I in no way regret moving from Darwin to Adelaide. Doing so allowed me to build a life with Ella and experience a love like no other. However, just because there is no regret doesn’t mean that I don’t miss Darwin. So, Ella and I made plans in mid 2022 to go back to Darwin for a little weeklong getaway.

Whilst we had been doing long distance Ella would often come to visit me in Darwin, but she never got to experience it like a tourist and thus I wanted us to pack a whole bunch of cool experiences into the week.

To start off with, we were lucky enough that our trip dates coincided perfectly with the lunar cycle to allow us to do something that I have always wanted to do – the Turtle Tracks tour.

This tour starts by boarding a small boat at Stokes Hill Wharf and making way towards Bare Sand Island/Njulbitjlk before being guided to the nesting sites of flatback sea turtles where you are likely to witness turtles laying eggs and nesting, and if you are lucky, perhaps you may even see hatchlings take to sea.

The boat ride to the island isn’t the most comfortable, but as someone who is prone to seasickness can attest, the destination is well worth feeling a bit green. We arrived to the island with enough daylight left to learn a short history of the island and learn about the conservation efforts taking place there.

We sat down to enjoy the sunset but this was quickly interrupted.

One of the volunteers had found a hatchling that hadn’t made it out of the nest!

He looked to be in good shape and I got to hold the little guy, something which made me so unbelievably happy and excited.

I ended up being allowed to hold him for well over an hour until we found a suitable spot to release him, and release him we did.

We were also lucky enough to be able to witness a turtle laying her eggs, burying her nest and returning to shore, but I don’t have any good photos of this as for obvious reasons bright lights and flash photography are prohibited.

The next day we drove out to Litchfield and visited usual favourites such as Buley rockhole and Florence Falls, but everywhere was so damn crowded! Because people hadn’t been able to travel overseas, tourism in the territory was truly booming. Now, this is great for the economy and local businesses, but as an ex-local I was less than impressed. We went for a little walk and found a private swimming spot where I nearly killed my drone (again) and cooled down.

That evening we headed to one of my favourite Indian restaurants at the Cullen Bay marina with my two Darwin besties and had a blast catching up.

Now, we also did splurge on a helicopter pub crawl on a little day here, but that experience deserves its own blog post, so stay tuned until next week for that adventure.

After our heli pub crawl day, we said sayonara to Darwin and set out towards Kakadu National Park.

The drive to Kakadu from Darwin can be banged out in around 3.5 hours. We arrived to our hotel, settled in and then headed out for our sunset spot.

The walk to Ubirr rock is not a difficult one, although I’d recommend not leaving it quite as close to the sunset time as we did so you don’t feel rushed on the walk to the lookout.

Once we got there, unfortunately we didn’t have much of a sunset on the cards, but it was still a beautiful spot to stop, listen to nature and watch the day slip away.

The next morning was an early one. Something I had wanted to do the entire time I lived in the NT but never got around to was a sunrise Yellow Water cruise. These cruises provide passengers with the opportunity to see an abundance of wildlife from close up. If you are interested in crocs and/or birds then this a must do!

It didn’t take long at all to come across a little saltie.

Everywhere I looked was something beautiful to photograph. I remember being so unbelievably glad that I’d brought my telefoto lens on the trip!

This next photo is one that I really love, watching this jabiru spread its wings to take flight was incredible.

These cruises run all day, but if you want the prettiest light for photography and to avoid the hot and humid daytime temperatures, sunrise is definitely the way to go. Make sure to book your cruise in advance!

After our cruise we were back in the car and on the road again. Within a few hours we had arrived in Katherine and by chance we ran back into my bestie Chelsea who had just begun her adventure 4wding through Western Australia!

The main reason we had come to Katherine was to do a sunset cruise on Katherine Gorge, but we had been completely influenced by clever TikTok marketing (fyi, if you are on TikTok, my handle is @adventurous_elle) to book the Top Didj cultural tour.

During this two hour cultural tour, Top End Aboriginal artist Manuel Pamkel showed us how to paint using traditional tools, told us incredible stories about growing up and living on country and even showed us how to throw a spear!

It turned out that the TikTok marketing was spot on though, because we had an absolute blast.

That evening, we embarked on a sunset dinner cruise through Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge). We had limited time and thus weren’t able to do a kayaking tour through the gorge, but also, we were so early in the dry season that actually – it hadn’t been cleared for kayak tours to commence yet. This clearance only happens after extensive crocodile surveillance to ensure that there are no saltwater crocs still hanging about in the pools that get opened to the public.

The food on the cruise was surprisingly fantastic, and watching the golden sunset rays light up walls of the gorge was spectacular.

All too soon, the sun had set on our weeklong adventure in the Top End. I loved being back in the place that will always feel like my second home and it was wonderful to finally show Ella the best parts of living up north.

THE LOWDOWN

Turtle Tracks tour: At $359pp it isn’t hard to see why I put off doing this tour for so long, but now that I’ve done it, I can 100% say that it was worth every penny, click here to learn more
Yellow water sunrise cruise: This cruise costs $105pp and is well worth the $$$, just remember to book as far in advance as possible, the sunrise trips can book out really far in advance! Click here to learn more
Top Didj cultural tour: This two hour tour costs $90pp and is a great way to learn more about the culture and lived experiences of a renowned Aboriginal artist, click here to learn more
Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) dinner cruise: This cruise is quite exxy at $195 per person but we did have a fabulous evening, click here to learn more
NT Parks Pass: All visitors to national parks in the NT require a parks pass, click here to learn more
Remember: When you plan a trip to Australia there is so much to see that isn’t just the standard East Coast traveller trail!