Sights in Northern Territory
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Uluru (Ayers Rock)
Nothing in Australia is as readily identifiable as Uluru. No matter how many times you've seen it in postcards, nothing prepares you for the hulk on the horizon - so solitary and prodigious. Uluru is 3.6km long and rises a towering 348m from the surrounding sandy scrubland (867m above sea level). If that's not impressive enough, it's believed that two-thirds of the rock lies beneath the sand.
Sacred sites are located around the base of Uluru; entry to and knowledge of the particular significance of these areas is restricted by Anangu law. The landscape of Uluru changes dramatically with the shifting light and seasons. If your first sight of Uluru is during the afternoon,…
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Aviation Museum
Darwin’s aviation museum, about 10km from the centre, is one for military aircraft nuts. The centrepiece is a mammoth B52 bomber, one of only a few of its kind displayed outside the USA, which has somehow been squeezed inside. It dwarfs the other aircraft, which include a Japanese Zero fighter shot down in 1942 and the remains of an RAAF Mirage jet that crashed in a nearby swamp. Free guided tours commence at 10am and 2pm.
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East Point Reserve
North of Fannie Bay, this spit of land is particularly attractive in the late afternoon when wallabies emerge to feed and you can watch the sun set over the bay.
Lake Alexander, a small, recreational saltwater lake, was created so people could enjoy a swim year-round without having to worry about box jellyfish. There's a good children's playground here and picnic areas with barbecues. A 1.5km mangrove boardwalk leads off from the car park.
On the point's northern side is a series of WWII gun emplacements and the small but fascinating Darwin Military Museum. Video footage of Darwin Harbour being bombed is a sobering reminder of Australia's only wartime attack.
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Crocodylus Park & Zoo
Crocodylus Park & Zoo showcases hundreds of crocs and a minizoo comprising lions, tigers, a Persian leopard and other big cats, spider monkeys, marmosets, cassowaries and large birds. Allow about two hours to look around the whole park, and you should time your visit with a tour, which includes a feeding demonstration.
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WWII Oil-Storage Tunnels
You can escape from the heat of the day and relive your Hitchcockian fantasies by walking through the WWII oil-storage tunnels. Built to store the Navy’s oil supplies (but never used), they exhibit wartime photos.
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Buku Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre & Museum
The Buku Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre & Museum, 20km southeast of Nhulunbuy, is one of Arnhem Land’s best. No permit is required to visit from Nhulunbuy or Gove airport.
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Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)
A striking group of domed rocks cluster together to form small valleys and gorges known as Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) about 30km west of Uluru. Many visitors find them just as captivating as their prominent neighbour. The tallest rock, Mt Olga (546m, 1066m above sea level) is approximately 200m higher than Uluru. Kata Tjuta means 'many heads' and is of great tjukurpa significance, so climbing on the domed rocks is definitely not on.
The main walking track here is the unmissable Valley of the Winds, a 7.4km loop trail (two to four hours) that traverses varying desert terrain and yields wonderful views of surreal boulders. It's not particularly arduous, but take plenty of water…
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Ubirr
Ubirr is 39km north of the Arnhem Hwy via a sealed road. It'll take a lot more than the busloads of visitors to disturb Ubirr's inherent majesty and grace. Layers of paintings, in various styles and from various centuries, command a mesmerising stillness.
Part of the main gallery reads like a menu, with images of kangaroos, tortoises and fish painted in X-ray, which became the dominant style about 8000 years ago. Predating these are the paintings of mimi spirits: cheeky, dynamic figures who, it's believed, were the first of the Creation Ancestors to paint on rock. (Given the lack of cherry-pickers in 6000 BC, you have to wonder who else but a spirit could have painted at…
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Telegraph Station Historical Reserve
The old Telegraph Station, which used to relay messages between Darwin and Adelaide, offers a fascinating glimpse of the town's European beginnings. Built along the Overland Telegraph Line (OTL) in the 1870s, the station continued to operate until 1932. It later served as a welfare home for Aboriginal children of mixed ancestry until 1963. The building has been faithfully restored and guided tours operate roughly on the hour between 9am and 4.30pm (April to October). Nearby is the original 'Alice' spring (Thereyurre to the Arrernte Aboriginal people), a semipermanent waterhole in the Todd River after which the town is named.
