I'm always looking for places to go in the Top End region, new places to explore and photograph. I was recently looking for some information on Maguk (or Barramundi Gorge) in Kakadu National Park and although could find the basics from the Parks Australia website - http://www.parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/ - I found it difficult to find "real life" experiences on exploring and the location. When I say "real life" experiences, I mean blogs from travelers of where to go, when is best to go, different routes and walks, experiences on what people saw, what was great, where to look for certain things, etc etc. There's actually not much in depth, local information in a "kakadu blog" google search. What does show up are mainly short excerpts from people just doing the highlights of Kakadu as part of an extended trip.

Anyway. So what I want to start doing is sharing my experience and knowledge of these places in Kakadu….

We ended our 6 day walk with the final 5km down from Sweetwater Pools to Edith Falls. Edith Falls was a welcome site at the end of the walk - it's probably one of my favourite swimming/relaxing spots in the Top End…

Day 4 was the big day on the Jatbula trail - 17km. The walk was broken up in to two chunks, 12km and 5km with a stop at Edith River crossing after the first 12km. We got through the first 12km a supersonic speed and arrived at Edith River crossing when we thought we still had 3km to go. A lovely shady spot for lunch with a chance for a cool off! The first 12km on this day was an easy walk - flat and good terrain. The remaining 5km proved to be a little trickier…

Day 2 was a longer day than the first, travelling across the top of the escarpment. This day ended at Crystal Falls as the campground, although we actually didn't see any "falls" until the walk the following morning….

I’ve just returned from a hike in the Katherine region known as the Jatbula trail - a combined photo-trip/remote camping getaway! This walk is the first multi-day bush walk I’ve done in years and the first one my partner had ever done. The first thing I have to say about the Jatbula is that it was AWESOME! We loved it! The walk was really interesting and travelled through a variety of Top End habitats. Maybe we appreciated the varying landscape a little more than an interstate or overseas visitor, as we could really notice the smaller differences in the vegetation and the types of habitat as we were a little more familiar with the area.

We travelled through open woodlands on top of the escarpment, where we saw some amazing open views across hills, cliffs and buttes. There were monsoon pockets, bushfire-burnt regions, 2-metre high grasses, mushy marshy floodplains, amazing rock formations and colours, creek crossings and some of the best waterfalls I’ve seen in the Top End. We saw so many birds too (but thankfully only one snake and no face-to-face encounters with buffalo)!

For anyone considering walking the trail…

Last weekend was a public holiday here in the Northern Territory, and due to our light rain levels this year the Kakadu rangers and road-workers managed to get the awesome Gunlom pools open to visitors…

Took a trip out to Kakdadu National Park (again!) last week - the road to Twin Falls, one of the park's most spectacular waterfalls, had reopened again. As I hadn't visited Twin Falls for a couple of years, I decided it was time to make another trip Kakadu. Every "escape" to the park, I wish there was more time…

Corroboree Billabong is a large wetlands system and part of the Mary River region in the Northern Territory. It's environment is similar to a lot of other Top End wetlands: gorgeous crystal blue waters fringed by paperbarks and pandanus, filled with barramundi and the legendary saltwater crocodile. Corroboree is larger…

What are these markets?

If you are coming to Darwin on holiday, you should try to make it to Mindil Beach Sunset Markets! Mindil markets is held through the dry season (end of April until last week in October), every Thursday and Sunday evening….

By popular request, I have put together a summary of some of my favourite places around Darwin's beaches to take photos: when to go and what tides are best. I hope this helps a couple of people who are looking for somewhere to go tonight!

Don’t forget it’s not only being in the right place at the right time that creates good photos. Here’s some of my other useful tutorials that might help…

Do you want to see another awesome sunset over tropical Darwin, Australia?

I am travelling overseas for six weeks, leaving on Sunday. By the time I return to Darwin, the wet season will be well and truly over and we'll be in to the start of another awesome dry season! Mindil Beach markets will be back on, and life will be hectic for another season. So, I thought I would take a couple of days to get some shots of the Katherine region….

A common question people ask me about my photos is if the colours are real. The answer is always yes. I very rarely adjust the colours in my photos, and if I do, it is generally a white balance correction (e.g eliminating a green/blue cast in the shadows) or a contrast adjustment….

These sunsets are on fire lately!! (Ha ha, get it?) Here's a couple from Nightcliff tonight, near the jetty….

A branch-i-licious bolt from tonight's storm….

Mindil Beach is probably Darwin's most popular - loved by tourists and locals alike…

Tonight's sunset from Darwin's Lameroo Beach…

And then, it passed.... And threw a few small CG's out as it went by:

I know I haven't posted my "one's that got away" (my unseen photos) from November and December - that's because things with Christmas have been SO hectic I've not had time to take any photos, really. I think I only posted around 5 shots on Facebook for the month of December (usually around 30).