- Top End
The Top End is the second northernmost point on the continent of
Australia , behind theCape York Peninsula . It covers a rather vaguely-defined area of perhaps 400,000 square kilometres bounded by sea on three sides (theIndian Ocean on the west, theArafura Sea to the north, and theGulf of Carpentaria to the east), and by the almost waterless semi-arid interior of Australia to the south.The Top End, though less frequently visited and less well-known overseas than the arid southern part of the
Northern Territory , referred to by Australians as the "Red Centre" and the largest town of which isAlice Springs , contains the Territory's other major towns, Darwin, Katherine and Palmerston.The transition from the lush, steamy tropical environment of the north to the semi-arid
mulga scrub s,mallee , andsand dune s of the centre is gradual, and the demarcation line that divides the Top End from the centre is arbitrary.
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