Top End Tour (Year 11)
Just after Easter, 44 students and 5 staff members headed off to Uluru at the lovely hour of 5 am to start the 2021/2022 Top End Tour.
Over 12 days, we bussed from Uluru to Darwin, which came to just shy of travelling 2,300 kilometres.
Rather than telling you every day, we’ve chosen to include the key highlights of our time. Within the first three days our group set off onto three unique walks, at Uluru, Kata Jutta and King's Canyon.
We first walked around the base of Uluru, with the total distance being around 9 km, before we set off on a walk to Katta Jutta. The most challenging walk of the lot was King’s Canyon, which featured a 2 km steep incline. However King’s Canyon had by far the most scenic views from the top.
Our next big highlight was in Alice Springs, where we visited Rex’s Reptile Centre and were able to hold a Rainbow Serpent. We were also honored to visit Terry, the trained crocodile, who did some tricks for us.
From Renice Springs, we went to Mataranka where we had our first swim in the thermal springs.
On April 25 we had the privilege of attending the Katherine ANZAC Day Dawn Service, which is significant due to the brave involvement in the war of our service men and women.
We then arrived at Nitmuluk National Park where we had a scenic two-hour boat cruise of the Nitmuluk Gorge. From Nitmuluk we travelled into Katherine, where we swam in Edith Falls, and were able to sit under the waterfall. This was amazing in such a dry area to have such beautiful waterfalls and gorges to swim in.
In Kakadu we were able to experience a lovely NT shower complete with red dust and mozzies. Not to mention flooded tents also.
The next morning we had our Yellow-Waters river cruise where we were able to get up close and personal with some wild crocodiles, and the religious Jesus Bird. After waiting a painful half hour, we were served a gourmet buffet breakfast.
We then arrived at Litchfield National Park where we had our final swim at Florence Falls. Again, swimming under another beautiful waterfall.
We made our way to Darwin, where we were treated to the sunset at Mindil markets and the sensational fireworks. This is where we bought many presents and souvenirs.
On our final day, we had the experience of visiting the museum of the Royal Flying Doctors and Bombing of Darwin experience. We made a very healthy donation to the RFDS through donations along the way.
We then visited the artillery museum and the Darwin Museum, where we saw our final croc, Sweetheart. We finished the final day off strong, bowling at Kingpin before we made our way to wait at the airport at 12 am for the flight home.
We would like the thank all of the wonderful teachers for accompanying us. So a huge thankyou to Jeremy Barren, Kaz Heart and Vicky Andres. And another huge thank you to the organisers of our trip, Jess Van den Eynde and Graeme Stewart. We’re so incredibly grateful for all the hard work these teachers put into our trip. Another thank you to our tour guide and our chef, Lennard and Pete.
We also encourage you if you have the opportunity to go on Top End. It was an incredible opportunity and we really enjoyed it.
Matilda McCullagh and Alexandra Wilkeson, Year 11
