NT in July/August - ideas?

[SYD]

I know now through June is a great time to do the top-end but I couldn't get my sh$t together to arrange something so looking at July/August. I know my way around Darwin but never been to Kakadu, Katherine, Alice (apart from flying through) and the rock. We're thinking of flying into to DRW and home from ASP and about 10 days in between. There's some very long distances involved and I see that ASP-AYQ flights aren't operating at the moment (so that's the good part of 3 days for a return drive!).

Any hints, tips and traps most welcome!

 

[I love to travel]

You might want to check prices flights horrifying expensive

 

[SYD]

You might want to check prices flights horrifying expensive

Yeah, done that! $179 SYD-DRW and 18k pts+$41 ASP-SYD. We’re both PC - so get SC on the return. May even hub it through BNE, ADL or MEL home.

 

[kpc]

We are going to Darwin for 6 nights in August...car hire, hotels etc are expensive and almost fully booked so book asap. We wanted to do a 3 day, 2 night tour to Kakadu and Arnhem Land...knocked back by many TAs...only managed a 2 day 1 night tour and we were lucky!

 

[SYD]

So we booked as above. “1/2 price“ ex SYD (non-stop) and points home ex-ASP via MEL. Leaving late July for 12 nights.

1st week of August in Darwin looks crazy busy, so we miss that and head south to Katherine then on to Alice and Uluru. Lots of kms!

Yes, car rentals are insane and the a’holes are sneaking in 500 km “included” before ¢/km kicks in. Currently two cars - one way DRW-ASP (Hertz was the only one I could find) and swap for another (Avis) in Alice to get us around and out to the rock for 2 days.

A small camper van with NRMA discount was almost cheaper!

I’ll be monitoring the one-way car rental sites to see if I can score a bargain DRW-ASP....

Booked the Rydges DRW (tip - the GHA app gave me a larger discount than the website and other OLTAs). In Alice, debating either the CP or DT or something else?

At Uluru, *only* the Dessert Gardens (Novotel) had rooms left. Everything else booked out (or are they operating at reduced capacity?)

 

[michaelangelo]

At least one of the resort hotels in Uluru is under renovations at the moment. Half of the restaurants are shut due to lack of staff. I saw the job board a couple of weeks ago, about 90 different roles being advertised, many of them with multiple positions available.

Take a fly net.