock will question your integrity. It will question your views on how Aborigines and Europeans should live together.
 
Make sure you see the rock from the sunset viewing spot. It’s amazing. The photographs speak louder than words, so click here to see our "no filter' pictures.
 
Also set in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park are the 36 domes of the Olgas, or the Kata Tjuta to give them their local name. The area has some lovely walks, with the Valley of the Winds being my favourite.
 
Kings Canyon National Park and gorges
We continued on to Kings Canyon National Park, which for some people is the best part of the trip. Beautiful walks, stunning viewing, drops literally to die for so keep hold of your children. As with most walks in this region you need to start early, finishing before 11am, and take plenty of water.
 
The sealed road disappeared into dust as we continued around the Mereenie loop, which took us to Glen Helen and several beautiful gorges, with ochre-red views.
 
I don’t feel I’ve ticked Uluru off my list. I’ve done more than that. With Joe’s help I feel I’ve been able to get under the skin and gain a little understanding of what I’m looking at. I've changed my mind. It’s not just a rock.
 
Who we travelled with:
Outback Tour Services. They offer a range of tours to suit all budgets. We experienced the five day 4x4 Red Centre Adventure as part of a luxury private chartered service, but group tours are available too. They even offer disability camping tours making the Outback accessibly to everyone.

Where we stayed:
Two nights camping near Uluru, one night camping near Kings Canyon, one night camping at Glen Helen.
​
What we ate:
Traditional damper bread cooked on the fire, barbeques, curries and Bolognese. And of course marshmallows.

Watch our video below for a peak of what we got up to.

Part 1: Darwin
Part 2: Alice Springs
Part 4: Kakadu, Katherine & Litchfield
More photos
Uluru in the news. To climb or not to climb?

For our itinerary and destination blog, just click.

Where are we?
A two week tour of Australia’s Northern Territories and the Red Centre
For full itinerary please click here.
 
Part 2: Alice Springs
Alice. What thoughts immediately “spring” into your head? A Nevil Shute novel or a Roy Chubby Brown song? Is this why the name is famous?
 
Alice Springs has a reputation bigger than the small plot it occupies in the middle of a huge, red, dusty desert. Although still 462 km away, most people use Alice as a launch pad for a pilgrimage to Uluru (Ayers Rock), even though the rock has its own airport now.
 
The tourism boom in the outback is still in relative infancy, although there are a few modern chain hotels on the edge of town. Alice may not be the dusty outpost it once was, but if you turn up after 5pm the place will have battened down its hatches. It will look deserted, except for a few bars, where the beer is flowing. Living in Alice is thirsty work.
 
From the air, Alice is nestled on a flat red dusty plain between the spiny backbones of the MacDonnell mountain ranges. Around 25,000 people live miles from anywhere in the red dusty centre of Australia. It is edged by the Todd  River and two hills: Billy Goat Hill and Anzac Hill. You can climb the latter for a great view of the town.
 
During the day, the town comes to life with interesting museums, boutique shops and cafés in Todd Mall.
 
Don’t laugh, but I particularly enjoyed the Old Gaol and the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame. The remoteness of the town makes this exhibition all the more interesting. For a long time Alice was just a lonely telegraph station at the end of the Ghan railway line.
 
Women started to accompany their husbands, who set up cattle stations. They took on roles as midwives, teachers and nurses. With these more feminine skills, Alice became a settlement, rather than a stopping off point. It became a home, rather than somewhere just to water the horses and camels. (Yes, there are camels, from Afghanistan. They were the trains before the railway opened in 1929, and the reason the modern train is called the Ghan.)
 
Its history, however, goes back far deeper as a town in the middle of Aboriginal “countries”. While the mystical and fascinating stories still enthrall explorers, the indigenous population has had a rough ride, seen as animals, and treated as such. With such lack of respect it's little wonder that today’s problems of drink and unemployment may be a reflection of the past.
 
White and black have never fully assimilated each other, absorbed an alternative way of life or become a melting pot of cultures. Whether you look at the situation as Europeans and locals, whites and blacks or infiltrating power and indigenous, the two elements have still not accepted the position of the other, although there are plenty of people on both sides making huge efforts to change things. This isn’t about living in harmony, or even mutual respect. It’s about accepting and living contrasting lives side by side. The Aborigines believe they are tied to the land. Traditionally, there is no time structure in their society. If you’re hungry you eat; if you’re tired, you sleep. That doesn’t overlap well with a modern society governed by clocks, timetables, technology, rules and regulations. There are so many issues that it’s easy to see how this tinderbox could go up in flames.
 
And there are no answers. How do you enforce a structure on a free-flowing society without damaging its culture? How do you create jobs and opportunities for people who don’t seek a European/ Western life? How do you ensure law and order, when the approach of each way of life means accepting the other, and leaving each to their own devices?

Notes on Alice Springs
We stayed at: The Double Tree, Hilton
We ate at: The Overlanders Steakhouse (beef, kangaroo, crocodile), Uncles Tavern (beer and pizza).

Part 1: Darwin
Part 3: Uluru & Kings Canyon
Part 4: Kakadu, Katherine & Litchfield
More photos

Where are we?
A two week tour of Australia’s Northern Territories and the Red Centre
For full itinerary please click here.
 
Part 1: Darwin
Darwin, on first glance, was not a town I wanted to return to. A small isolated place, it was rebuilt after being bombed by the Japanese during the Second World War, and then rebuilt again after being flattened by Cyclone Tracy. You’d think that would give town planners the unique opportunity to create something special, but it’s not pretty. It’s functional, and decorated by too many singlets, tattoos and drunks.
 
But as we know, you should never judge a book by its cover, and first impressions are often deceiving.
 
It has a lovely harbour area, regenerated with restaurants, holiday apartments and a lagoons. There’s a chilled out, relaxed vibe. No-one is going anywhere fast – partly because there is nowhere to go, unless you hire a car and head for the countryside. Which is what we did. Not before boarding a plane and heading to Alice Springs.
 
Part 2: Alice Springs
Part 3: The Red Centre
Part 4: Kakadu, Katherine & Litchfield
More photos
 
Notes on Darwin:
We stayed at: The Double Tree, Hilton
We ate at: The Ducks Nuts (breakfast), Roma Bar (toasted sandwiches), One Wharf (steak)