The Top End

The Top End
A lush tropical crown atop a vast interior desert, the winterless Top End enjoys per¬petually warm weather; seasons here are divided only into the Wet and the Dry. Dur¬ing the May-to-October dry season, backpack-toting pilgrims descend on the city of Darwin to worship its twin deities: a cloudless sky and a shirtless culture. While enjoying the budding metropolis itself, travelers also use this oasis of civilization as a base from which to explore the region’s prime natural wonder—Kakadu National Park. A spectacular rainforest reserve crawling with exotic antipodean wildlife, Kakadu is Australia’s largest national park and is best explored in the dry season, when the roads are more likely to be intact. The wetlands teem with the saltwater crocodiles that have captured the popular imagination. Crocodile Dundee’s nemesis may become convincing reality on a tour of the park or a visit to a croc farm.
From November to April, the monsoonal Wet drenches parched hills and stony escarpments. Awesome thunderstorms dump over a meter of rain in unbelievably thick sheets. The Wet can be cruelly restrictive, as riverbeds fill like die Red Sea and roads become impassable torrents, yet the seasonal pulse of die monsoon is the heart¬beat which sustains the Top End’s luxuriant array of life.