9 Day Northern Teritory Encompassed Northbound

Melbourne might have the arts scene and Sydney the beaches, but Alice Springs is really where you need to go to understand Australia proper. Approximately 70% of the Australian continent is classed as arid or semi-arid - and little old Alice Springs sits right in the middle of it all. First stop for the day is a working outback camel farm, where you'll have the chance to lope through the outback on a 'ship of the desert'. Whereas Uluru emerges from the earth as one giant boulder form, Kata Tjuta pops up as 36 different domes - you'll get to know the site pretty well on an afternoon hike following lunch. Enjoy a glass of champagne as you watch the Rock's colours change as the sun sets behind it, throwing magnificent colours into the sky. Then, as evening begins, it's time to tuck into our famous 1,000 Star Dinner: an outdoor candlelit feast of delicious food and wines.

Notes: Total driving time is approximately five and a half hours. Total walking time is around an hour.

** Accommodation

Permanent tented camp (with shared facilities) (1 night)

** Included Activities

Uluru sunset drinks

1000 Star Dinner

Uluru & Kata Tjuta National Park Fee

** Meals Included

Lunch

Dinner

It's an early rise today but seeing Australia is what you came for, right? After watching a fiery outback sun rear up over the world's biggest rock get a real sense of the rock's scale on an unguided walk around its base. Then learn about the cultural significance of this iconic landform on a cultural interpretative walk with an indigenous guide. In their creatin time stories, the Anangu's ancestral beings the Mala settled here after being chased to the region by an evil dog-like creature called kurpany. The on-site Cultural Centre also houses an extensive collection of indigenous arts and crafts for you to browse. Tonight we spend the night in an exclusive campsite in Watarrka National Park.

Note: Total driving time today is around three and a half hours. Total walking time is approximately two hours.

** Accommodation

Permanent tented camp (with shared facilities) (1 night)

** Included Activities

Uluru Cultural Centre

Mala cultural interpretative walk

Uluru Base Walk

** Meals Included

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

The centrepiece attraction of Watarrka is undoubtedly Kings Canyon; a humungous gorge enclosed by sheer rock walls hundreds of metres high. Offering a welcome escape from the dry desert heat, this site's deep gullies and hidden rockpools provide shelter to more than 600 species of native plants and animals. Your guide will point these out on a guided trek that takes in the canyon's most famous sites - the Lost City, Garden of Eden, Amphitheatre and North and South Walls. Then it's lunch, rest, Then it's lunch, rest, and off we head toward Glen Helen where we camp this evening.

Note: Total driving time takes around five hours. Total walking time is approximately three hours.

** Accommodation

Permanent tented camp (with shared facilities) (1 night)

Included Activities

Kings Canyon Rim Walk

** Meals Included

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

This morning, watch the Australian wilds waking up on a morning drive out to the West MacDonnell Ranges. Reaching this national park, we'll follow the Waterhole trail through Ormiston Pound to Ormiston Gorge - a tranquil little rock pool surrounded by ochre-coloured rock walls and white-trunked eucalypts. Black-footed rock wallabies often pop down here for a drink, so keep those peepers peeled. Next up is Ellery Creek, where there's the chance to cool off with a dip. Following lunch, it's on to Simpsons Gap. Known as Rungutjirpa to the Arrernte people, this deep gorge, often partly filled with water, is associated with goanna, eagle and rock wallaby dreamings. See the colours of the ranges change as the sun starts its descent, perhaps from atop a camel during an optional sunset ride. This evening check into your Alice Springs Motel.

The total driving time will be about three hours, and you will walk up to 10km.

** Optional Activities

Sunset Camel Ride (Child) - AUD40

Sunset Camel Ride (Adult) - AUD70

** Included Activities

Western MacDonnell Ranges

** Meals Included

Breakfast

Lunch

Today, skip the 1,500km of driving which is about 24 hours by road, and fly from Alice Springs to Darwin with Qantas Airways. Qantas was Australia's first commercial airline, and stands for "Queensland and Northern Territory Ariel Services" and is now one of the worlds best International airlines.

