Chance for Territorians to explore their own backyard a rare privilege

WITH the NT’s borders firmly closed, and with Chief Minister Michael Gunner yet to indicate when they might be reopened, Territorians should heed the new ‘Time to be a Territorian’ marketing campaign and use this time as an opportunity to explore all this place has to offer.

With the NT’s borders firmly closed, and with Chief Minister Michael Gunner yet to indicate when they might be reopened, Territorians should heed the new ‘Time to be a Territorian’ marketing campaign and use this time as an opportunity to explore all this place has to offer. Picture: Tourism NT/ Sam Earp

WITH the NT’s borders firmly closed, and with Chief Minister Michael Gunner yet to indicate when they might be reopened, Territorians should use this as an opportunity to explore all this place has to offer.

The new “Time to be a Territorian” marketing campaign could not have come at a better time – right as the weather starts to cool and as Territorians begin to get restless from time spent at home because of COVID-19 restrictions.

We, in the NT, are in an incredibly privileged and unique situation with almost complete freedom to travel within the region. And by June 5, if all goes to plan, all of NT’s biosecurity zones will be reopened too.

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This means all of our world-famous sites – Kakadu National Park, Litchfield, Uluru, Nitmiluk – will be open to be explored. And even better, for the meantime, we will have them all to ourselves.

It is all too common that people tend to want to explore elsewhere before exploring what’s in their own backyard. And, if there’s a silver lining to the NT being closed for now, it is that it forces us to finally do just that.

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Finally, you can make that trip to Uluru and spend days camping under the stars. You can walk the Larapinta Trail – maybe even all 223km of it. And you can spend some money at local tourism operators throughout your journey.

And before you know it, it will be time for the Territory to let visitors back in, and we will once again be able to share the incredible beauty of the Territory with the rest of Australia and the world.