I recently visited Crocosaurus Cove during a 48 hour trip to Darwin as a guest of Tourism NT.

While it’s main purpose is obviously to showcase crocodiles big and small what impressed me equally about Crocosaurus Cove was the wide range of Australian reptiles on display and If I’d had more time instead of doing underwater camera tests for a magazine article I would also have investigated the freshwater aquarium which has Barramundi, Sawfish and more.

Entry is not cheap but if you visit all all the croc enclosures, see big crocs being fed, feed small crocs yourself, swim in the tank next to the crocs, explore the Reptile house and Freshwater Aquarium then it should take up a few hours of your time and be worth it.

Holding a baby crocodile is including in the ticket price (if you want to do it). Their skin feels smooth.

You can view crocs from above at various viewing areas or from below in the swim tank separated from one of the croc tanks by a glass wall.

The Reptile House was well lit in different colours so you could actually see the snakes, lizards, frogs etc

Check the schedule so you can see some of their huge Saltwater Crocs being fed

I recently visited Darwin, the capital city of Australia’s Northern Territory during the Buildup season in late October as a guest of Tourism NT, along with several other journalists. I’ve visited Darwin before on holiday so was able to plan ahead and decided that I wanted to focus my photography on the outdoor markets and wildlife. As with all trips I go on, I have total control over deciding what and how much I write about and photograph of the places I visit.

By coincidence I was just reading ABC News online and saw a story that announced “The travellers’ guidebook Lonely Planet has named Darwin as one of the top 10 places in the world to visit in 2012.”

Well known ABC cricket commentator Kerry O’Keefe sometimes mentions that in his view the easiest job in the world is the Darwin weather forecaster. You don’t have to get out of bed its 32°, 32°, and 32°!. The only difference is whether it’s dry or wet.

In reality while it’s true that during the day a temperature of 30C +-5 is common in Darwin there are actually 6 seasons: Monsoon, Knock em Down, Cooler but humid, Cold, Hot dry and Pre-monsoon (Buildup). Temperatures and weather patterns in the Northern Territory have become more unpredictable than usual, possibly due to the effects of global warming/climate change.

Keeping cool and hydrated is serious business in the Top End. If you walked a few kilometres without a hat or water you would quickly get dehydrated and dizzy.

Mindil Beach Markets

Mindil Beach markets are open for the more calm 3 seasons of the year – from the last Thursday in April until the last Thursday in October each year. They open Thurs 5-10pm and Sat 4pm-9pm and stalls offer a wide range of food, arts and crafts. Since they’re located next to the beach you can buy a cool drink or dinner and sit on the sand watching the blood red Sun set over the Timor Sea.

Crocodiles

The only newspaper in the Northern Territory is the NT News and it is famous for regularly featuring Crocodiles on the front cover. I say why not? They certainly make for attention grabbing front pages.

I’ve taken several photos of crocodiles in the Northern Territory during previous holidays, you can see examples of these photos below:

(Featured as Photo of the Week on Qantas Travel Insider)

During this trip I got to visit the relatively new Crocosaurus Cove where we got to see a variety of crocodiles and reptiles. I tested some underwater cameras for an article in GEARE magazine by swimming in a tank in a croc tank with a glass wall separating me from them.

Darwin Birdlife

The Northern Territory as a whole is in my opinion the best place to visit if you want to see many raptor (predator) birds. Hawks, falcons and eagles can be seen quite often, especially hovering over main highways waiting to eat roadkill.

This 48 hour trip was far too short to do any serious bird watching but my local NT photojournalist friend Bob Gosford drove me around for 2 hours and we managed to spot 2 Whistling Kites fighting for food scraps and some Terns. Later on I found a dead Rainbow Lorikeet which was sad but enabled me to take macro (closeup) photos of its feathers which show an interesting green pattern.

Parap Village Markets

Parap Village Markets run all year round every Saturday of the year between 8am and 2pm. I visited at breakfast time and found it had a very Asian smell and feel to it, with lots of stalls selling all kinds of food and drink as well as beautiful flowers.

Darwin Swimming Options

You shouldn’t swim in the sea around Darwin during October to May as box jellyfish “stingers” are common. Saltwater crocodiles are also very common in all waterways surrounding Darwin and are even occasionally found swimming in Darwin Harbour and on local beaches.

Tourism NT suggests that tourists take advantage of the Wave Lagoon (fee for use) and/or the Recreation Lagoon (free) which should be stinging jellyfish free and much safer to swim in than the open sea because it has mesh screens and nets to keep “stinger” jellyfish out.

Both Lagoons are handily located alongside the Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront where Tourism NT had booked our group in to stay. They are literally less than a minutes walk from the hotel’s breakfast cafe area.

Buildup – Lightning Storm Season

Darwin has more lightning strikes than any other city in the world, especially during October/November/November during the Buildup to the Monsoon. This attracts storm chasers and photographers from around Australia and the world to visit and marvel at the power of nature.

I was lucky enough to watch a massive storm on the horizon from the Deckchair Cinema area with so many simultaneous lightning strikes that the photo looks like it was taken during the day, rather than late in the evening as it actually was.

The Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront hotel I stayed at is located on the shore and offers “Stormchaser” packages in the wet season for photographers. As you can see in the photo below taken by one of the hotel staff you can’t get much closer to the storm action!

48 hours in Darwin Photo Highlights

Some of my highlights photos have been displayed in this article but you can view all of them here or in a slideshow below:

DISCLAIMER: Almost all expenses for this trip were covered by Tourism NT (Tourism Northern Territory), and accomodation by Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront. I have full editorial control over the topics I want to write about on this trip and what I say.

