Litchfield - Connection
Connection to country
Litchfield National Park
This 1,500 square-kilometre park is an important area to the Koongurrukun, Mak Mak Marranuggu, Werat, and Warray Aboriginal people.
The Finniss exploration was the first European connection to the area and the park was named after Frederick Henry Litchfield, a member of the expedition. For 75 years until 1955, the area was the centre for tin and copper mining. It then fell under a pastoral lease until it was designated a national park in 1986.
It’s best to stay at least two days in Litchfield to experience the true beauty with plenty of plunge pools and rock holes to keep you busy.
Litchfield National Park’s major attractions are linked by a sealed road, although a four-wheel drive is necessary to access The Lost City, Blyth Homestead, Central Valley and the Reynolds River Track. It is also possible during the dry season to travel by four-wheel drive down the Reynolds River Track to Daly River Road. If you are renting a vehicle check whether you can take it on unsealed roads with your rental company.
Litchfield National Park can be accessed from the north by Cox Peninsula Road and Litchfield Park Road, from the east via Batchelor on the Batchelor Road and Litchfield Park Road. High clearance 4WD vehicles can access the park from Daly River Road when weather conditions allow.
The crystal-clear swimming holes and pleasant bushwalking trails make this park a favourite among Darwin locals. Meals and refreshments are available inside the park in and around Wangi Falls and you can stay overnight at a number of places in and along the road to the park that offer campsites, cabins and caravans, or in the small township of Batchelor.
Palmerston - Family Friendly
Family friendly
Palmerston
Darwin’s satellite city (population over 41,000) boasts a friendly, relaxed and family orientated lifestyle and is an ideal destination for recreational, leisure and entertainment activities. The three main shopping centres include Woolworths, Coles, Big W and Top End's only Target, plus 75 specialty shops.
Palmerston Water Park offers a free fun way for the whole family to cool off. Featuring a 14-metre-high, 100-metre-long, six-lane racer water slide and wet play areas for toddlers.
Howard Springs Nature Park is located 27 km southeast of Darwin, just outside Palmerston. Turn northeast off the Stuart Highway on to Howard Springs Road and follow it to the end. Picnic in a natural bush setting, let the kids explore the natural playground and cool off in the rockpools after walking through the monsoon forest. The spring-fed waterhole is a great place to birdwatch and spot fish and freshwater turtles. You can even hand-feed barramundi and turtles! (Mullet or squid is preferred. No bread please). Howard Springs Nature Park protects monsoon forest, paperbark swamps, spring-fed creeks and significant areas of Howard Sand Plains. Wildlife is prolific. You can spot Mertens’ water monitors lurking around and file snakes camouflaged in the waterhole.
Palmerston has over 100 parks scattered throughout the city, with a variety of modern facilities including playground equipment, BBQs and recreational facilities. Sanctuary Lakes is just one of those parks ideal for a family picnic.
Rydges Palmerston is popular with business travellers undertaking trade in and around the city, or families and couples wanting easy access to our national parks. Golfers are welcome at the Palmerston Golf Club.
Palmerston is a great location to base yourself when visiting the surrounding attractions of the Wildlife and Wetlands region, Peninsula Way, Litchfield, Katherine and Kakadu.
A regular bus service (No.8) operates between the bus terminals at Palmerston and Darwin City.
Palmerston - History
History
Palmerston
Palmerston was the name chosen in 1864 for the capital of the Northern Territory by the South Australian Government in recognition of Lord Palmerston, Prime Minister of the UK.
After several site changes the capital was renamed Darwin in 1911. In 1980 the decision was made to go ahead with a new city in the Darwin area and for the third time the name Palmerston was chosen.
The WWII Camp 16 Mile was a WWII military base located along the Stuart Highway. It now consists of a series of cement foundations that mark various buildings and constructions, gun pits (round dirt pits), dirt trenches, short fortifications built of local stone, two bottle dumps and latrines built of cement slabs ('Flaming Furies').
East Kimberley - Fishing
Fishing
East Kimberley
When it comes to recreational fishing, the vast coastline of the East Kimberley with its many rivers and estuaries, provides a valuable habitat that is home to an incredible fisher resource. Just one of the target species is the fabled Barramundi; ‘catching a Barra’ is what many visitors to our region dream of.
East Kimberley - History
History
East Kimberley
Gibb River Road
Reconstructed in the 1950's under the Commonwealth Beef Roads scheme as a beef road to transport cattle from surrounding cattle stations between Wyndham and Derby, this old stock route spans over 660 kilometres. Prior to this, although stock were walked (for example) from stations to the Wyndham Meatworks, the trip was extremely arduous and only heavier cattle over 5 years old could endure the rigors of the journey.
Today “The Gibb” offers one of the last true outback drive adventures and is considered one of the true outback iconic drives.It has spectacular scenery with many gorges, waterfalls and rivers along its length including Windjana Gorge (part of the Windjana Gorge National Park), Tunnel Creek, the King Leopold Range National Park, Drysdale River National Park, the mighty Fitzroy River and the towering cliff faces of the Cockburn Ranges. Allow yourself time to explore at leisure, there are plenty of opportunities for hiking and a refreshing swim in cool pools beneath plunging waterfalls, but as always be crocodile aware and only swim where it is safe to do so.
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