Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

The Top End
by Lee Mylne
8
The “Top End” is a last frontier; a vast
sweep of barely inhabited country from
Broome on the west coast to Arnhemland
in the Northern Territory and
eastern Queensland. Most of it is in the
Northern Territory, and the term is also
used to differentiate the northern part
of the Territory from the “Red Centre.”
It is a place of wild, rugged beauty and,
sometimes, hardship.
The Northern Territory’s capital,
Darwin, is a small city, rich, modern,
and tropical. Katherine, to its south, is
a farming town famous for a beautiful
river gorge. Here you can drop by on
an Aboriginal community, explore vast
cattle stations, canoe jungly rivers, and
soak in natural thermal pools. To the
east of Darwin and Katherine is World
Heritage–listed Kakadu National Park,
home to wetlands, crocodiles, and millions
of birds—one-third of the country’s
bird species, in fact. Farther east is
Arnhemland, a stretch of rocky escarpments
and rivers owned by Aborigines
and seen by few others.
Life in the Top End is different than
elsewhere in Australia. Its slightly lawless
image is one the locals enjoy. Isolation,
the Wet Season, monsoons,
predatory crocodiles, and other dangers
make ’em tough up here.
EXPLORING THE TERRITORY
Read “Exploring the Red Centre” at the start of chapter 7; it contains information
on traveling the entire Northern Territory.
VISITOR INFORMATION The Northern Territory Tourist Commission
(NTTC), Tourism House, 43 Mitchell St., Darwin, NT 0800 (& 13 30 68 for
trip-planning inquiries in Australia, or 08/8999 3900 for administration), can supply
you with information on Darwin, Litchfield National Park, Kakadu National
Park, Katherine, and other destinations in the Territory. As well as its main website,
www.ntholidays.com, it maintains another tailored for international travelers,
www.australiasoutback.com, and another, www.ntexplore.com, for the selfdrive
market. It publishes a helpful annual guide to the Top End that details
many hotels, tour operators, rental-car companies, and attractions, and a separate
fishing guide. The Commission operates a division called Territory Discoveries
that offers package deals on complete trips.
The Tourism Top End information center in Darwin and Katherine Region
Tourist Association (listed in the “Darwin” and “Katherine” sections of this chapter)
can supply information about the entire Top End, not just their local regions.
WHEN TO GO The sanest time to visit the Top End is in the winter Dry Season
(the Dry). Not a cloud will grace the sky, and temperatures will be comfortable,
even hot in the middle of the day. The Dry runs roughly from late April to the end
of October. It is high season, so book every tour, hotel, or campsite in advance. The
Wet Season (the Wet) runs from November (sometimes as early as Oct) to March
or April. While it does not rain 24 hours a day during the Wet, it comes down in