I’m flying to Darwin tomorrow as a guest of Tourism Northern Territory (Tourism NT) with a group of other journalists and that reminded me of my backpacking trip through the Red Centre of Australia in the Northern Territory a few years ago.

Checking back through this Road Less Traveled website I realised that I hadn’t published photo highlights of the “Red Centre” Northern Territory of Australia section of the roadtrip so here are a selection of the photos below.

The Red Centre of Australia is a beautiful place to drive around. Don’t listen to people who say there’s nothing to see via Alice Springs except Uluru (Ayers Rock), Watarrka (Kings Canyon) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Some of the highlights off the beaten track include Ewaninga Australian Aboriginal Rock Carvings, Chambers Pillar and Rainbow Valley.

Ewaninga Aboriginal Rock Carvings

The rock carvings (petroglyphs) of Ewaninga represent one of central Australia’s earliet and richest art sites. This reserve is an important sacred site for the Arrente Aboriginal people.

Chambers Pillar

In the Aboriginal Dreamtime it is said the Gecko ancestor Itirkawara left the Finke River and journeyed north east. As he travelled he grew into a huge and powerfully built man of super human strength and with an extremely violent temper. On the way home to his birthplace he challenged and killed, with his stone knife, a number of ancestors.

Flushed with the ease of his success, he then disregarded the strict marriage code and took a wife from the wrong skin group. His enraged relatives banished him and the girl.

The two retreated into the desert, Itirkawara raging in fury, the girl shrinking from him in deep shame. Among the dunes they rested and turned into prominent rocky formations – Itirkawara into the Pillar, and the girl, still turning her face away from him in shame, into Castle Rock, around 500 metres away.
- Chambers Pillar Historical Reserve fact sheet

Rainbow Valley

The main features of the Rainbow Valley area are the scenic sandstone bluffs and cliffs. These free standing cliffs form part of the James Range, and are particularly attractive in the early morning and late afternoon when the rainbow-like rock bands are highlighted.
- Rainbow Valley Conservation Reserve factsheet

Slideshow of all Red Centre Northern Territory, Australian Outback Photo Highlights

Download free 1440×900 resolution desktop wallpaper photo of a crocodile eye. It was taken in mid-2007 during my trip to the Northern Territory

Download this 1440×900 sized wallpaper photo of a crocodile eye.

• Camera: Panasonic PZ30
• Wallpaper format: JPG 1.45 MB in size
• Original Photos: JPG 3.5MB in size

• F stop: 4.5
• Exposure time: 1/400th second
• ISO: 100

• Focal Length: 420 mm
• Original Resolution: 8 Megapixel (3264px x 2448px) photo

I regularly publish new Free Desktop Wallpapers for your computer by a Guest Photographer or from the archives of photos I’ve taken, subscribe to my RSS feed to make sure you get the next one.

Other photos I’ve taken can be viewed at my Flickr Photo collection

Download a free 1680×1050 resolution desktop wallpaper photo of Sunrise on top of a Crocodile closeup with its jaws open in the Northern Territory, Australia.

In mid-2007 I went on a holiday crossing Australia South to North from Adelaide to Darwin by road, along the way I visited a crocodile farm near Darwin where I got this great photo of a crocodile resting in the midday sun – it’s got its jaws open as a way of cooling down it’s body in the heat.

Download Instructions

1. Click on the preview photo
2. When the full size photo is displayed from the Picasa web album – click on Download at the top right side of the screen, then Download Photo

Crocodile Closeup with Jaws Open – Northern Territory, Australia

• Camera: Panasonic FZ30
• Wallpaper format: JPG 979 Kb in size
• Original Photo: JPG 3.07 MB in size

• F stop: 5.0
• Exposure time: 1/100th second
• ISO: 100

• Metering & Focusing: Multi-segment
• Focal Length: 342mm
• Original Resolution: 8 Megapixels (3264px x 2448px)
• Optical Image Stabilisation: Turned On
• Filter: Circular Polarising
• Tripod Used: No

Every month I’ll publish a new high resolution Free Desktop Wallpaper for your computer from the archives of photos I’ve taken, subscribe to my RSS feed to make sure you get the next one.

Other photos I’ve taken can be viewed at my Google Picasa Web Photo Album

Download a free 1024×768 resolution desktop wallpaper photo of a pair of Rainbow Bee Eaters sitting back to back on a tree branch – taken in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia.

In mid-2007 I went on a holiday crossing Australia South to North from Adelaide to Darwin by road, I visited the Kakadu National Park on a day trip from Darwin where I quickly snapped this great photo of a cute pair of Rainbow Bee Eaters sitting back to back on a tree branch before they flew off.

Download Instructions

1. Click on the preview photo
2. When the full size photo is displayed from the Picasa web album – click on Download Photo in the right-hand side menu and Save

Rainbow Bee Eater snapping up an insect

• Camera: Panasonic FZ30
• Wallpaper format: JPG 726 Kb in size
• Original Photo: JPG 2.6 Mb in size

• F stop: 8.0
• Exposure time: 1/500th second
• ISO: 100

• Metering & Focusing: Centre weighted
• Focal Length: 420mm
• Original Resolution: 8 Megapixels (3264px x 2448px)
• Optical Image Stabilisation: Turned On
• Tripod Used: No

I’ve also taken a photo of a Rainbow Bee Eater Snapping Up An Insect that’s definitely worth seeing

Every month I’ll publish a new 1024×768 resolution Free Desktop Wallpaper for your computer from the archives of photos I’ve taken, subscribe to my RSS feed to make sure you get the next one.

Other photos I’ve taken can be viewed at my Google Picasa Web Photo Album