We'll arrange your air tickets and issue them a couple of weeks prior to your departure. On arrival in Darwin, someone will be waiting to transfer you to your hotel. Tonight, you'll be staying at the Value Inn. (no meals included)

** Accommodation

Hotel (1 night)

** Meals Included

There are no meals included on this day.

This morning, we'll pick you up from out the front of the Melaleuca at 6:50am. Flush with waterfalls, swimming holes and some pretty gigantic termite mounds, Litchfield National Park encapsulates all that's wonderful about the Top End. We'll start off here checking out Florence Falls and the Buley Rockholes, then break for a picnic before travelling on to Wangi Falls for a final swim and leisurely stroll through monsoon forest. Leaving Litchfield, it's on and into Mary River National Park. The species of saltwater crocodile found in Australia are the biggest in the world, and the Mary River wetlands are absolutely full of them. See how many you can spot on an afternoon river cruise. All tents are twin-share and come with a proper bed.

Note: Total driving time today is around five-and-a-half hours. There are also a few short, easy walks.

** Accommodation

Permanent, furnished tented camp (with shared facilities) (1 night)

** Included Activities

Litchfield National Park

Mary River cruise

Kakadu National Park Fee

** Meals Included

Lunch

Dinner

In giving Kakadu National Park World Heritage-listing, UNESCO described it as a 'living cultural landscape with exceptional natural and cultural values'. Indigenous people have lived here for more than 50,000 years, to which the ancient rock paintings of Ubirr can attest. Your guide will explain the significance of these artworks during an interpretative cultural walk that finishes on a rocky escarpment overlooking the Nardab floodplain. In the afternoon we head to either Maguk (Barramundi Gorge) or Gunlom Falls (seasonal choice). Swimming spots don't get a whole lot more inviting than either of these spectacular sites.

Note: Total driving time today is around five hours. Total walking time is up to three and- a-half hours, depending on the trails taken.

** Accommodation

Permanent, furnished tented camp (with shared facilities) (1 night)

** Included Activities

Maguk (Barramundi Gorge)

Ubirr Rock

** Meals Included

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Given that Kakadu covers approximately the same amount of land as Slovenia, the sky's a pretty good place to see it all from. This morning you'll have the option of taking a scenic flight over the billabongs, bushlands and floodplains that make up this ruggedly beautiful region. After a stop in at the Bowali visitors centre we head for the historic gold-mining town of Pine Creek which offers a very different side to Australian history. Back on the road again, there's time for a dip in Edith Falls before pulling into our private campsite near Nitmuluk National Park.

Note: Total driving time today is around five-and-a-half hours. Total walking time is up to an hour-and-a-half.

** Accommodation

Permanent, furnished tented camp (with shared facilities) (1 night)

** Optional Activities

Flight (Fixed Wing Aircraft) over - Kakadu - from - AUD150

** Meals Included

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Back in the day (ok, it was 23 million years ago), the Katherine River flowed all the way from Arnhem Land to the Timor Sea. These days, the waters have subsided significantly: the Katherine River now flows along hemmed in on both sides by cliffs 70 metres high. It's the highlight attraction of Nitmiluk National Park though, and you'll have the opportunity to cruise through it by canoe or boat. Following lunch, we visit a private property next to an indigenous art gallery for some coaching in the ancient arts of boomerang throwing, fire making and traditional painting. Then it's back to Darwin where the adventure winds up.

Note: Total driving time today is around four-and-a-half hours. Total walking time is up to three-and-a-half hours, depending on the group's choice of optional activities.

** Optional Activities

Katherine Gorge Scenic Cruise - AUD87

Katherine Gorge Canoe from - AUD45

** Included Activities

Top Didj Indigenous Experience

** Meals Included

Breakfast

Lunch