We looked at the calendar and map together - 31 days until the Brisbane departure of our cruise to Papua New Guinea. 31 glorious days to weave our way across the isolated country of outback NT and QLD. 31 days of discovering new places, smells, sights and special camp spots.Firstly we zeroed in what remained on our bucket list that was close to Alice Springs. Our map showed that the tracks to Chambers Pillar, Rainbow Valley and Finke were rough and little used -...

The heat rose from the bitumen, making mirages of make believe water under a brilliant blue sky as we headed down Highway One after leaving Derby. Out of the mirage appeared 2 figures looking disjointed initially, but, as we came closer, they were clearly defined as a male and female, both tall, lean and tanned, standing next to their fully laden cycles. They waved us down."Hello how can we help?"" Could you please spare us some water?" asked the male in what I g...

Back to Katherine, with more time to explore. We set up camp out at the Gorge camping site and the next morning assembled the porta bote. Avan spent the day relaxing and looking around the gorge, while practicing casting. It was only practice as no fish seemed interested, but apparently at times some big ones are caught!. Heather opted to take the organised boat cruise up the gorge, rather than join me in my little boat given this can be crocodile country!

Litchfield National Park is the lesser known of Darwin's parks and is somewhat overshadowed by big brother Kakadu. This helps with some of the attractions being less patronized and offering more privacy (not that the Northern Territory actually has a overcrowding problem!) but it is nice to be able to explore the solitude alone. The scenery is also superb and well worth including on your itinerary if time permits.

Kakadu! What can one say, home of Crocodile Dundee, scene of real crocodiles taking humans, breathtakingly beautiful, rugged and absolute isolation. And in our opinion a must see.Footnote: Kakadu National Park is UNESCO World Heritage Listed.