Things to Do in Australia And The Pacific

The UNESCO World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park is a massive Northern Territory nature reserve, clocking in at 4.2 million acres (1.7 million hectares). With sandstone escarpments, secret waterholes, billabongs, and lily-strewn waterways, Kakadu is an introduction to wild Australia. Read on to learn what to see and do in the country’s largest national park.

The Basics

On Kakadu National Park tours and Top End adventures, you’ll find opportunities to encounter exotic animals such as dingoes, wallabies, dugongs, and saltwater crocodiles, and also discover Aboriginal culture, from ancient aboriginal rock art at Ubirr and Nourlangie to the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Cooinda, where visitors pore over traditional bush food and didgeridoos. Ubirr is uniquely beautiful, located at the foot of a food plain, with prominent rock formations standing as guardians of the Arnhem Land. If visiting without a tour guide, be sure to stop into the Bowali Visitor Centre to plan your trip with the center’s staff; this rugged outback environment can be hazardous for the unprepared.

Ways to Visit Kakadu National Park

You can take in Kakadu on a guided tour from Darwin, or, if you have your own car, visit the park independently from much farther areas such as Kimberley and Broome in Western Australia. Most day tours depart from Darwin, about 93 miles (150 km) away, and last upwards of 12 hours, including round-trip transportation by a WiFi-equipped coach. Kakadu National Park can be reached in about 1.5 hours from Darwin by road, and travelers can choose from a variety of options, including small-group tours, private tours, and adventure tours. For a longer excursion, multi-day options offer accommodations or camping experiences that can be combined with a visit to Litchfield National Park, Nitmiluk National Park, or Katherine Gorge, other must-see spots in the Top End.

Top Sights to Experience Kakadu’s Natural Beauty

Cruising along the Mary River wetlands or the East Alligator River (Guluyambi) will allow you to spot native birds and possibly catch a glimpse of a crocodile from a safe distance. Travelers also enjoy cruising Yellow Water Billabong near Cooinda and bush camping in Koolpln Gorge, although it’s recommended that this adventure is taken with a guide unless you’re an experienced outback camper, as permits are required and the terrain is rough. The park’s most prominent water features are Jim Jim Falls and the nearby Twin Falls, but they flow mostly in the quiet wet season. The best way to see these falls is on a scenic flight, which allows for spectacular aerial photo ops.

The star attraction of Kelly Hill Conservation Park is the extensive network of caves that lie beneath it. With guided tours of the caves, short walks or longer hikes above ground, and views of woodlands and the Southern Ocean, the park is well worth the visit.

Impressive formations of stalactites, stalagmites and more await visitors underground. Discovered when a horse named Kelly fell into one of the caves, the complex is one of the few dry limestone cave networks in Australia. The Kelly Hill Visitor Centre runs frequent guided tours of the caves, or, for the more adventurous, adventure caving. In addition, souvenirs, drinks and snacks are also available from the visitors centre.

As well as the underground attractions, Kelly Hill Conservation Park is home to several short walks around the Visitors Centre. Visitors after a longer trek can undertake the Hanson Bay hike – an 18km return track past lagoons, woodlands and sand dunes.

The red sandstone walls of Kings Canyon rise abruptly from tranquil pools and pockets of cycads and vegetation in the middle of the red centre desert.

The prized activity here is the 2.5 km (1.5 mile) return Kings Creek Walk around the rim of the canyon to a lookout for fabulous views of the lush Garden of Eden.

The reward for taking on the longer 4-hour walk is even better views including the rock formation known as the Lost City.

The 1-hour return Kathleen Springs Walk is wheelchair-accessible and leads to a lovely waterhole.

By the bay and on a river, the fertile town of Kerikeri is a historic little town with a swag of natural attractions.

Walkways follow the course of the Kerikeri River as it meanders inland from the Bay of Islands, passing recreation reserves, pretty pools and Wharepoke and Rainbow waterfalls along the way.

Kayaking on the river is popular here, along with visiting winery cellar doors to sip local wines and sample local produce grown in the area’s rich agricultural soils.

There’s plenty of history here, including the 1830s Stone Store and 1822 Mission House, New Zealand’s oldest buildings. The furnishings and displays date from the early 19th century when missionaries first settled the area. Nearby, Rewa’s Village re-creates a pre-colonial Maori village.

Formed by millions of years of erosion and precariously perched in the desert, Karlu Karlu (or “the Devil’s Marbles”) is one of the most famous geologic sites in Australia’s desert interior. Located on the lonely stretch of highway between Alice Springs and Darwin, Karlu Karlu is a sacred stretch of rock strewn Australian landscape. A few of these rounded, eroded “marbles” are upwards of 20 feet wide, and are delicately perched on top of each other in ways that barely seem real. The slightest breath of wind, it seems, would topple the rocks and send them crashing to the dusty red earth below. These rocks, however, have stood in this spot for millions of years, and form parts of sacred creation tales for the area’s original inhabitants. There are no official trails in the park—just informal, well-worn paths—and the desert landscape’s epic silence improves with each step from the road. In the peak of the day, the boulders appear flat, completely lifeless, and really not all that special, though all of that changes in the hour before sunset in the light of the soft desert glow. A primitive campground allows travelers to camp amidst the towering rocks, and catch the afternoon light performance before all the stars come out. And, while it’s easy to photograph the famous marbles without even leaving the parking lot, the best way to experience the park is to walk amidst the landscape—where boulders seem to have gotten stuck after raining down from the sky.