Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
under the stars. Movies are screened at 7:30pm Wednesday through Sunday in
the Dry (Apr or May-Oct or Nov) with late sessions Friday and Saturday nights.
It is on the beachfront opposite Parliament House on the Esplanade. Tickets are
A$12 (US$7.80) adults, A$6 (US$3.90) children, and A$30 (US$20) family,
and there's a bar.
The gaming tables at the
MGM Grand Casino,
Gilruth Avenue, Mindil Beach
(
&
08/8943 8888
), are in play from noon until 4am Sunday to Thursday, 6am
Friday and Saturday. Slot machines are in play 24 hours. The dress regulation
allows neat jeans, shorts, and sneakers, but men's shirts must have a collar.
A SIDE TRIP TO LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK
120km (74 miles) S of Darwin
An easy 90-minute drive south of Darwin is a miniature Garden of Eden full of
forests, waterfalls, rocky sandstone escarpments, glorious swimming holes, and
prehistoric cycads that look like they belong on the set of
Jurassic Park.
Litch-
field National Park is much smaller (a mere 146,000 hectares/360,620 acres)
and much less famous than its big sister, Kakadu, but it is no less stunning.
The park's main attractions are the spring-fed swimming holes, like the mag-
ical plunge pool at
Florence Falls
, 29km (18 miles) from the forest. It's
a 15-minute hike down stairs to the water, so the easily accessible pool at
Wangi
Falls
, 49km (30 miles) from the eastern entrance, gets more crowds. (It's a
beautiful spot, surrounded by cliffs and forests with a lookout from the top.)
More idyllic grottos are 4km (2
1
⁄
2
miles) from Florence Falls at
Buley Rockhole,
a series of tiered rock pools and waterfalls. You can't swim at Tolmer Falls, but
during the Wet when they're flowing, take the boardwalk about 400m (1,312 ft.)
to the lookout and see the cascade against a backdrop of red cliffs.
There are a number of short walking trails through the park, too, such as the
half-hour Shady Creek Circuit from Florence Falls up to the parking lot.
Parts of the park are also home to thousands of 2m (6
1
⁄
2
-ft.) high
“magnetic”
termite mounds,
so called because they run north-south to escape the fierce
midday heat. There is a display hut and a viewing point 17km (10
1
⁄
2
miles) from
the park's eastern entrance.
Most of the park's swimming holes are regarded as crocodile-free; the same is
not
true of the Finniss and Reynolds rivers in the park, so no leaping into those!
To get there from Darwin, head south for 86km (53 miles) on the Stuart
Highway and follow the park turnoff on the right through the town of Batchelor
for 34km (21 miles). A number of minicoach and four-wheel-drive day trips run
from Darwin. Katherine-based tour operator
Travel North
(
&
1800/089 103
in
Australia, or 08/8971 9999) runs a day tour to Litchfield that starts in Darwin
and ends in Katherine, a convenient way to combine sightseeing and transport
if you plan to visit both. It costs A$139 (US$90) adults and A$114 (US$74)
children. Crowds of locals can shatter the peace in Litchfield on weekends, espe-
cially in the dry season, but the park is worth visiting, crowds or no crowds.
The
Parks & Wildlife Commission
office in Batchelor, on the corner of
Nurdina Street and Pinaroo Crescent (
&
08/8976 0282
), has maps and infor-
mation; most locations of interest have signboards. Entry to the park is free.
Roads to most swimming holes are paved, although a few are accessible only
by four-wheel-drive. In the wet season (approx. Nov-Apr), some roads may be
closed, usually the four-wheel-drive ones, and the Wangi water hole may be off-
limits due to turbulence and strong currents. Check with the Parks & Wildlife
Commission before you leave Darwin during this time.
