Butterfly Gorge is amazing, and relatively unknown.

It is about 2.5 hours from Darwin, and you get to do a little 4WD track too that is a lot of fun, but fairly easy. It takes a little bit of finding, even once you are there. My biggest tip for this place is that, because you need to swim around to get there, you should figure out what you are going to do with your car keys. Unless you have an old car you probably can’t get it wet, if you want to leave they on the beach well… look I have never heard of anything happening, but I haven’t done it.

Personally I use a combination lock to my car that I put my car key in. You could (depending on your car) get a metal only key cut and put it in your pocket, and keep the real one inside.

Anyway. You will be getting up and out of lots of water holes, and walking over rocks, some wet, so wear proper footwear. A bottle of water or two is handy too, so you can spend a few hours there.

It is a great place to visit, I’ve been there a few times and only once had the ‘loud jerks with an esky’ that love to ruin swimming holes, usually it is pretty empty. It is also very hard to photograph, so trust me, the snaps don’t do it justice.

Me at the entrance