It's all set in 450 hectares of shady parkland…
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Nourlangie Area
The sight of this looming outlier of the Arnhem Land escarpment makes it easy to understand its ancient importance to Aboriginal people. Its long red-sandstone bulk, striped in places with orange, white and black, slopes up from surrounding woodland to fall away at one end in stepped cliffs. Below is Kakadu's best-known collection of rock art.
The 2km loop takes you first to the Anbangbang rock shelter, used for 20,000 years as a refuge and canvas. Next is the Anbangbang Gallery, featuring Dreaming characters repainted in the '60s. From here it's a short walk to Gunwarddehwarde lookout, with views of the Arnhem Land escarpment.
Nourlangie is at the end of a 12km sealed…
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Jim Jim Falls & Twin Falls
Remote and spectacular, these two falls epitomise the rugged Top End. Jim Jim Falls, a sheer 215m drop, is awesome after rain (when it can only be seen from the air), but its waters shrink to a trickle by about June. Twin Falls flows year-round (no swimming), but half the fun is getting there, involving a little boat trip (adult/child $2.50/free, running 7.30am to 5pm) and an over-the-water boardwalk.
These two iconic waterfalls are reached along a 4WD track that turns south off the Kakadu Hwy between the Nourlangie and Cooinda turn-offs. Jim Jim Falls is about 56km from the turn-off (the last 1km on foot), and it's a further five corrugated kilometres to Twin Falls. The…
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Bicentennial Park
Bicentennial Park (The Esplanade) runs the length of Darwin's waterfront and Lameroo Beach - a sheltered cove popular in the '20s when it housed the saltwater baths, and traditionally a Larrakia camp area. Shaded by tropical trees, the park is an excellent place to stroll.
At the Herbert St end there's a cenotaph commemorating Australians' service to the country's war efforts: from those who lost their lives in WWI to Aboriginal men and women whose bush skills assisted the Army during WWII to protect the remote northern coastline. Also honoured are 200 Remarkable Territorians: hand-painted tiles in panels dispersed intermittently along the Esplanade commemorate some of…
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Battery Hill Mining Centre
Experience life in Tennant Creek's 1930s gold rush at this mining centre 1.5km east of town. There are underground mine tours and audio tours of the 10-head battery. In addition there is a superb Minerals Museum and you can try your hand at gold panning. The admission price gives access to all of the above, or you can choose to visit the Minerals and Social History Museums only (adult/family $5/10), or just go panning ($5 per person).
While you're here, ask for the key ($20 refundable deposit) to the old Telegraph Station, which is just off the highway about 12km north of town. This is one of only four of the original 11 stations remaining in the Territory. Just north of…
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Alice Springs Memorial Cemetery
The cemetery is adjacent to the aviation museum and contains the graves of some prominent locals including Albert Namatjira (1902–59) and Harold Lasseter (1880–1931), the eccentric prospector whose fervent search for a folkloric reef of gold (Lasseter's Reef) claimed his life. Anthropologist Olive Pink (1884–1975), who campaigned for Aboriginal rights, is buried facing the opposite direction to the others – a rebel to the end.
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Nyinkka Nyunyu
This innovative museum and gallery highlights the dynamic art and culture of the local Warumungu people. The absorbing displays focus on contemporary art, traditional objects (many returned from interstate museums), bush medicine and regional history. The diorama series, or bush TVs as they became known within the community, are particularly special. Nyinkka Nyunyu is located beside a sacred site of the spiky tailed goanna. Learn about bush tucker and Dreaming stories with your personal guide. There's also a gallery store and the lovely Jajjikari Café, which serves espresso coffee and light meals.
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Crocosaurus Cove
If the tourists won't go out to see the crocs, then bring the crocs to the tourists. Right in the middle of Mitchell St, Crocosaurus Cove is as close as you'll ever want to get to these amazing creatures. Six of the largest crocs in captivity can be seen in state-of-the-art aquariums and pools. You can be lowered right into a pool with them in the transparent Cage of Death (one/two people $120/160). If that's too scary, there's another pool where you can swim with a clear tank wall separating you from some mildly less menacing baby crocs. Other aquariums feature barramundi, turtles and stingrays, plus there's an enormous reptile house (allegedly the largest variety of…
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Darwin Crocodile Farm
When a croc is taken out of one of the Territory's waterways, this is usually where it ends up. But don't imagine they're here out of human charity - this is a farm, not a rest home, and around 2000 of the beasts are killed each year for their skins and meat. Get here in the early afternoon for feeding time, if you can.
