Reasons to visit Tropical Australia in the Wet Season
From barramundi fishing on Lake Tinaroo and jet boats on Katherine Gorge to scenic flights over Kakadu National Park, there’s plenty to do during the Wet Season in Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory. David Whitley investigates.
Top End and Far North Queensland in the Wet Season
If you were on a boat, having been promised the whale watching trip of a life time, only to be told after three hours of ocean trawling that the whales aren’t there, they migrated two months ago, you would rightly feel a little cheated. Similarly, if you were taken to Thredbo in the middle of January, thrown a pair of skis and told to go wild on the piste, you’d be outrageously disappointed. A curious exception seems to apply to Australia’s tropics. Yes, the Top End and Far North Queensland are far more challenging in the wet season (between November and April), and you might get your new T-Shirt a little wet, but this is when the regions are most alive. Rainforest, rivers and electrical storms Without the torrential rains, these places would not be there – the clue is in the first syllable of the word ‘rainforest’ – and during the southern summer, they are at their most jaw-dropping. Everything that is slightly green in the dry season becomes incredibly so in the wet, trickling rivers become foaming torrents and crackling overhead electrical storms are a photographer’s dream. Christmas and New Year in the Tropics
Once you add the fact that there are considerably fewer tourists swarming during the wet season (their place stoically taken by mosquitos), the suggestion of a Christmas or New Year break to the tropics doesn’t sound quite as absurd. There are many things that are simply not worth doing in the dry season, either because it’s physically impossible or because there’s not a lot to see. Kakadu National Park waterfalls: scenic flights Perhaps the best examples of the latter are Jim Jim and Twin Falls in Kakadu National Park. Unless you get there right at the start of the dry season (and then the accessibility is something of a lottery), the thundering cascades become comparatively limp dribbles once the heavy rains stop. The catch, of course, is that the roads to both falls are blocked off during the wet, so the only option is a scenic flight. This is well worth doing, however, as it offers a unique perspective on the World Heritage Area, and the approach to the waterfalls is pretty astonishing. Litchfield National Park: Wangi, Tolmer and Florence falls The waterfalls in Litchfield National Park are also far more impressive when there’s actually water going down them. Wangi, Tolmer and Florence falls are all different beasts, although swimming under them is no longer an option, as anyone who does will probably become a tasty snack for an invading saltwater croc. Water levels are too high at this time of year for rangers to make any kind of concerted and successful effort to keep the toothy predators out Katherine Gorge jet boats
Slightly further south at Katherine Gorge, it’s only when the river is exceptionally high that cruising it becomes exciting. At this time, usually January and February, the dawdling granny vessels are put away and cruises are done on high-powered jet boats. Atherton Tableland, Queensland In the far north of Queensland, the Atherton Tableland provides (although not always) a nice respite from the humid conditions. Being at an elevation of at least 600m above sea level, the temperature rarely creeps above 30 degrees, and it is south of where the worst of the deluges hit. Scenic Railway and Mareeba Wetland Reserve The most famous attraction of the area is the Scenic Railway, which winds from Cairns, through the rainforest, to the jungle village of Kuranda. However, there are other less publicised attractions. The Mareeba Wetland Reserve is nature-packed at this time of year, and bird-watchers in particular should be enthralled, whilst Lake Tinaroo is renowned for having huge fish in it – the biggest barramundi on record was caught here. It is also exempt from the close season for taking barra which affects the rest of the state from November to February, so you can attempt to smash that record if your luck and back are up to it.
This article was originally written for Australian Traveller magazine in 2007.