9 incredible wonders in the Northern Territory to explore

Australia is full of wonders, from icons to the lesser known. Here, we’ve curated 9 wonders from our 100 list that the Northern Territory gets to call its very own.

This article is part of our 100 Australian Wonders series. Throughout the series, we explore our nation’s wonders across culture, nature, food, islands and many more. We hope it inspires your own exploration of Australia’s many wonders.

1. Uluru

Travelling with: Megan Arkinstall

Rising from the desert like our country’s symbolic heart, this ancient monolith is a deeply spiritual place for the Anangu people, entwined in traditional Tjukurpa (Creation stories).

For an unforgettable experience, pair a stay at ultra-luxe safari-style lodge Longitude 131°, which has uninterrupted views of Uluru, with a viewing of Wintjiri Wiru, the after-dark light show that tells the ancestral Mala story through more than 1000 choreographed drones, lasers and projections.

2. Aboriginal Bush Traders cafe

Travelling with: Elizabeth Whitehead

This not-for-profit organisation in Darwin’s CBD brings a bush tucker twist to classic Aussie brunch. Ancient flavours take on a modern spin with delights such as bush tomato shakshuka, granola served with tangy Kakadu plum compote and pies flavoured with bush spices.

Refresh with an iced Rosella tea, and be sure to check out the art gallery and shop attached, featuring a dazzling array of Indigenous art, bush food and bush skincare. All proceeds go towards supporting local Indigenous communities.

3. Litchfield’s swimming holes

Travelling with: Megan Arkinstall

Litchfield National Park, just 90 minutes from Darwin, is an ancient landscape of thundering waterfalls that cascade into emerald pools, perfect for waterhole-hopping and doable in a day.

Travelling south from Darwin via Cox Peninsula Road, you’ll pass the swimmable Walker Creek, which carves through ancient rock, and Wangi Falls, which has a large plunge pool and grassy area. From here, loop up Litchfield Park Road to Florence Falls, a waterhole fed by twin falls, and Buley Rockhole, a series of shallow rock pools and deep plunge pools.

Return to Darwin via Batchelor, refreshed from your day of wild swimming (in designated areas only). Or linger longer in the park’s southern reaches, where the 4WD-only Reynolds Track leads to Sandy Creek and Surprise Creek Falls, two lesser-visited waterholes with camping facilities.

4. Arnhem Land

Travelling with: Imogen Eveson

Covering vast tracts of Australia’s northern fringes, Arnhem Land is a destination rich in First Nations cultures, rare wildlife and breathtaking scenery that needs to be experienced to be understood. A stay at one of three unique wilderness lodges is a good place to start.

Seven Spirit Bay is hidden on the Cobourg Peninsula, a scallop-edged finger of West Arnhem Land that uncurls into the Arafura Sea north of Kakadu and forms part of Garig Gunak Barlu National Park. With spectacular views of the glittering bay it rests above and adventures on tap into the surrounding environments of eucalypt forests, billabongs, mangroves and turquoise seas, a stay here is a highlight of any Outback Spirit tour through Arnhem Land.

At Davidson’s Arnhemland Safari Lodge, the headline attraction is the abundance of rock art galleries at the at Awunbarna (Mt Borradaile), which you’ll explore with the legendary camp as your base.

And in Northeast Arnhem Land, on an island off the coast of Nhulunbuy on Yolngu Homelands, Banubanu Beach Retreat offers a tropical-paradise getaway layered with a rich cultural experience.

5. Tiwi Islands art

Travelling with: Elizabeth Whitehead

Art runs through the heart of the Tiwi Islands, just like the Apsley Strait that cleaves the verdant landmass in two. The strength of culture here is especially apparent when visiting one of the many art centres scattered across the islands.

At an art centre (such as Jilamara Aboriginal Arts and Crafts), you’ll see artists carving, painting and creating works in the distinctive Tiwi style, characterised by the mesmerising technique of crosshatched brushstrokes and geometric shapes.

You’ll find walls decorated with art, bark serving as the canvas and natural ochre pigment as the paint. Sculptures are elaborately carved from ironwood, often depicting birds, as are tutuni (funerary totem poles) that adorn burial sites on the islands. Art is a vessel to share Tiwi Creation stories, wisdom and knowledge; an insightful window into the culture of this fascinating place located little more than a footy’s kick north of Darwin.

6. Garma Festival

Travelling with: Steve Madgwick

The only way to truly grasp the significance of Garma is to sit in the red dirt and chat with its Traditional Owners. The annual four-day Indigenous cultural festival is held on the wildly stunning and thriving Yolngu homelands and includes the open-air Gapan Gallery.

What basically began as a community barbecue for Arnhem Land locals in 1999 has blossomed into a national celebration of 50,000-year-old song, story and dance. Its forum, attended by Australia’s most powerful decision-makers, is a dynamic lesson on the strengths and issues of Aboriginal Australia.

As Garma ambassador and award-winning actor Jack Thompson said: “Every Australian should come; every Australian child should have Garma as part of their curriculum.”

7. Mindil Beach Sunset Markets

Travelling with: Lara Picone

With Asia more easily accessible than the next Australian capital city, it hardly raises an eyebrow that Darwin’s food culture is fringed with the culinary vibrancy of the south-east. Sure, you can taste it about town on any given day. But the seasonal Mindil Beach Sunset Markets is the place to deep-dive into the adopted flavours of our northernmost city.

Mindil is more than a market – it’s an iconic attraction. Watch as the tropical sun is slowly swallowed by the shimmering sea and the soft backbeat of bongos mingles with the warm night air thick with aromatic smoke.

The whole thing wields the power to entrance and the probability of purchasing happy pants or a rainbow crocheted hat becomes dangerously high.

8. Kakadu National Park

Travelling with: Megan Arkinstall

Kakadu has been home to the Bininj and Mungguy people for more than 65,000 years. This astounding region possesses the world’s greatest concentration of rock art sites, one-third of the country’s bird species, and an environment that evolves from rugged stone escarpments studded with emerald waterholes to wetlands and billabongs that are home to some 10,000 crocs.

Connect with the oldest living culture on Earth with a visit to the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre; gather bush foods on safari with Animal Tracks; or do a Guluyambi Cultural Cruise on the East Alligator River to Arnhem Land, combined with the sacred Ubirr rock art site.

9. Larapinta Trail

Travelling with: Celeste Mitchell

A journey into the heart and soul of Australia’s Red Centre is a life-affirming experience. But there’s no need to rough it. The Larapinta Trail is an undulating and slightly unforgiving 223-kilometre track through rugged Tjoritja (West MacDonnell Ranges).

But the best parts can be sampled in a highlights reel of day hikes, culminating with a sunrise trek to the summit of Mt Sonder, all while bedding down in eco-conscious camps by night with Australian Walking Holidays.

This Great Walk is so popular you may well need to book it years in advance. It’s sought-after not just because of the challenge on offer: there’s something in the air out here; the energy that connects hikers to Country.

Keep reading our 100 Australian Wonders series; from road trips, outback and cultural wonders to foodie wonders and many more.