Top End temperature -campfires

I would treat a campfire as an possible luxury if, when and where you can have one. Most definitely take a gas /fuel stove .

i wouldnt worry about it to much in the NT but QLD is a differant story. cheers

The biggest problem is finding decent firewood in the tropics, termites have eaten it before it falls over and if it is on the ground it is generally 99% soil.
We tend to use the gas stove as it is usually too hot for us southerners even in midwinter and the thought of sitting around a fire to raise the temp in the cool evenings seems counterproductive.
If you are camping nywhere near water you will be cooking and eating before sunset to avoid the mossies anyway.

Normally National Parks ban camp fires

There is plenty of firewood in the tropics but you have to search for it sometimes.

If you are travelling through the Gulf country then there should not be a shortage of wood. If travelling along the Barkly Tableland then wood might be a problem.

We always had a fire going when camping in the tropics. If you keep the fire small you can cook heaps of tucker.

I would however, take a gas or fuel stove as a back-up for those times where fires are not allowed

Cheers

Ditto re the above - stoves are a must. WEST of Darwin last year we found the savannah grasslands a bit of a worry in July - probably the same east of Darwin - zillions of acres of dry grasslands everywhere - we skipped campfires at times when we thought a bushfire was too easy to start - some great campsites have high grass all round and if a breeze whips up, anything is possible - we did meet some folks who awoke one night to find a grassfire rapidly approaching their motorhome.Landholders and indigenous people light fires up there throughout the dry, so this has to be considered when you camp. Savannah fires seem to be slow and cool - not like the wild stuff we see down south - cool in that a lot of the veg survives happily as the fire passes.

YHep, Murray river redgum does not grow to well in the tropics. All the decent firewood has gone long ago. Acacia is good but as every one has said Campfires in national parks are best forgotten. Had you done your trip say a century ago with Camels you would have been sweet...

Hi vcbb

I have camped all around the top end over 32 year now, I haven't yet camped in a National Park or Nature Reserve that does'nt alow camp fires.

The only thing to take note of is different park have different rules as to fire wood collection, EG: Kakadu you can have a camp fire in any of the parks camp grounds, but you must collect fire wood with in the park and only from a fallen tree and no chainsaws.

Most territory park alow the same with exeption of Kings Canyon, you have to bring your fire wood in.

There are useualy signs telling you the above and my train of thought is if there is a fire place in the camp ground have a barby.
This
All National Parks and nature Parks are covered by the Enviromental protecion and Bio-divesity act 2001.

This can be looked up on the web.

Hope this helps Steve.