After five days in Darwin, we began our road trip southward. Our first stop was Adelaide River War Cemetery.

There are 434 war graves of service personnel who died in this part of Australia, marked by bronze plaques.

A further 292 are honoured by the Memorial of the Missing. The civil section contains the graves of nine Post Office staff killed in one of 63 bombing raids on Darwin.

Pine Creek was the next break to have a look at the now closed open-cut gold mine. The main pit, Enterprise Pit, has been filled with water to prevent acid build up.

Further on, we lunched in the shade overlooking the swimming hole at Edith Falls.

Leliyn, as it is known in the Aboriginal Jawoyn language, is a series of cascading waterfalls and pools on the Edith River in the Nitmiluk National Park, about 60km north of Katherine.

30km south of Katherine, the Cutta Cutta caves tour took us into a tropical limestone cave 15 metres below the surface. Venturing 700 metres into the cave, we were surrounded by all sorts of fascinating formations.

The spectacle wasn’t all underground, this amazing tree stood at the entrance to the cave.

After checking into our motel in Katherine and a much needed shower, we followed the river northward to Cicada Lodge, an exclusive resort located in Nitmiluk National Park.

We savoured a beverage on the deck

while watching the descent of the sun

then moved inside for a unique dining experience. The Chef’s menu features specialty dishes of the Chef’s choice combining traditional elements and incredible flavours from the region. We started with ciabatta with extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar. Entrée was a delicious canard (that’s duck) salad, with beetroot, orange segments, fetta & a merlot and orange glaze.

Lemon Myrtle Barramundi followed, with broccolini, soft egg, confit cherry tomatoes, wilted spinach & hollandaise.

The culinary journey was completed with dessert of chocolate tart with calvados cream & fresh raspberries.

What a fabulous way to end an awesome day.