The Darwin Crocodile Farm, 40km (25mi) south of the city, has around 8000 estuarine (saltwater) and freshwater crocodiles. If you don't have your own car, there are plenty of day tours to the farm running from Darwin. You can find croc steaks and burgers on menus all over Darwin.
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Museum of Central Australia
The natural history collection at this compact museum recalls the days of megafauna − when hippo-sized wombats and 3m-tall flightless birds roamed the land. Among the geological displays are meteorite fragments and fossils. There's a free audio tour, narrated by a palaeontologist, which helps bring the exhibition to life.
There's also a display on the work of Professor TGH Strehlow, a linguist and anthropologist born at the Hermannsburg Mission among the Arrernte people. During his lifetime he gathered one of the world's most documented collections of Australian Aboriginal artefacts, songs, genealogies, film and sound recordings. It's upstairs in the Strehlow Research…
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School of the Air
Started in 1951, this was the first school of its type in Australia, broadcasting lessons to children over an area of 1.3 million sq km. While transmissions were originally all done over high-frequency radio, satellite broadband internet and web-cams now mean students can study in a virtual classroom. The guided tour of the centre includes a video. During school term you can view a live broadcast from 8.30am to 2.30pm Monday to Friday. The school is about 3km north of the town centre.
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Olive Pink Botanic Garden
A network of meandering trails leads through this lovely arid zone botanic garden, which was founded by the prominent anthropologist Olive Pink. The garden has over 500 central Australian plant species and grows bush foods and medicinal plants like native lemon grass, quandong and bush passion fruit. There's a gentle climb up Meyers Hill with fine views over Alice and Ntyarlkarle Tyaneme, one of the first sites created by the caterpillar ancestors.
The small visitor centre has various exhibitions during the year and the excellent Bean Tree Cafe is worth a trip to the gardens alone.
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Telegraph Station
Laying the Overland Telegraph Line across Australia’s harsh Centre was no easy task, as you’ll discover at the small museum at the evocative Telegraph Station. The old stone station dates to the early 1870s and operated until 1932. It later served as a welfare home for Aboriginal children of mixed descent, until 1963. Guided tours operate between 9am and 4.30pm (April to October); phone for times. There’s also an informative station map that guides you through restored homestead buildings, a blacksmith shop and the telegraph station itself.
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Reptile Centre
Ever wondered how, in the movies, they happen to be in the right place at the right time to film that lizard scampering across the screen? It’s a set-up. And many of the stars are here, in their dressing rooms, glass-fronted for us all to see. The reptile centre provides a rare opportunity to see the enormous, magnificently patterned perentie lizard, plus thorny devils, bluetongues, bearded lizards and pythons. A purpose-built fossil cave evidences the reptiles’ long history with the land. Handling takes place at 11am, 1pm and 3.30pm.
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Springvale Homestead
Alfred Giles established Springvale Homestead in 1879 after he drove 2000 cattle and horses and 12,000 head of sheep from Adelaide to the site in 19 months. It claims to be the oldest cattle station in the Northern Territory. The stone homestead still stands by the river, about 7km southwest of town, and the surrounding riverside property is now a caravan and camping resort. There's a free homestead tour at 3pm daily (except Saturday) from May to September. Canoe hire per hour/two hours/day costs $15/20/73. There's also accommodation here.
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Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park
Turn your back on the searing sun and dip down 15m below terra firma into this mazelike limestone cave system. The 1499-hectare Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park has a unique ecology and you’ll be sharing the space with brown tree snakes, plus the endangered ghost bats and orange horseshoe bats that they feed on. Cutta Cutta is a Jawoyn name meaning many stars; it was taboo for Aborigines to enter the cave, which they believed was where the stars were kept during the day.
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Araluen Centre
Alice Springs' art gallery, the Araluen Centre shows off an enviable collection of works spanning decades. Permanent exhibitions include the Albert Namatjira Gallery - the Territory's largest collection of the famous watercolourist's works - plus paintings by Albert's mentor Rex Battarbee and other artists from the Hermannsburg School. Other galleries exhibit acrylics from the central desert region, plus European-style oils and outdoor sculptures.
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