JakeB

Hey there. I'm looking to see if anyone has any advice for what I should do. I land in Darwin on Sunday night March 26 and must see kakadu, litchfield, and katherine. The problem I have is that I have one month to complete Darwin to Cairns to Sydney. I need to get to Cairns from Darwin and see that the only way for a ride there is from desert venturer only on fridays. If I took that it would mean that I will have to do a 2 day kakadu, 1 day litchfield, and 1 day katherine gorge tours, leaving no time to explore darwin itself or having a day or two more in the big 3. Waiting till the next friday for desert venturer would be taking up too much time. So I'm wondering if the drive from darwin to cairns would be something that I shouldn't miss (I want to have a crazy outback trip), Or if I should stay a little longer in NT then fly to cairns? Thanks for the help. Jake.

Bokhara

Stay. Fly.

LynAK

I completely agree with Bokhara. Stay and really get the most you can from Darwin, Kakadu, Katherine, Litchfield (and then fly to Cairns). They are all worth your time, lots to see and do. They aren't all that close together so you will still have a lot of outback territory to cover & experience getting from place to place. Darwin is great and you should definitely leave enough time to explore it a bit.

fuzzylogic

Hi Jake,

Now that is a really hard one. Been there. Frustrating isn't it, when something you really want to do just doesn't fit the shape of your trip?

It would be good to know if Bokhara and/or LynAK have ever done such a trip - or ever considered it. Like how much does it appeal to them?

It appeals to me enormously. As it obviously does to you.

I honestly believe that if you are up for it - if the idea of crossing all that space and seeing places even most Australians have never seen, of staying in country pubs, and camping in the bush - if that appeals - then go for it.

You will never forget it.

I have travelled with Desert Venturer Cairns to Alice - no bush camping, but there is nothing like just eating up the miles, and you will see an Australia that people who just fly over it will never see.

If you are short on time - may I respectfully suggest that you skip Katherine.

Alternatively - and you will have to check timings - stay a little longer in the Top End - you see, I do understand, it's not the sort of place you may ever go again - and see if you can get yourself to the Alice to connect with DV up to Cairns.

Or tell us more about what you plan for the Cairns - Sydney segment. The NT is special, and many parts of the East Coast are .....? I guess what I'm trying to say is that you could stay longer in the NT, and do the overland, if you skipped somewhere like ... ?

Tell us more.

Cheers.

JakeB

I'm thinking that we're going to fly to Cairns now so that we can have some extra time in NT. I'd love to stay in NT for longer but I'm travelling with my fiance who is more into beaches then bush, wheras I'm the opposite. I'm planning on doing a 3 day kakadu and 1 day litchfield with Wilderness 4wd Adventures (I'm not sure if anyone has had any experience with them that would have some good or bad feedback). We'll also do a 1 day Katherine gorge tour. Right now the only company that I can find that'll do that trip before April 1 is AAT kings. I'm not too keen on doing the big coach tours, so it'd be helpfull if someone had any suggestions for that. We're going to give ourselves three days to explore darwin, then fly to cairns. For the Cairns to sydney venture I'm planning on getting the Treasure Chest package from Peter Pans travel which includes: fraser island self drive tour, whitsunday sailing, cape tribulation, great barrier reef and some other goodies. Then we'll probably add on a night or two in port douglas, magnetic island, nimbin and wherever else we'll stumble upon. I was also told that I had to go see Tiger Island in dreamworld. Not sure if we'll have time for movieworld or seaworld. Then when we get to sydney we'll check out the blue mountains. Then it's off to New Zealand for 3 weeks. I'm thinking of renting a camper van from wicked campers and exploring as much of the south island as possible, with some of the north island highlights. So if anyone has any tips or suggestions I'd appreciate it if you could share. Thanks, Jake.

Bokhara

Hi Jake,
Kakadu/Katherine/Litchfield Park:
I did this with Billycan Tours a couple of years ago and they included the Katherine Gorge it. Couldn't recommend them highly enough.
We had 17 people, all nationalities & ages; 10 only did 2 days and the rest of us went on for another day or 2. www.billycan.com.au

If you have the time, there's a catamaran which does sunset sails in Darwin - fantastic ... take a bottle of wine & a picnic & watch the sun drop into the ocean. Don't forget Mindil Night Markets, too. Thursdays & Sundays, I think.
I'm sure you'll be pleased you decided to have the extra time in the NT

beryl800

For a little extra touch of outback on your way to Cairns from Darwin, use the one-stop rather than non-stop flight. You'll do a 45 minute touch down at very remote Gove, which means a bit more low level flying, and the experience of a one tin shed outback airstrip, complete with a dozen or so dusty "utes" pullled up laoding or unlaoding passengers.

JakeB

Cool. Thanks for the ideas. It looks like you've saved me some time Beryl. I was originally going to fly with virginblue instead of qantas to save some money. But after looking into it more I realized that savng $40 would double the length of the flight because virgin does a stopover in brisbane. Think I'll do the qantas with that Grove stopover. Thanks again. If anyone has any other tips please share.

OzMike

Hi Jake,
it's not long to March 26th. There has been an awful lot of rain up in the Top End just recently ( and I don't think it's over yet) and lots of roads, including the 2 into Kakadu have been closed. May still be closed as I write this.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to check what's possible, which tours are running and what they include before you make your decission.

Hope it works out for you,
Mike

JakeB

Thanks for that update Mike. Hopefully it'll stop before we get up there. I guess I'll have to wait and book our tours when we arrive.