All kinds of people chase adventure in the Northern Territory — and something a bit different from the standard day-to-day.

None more so than in the medical field, where tropical diseases, conditions long since eradicated in other developed nations and unique predators makes for a fascinating array of patients.

The lure brings around a dozen doctors every year to the Territory to do their final emergency credits with services like CareFlight.

The service is devoted to saving lives through its fixed wing retrieval service, looking after the vast Top End region collecting patients and taking them to hospital in Katherine, Darwin or Gove.

Last year crews flew over 1 million kilometres and helped more than 3,400 patients.

The gig is a hot ticket for young doctors — over the past decade 97 registrars have gone through CareFlight. Every year they get bombarded with applications, and as a result are able to choose the cream of the crop.

"To be honest, whether they're international or even Australian doctors coming to the Top End for the first time, they're going to [be] a fish out of water," CareFlight NT General Manager Craig Gibbons said.

"They are going to see things they've never seen before and go to communities very few people have the privilege of visiting... so I think that's part of the whole experience."

'If the crocodiles don't get you, the jellyfish will'

The young doctors must go through an intensive process of training before they get into the sky — from learning about tropical medicine to the dangerous animal bites they may have to treat.

"For doctors in Australia, to come work in Darwin is very exciting," new recruit Vivek Lal said.

The dry season is considered "trauma season" for CareFlight NT. ( Supplied: CareFlight NT )

"They have all Australia's poisonous snakes and if the crocodiles don't get you, the jelly fish will."

But it's not all fun and games. Registrars face heavy case loads, made more difficult by expansive distances and critically-ill patients.

Ninety per cent of those transported to hospital by CareFlight are Indigenous, and often live in remote areas with limited medical access.

"Working in a small hospital in England, you don't see the things you see here," said Dr Tom Nicholls, originally from Cornwall.

"Things that maybe 50 years ago were much more commonplace — rheumatic heart disease, TB and other things that are just inherent in isolated, very close-knit communities.

"It's an incredible experience, incredible opportunity to further my medical knowledge, training stuff like that."

'The dry season is trauma season'

One of the biggest differences is the fact it is a makeshift surgery in the sky that requires the very unique ability to be able to hang out of a chopper.

Registrars learn how to lower themselves out of a helicopter to reach patients. ( Supplied: CareFlight NT )

The registrars are shown how to confidently and competently lower themselves down to treat a patient, or in some cases airlift that patient out.

"I get a bit nervous, I get very air sick, so I've done everything I can to ensure I'm going to be okay," said Dr Danika Thiemt, who was raised in north-western Australia.

"But again, you have to work in the environment that you're in, it's going to be a part of the job."

The recruits run through drills, some showing visible apprehension before they make the final leap off the helicopter platform and down to the air below.

It's a skill they will need on maritime search and rescue operations or in the many Top End national parks, where hikers and tourists come unstuck, often in hard-to-reach crevices or waterfalls.

"Dry season could be referred to as trauma season, there is a much bigger population moving around the Top End because the roads are open, [so] there are a lot of tourists," Mr Gibbons said.

"Unfortunately, adventure in the Top End equals misadventure, and that's when we get involved.

"The wet season has its own problems [with] accessibility... but it also brings on a lot more respiratory conditions and we see changes in the way the illness presents."

'You deserve the same access to health care'

Through the course of their placement, the doctors perform a flurry of shifts — at times tragic and distressing.

From multiple fatality car crashes, to crocodile bites and buffalo and bull goring.

"It is a completely new environment to be working in. We're normally used to working in hospitals with a team around us," said Dr Amanda Wallace, who recently completed a stint in Papua New Guinea.

Around a dozen doctors head to the NT each year to work with CareFlight. ( Supplied: CareFlight NT )

"I think that's where this... training has been really useful, and we need to know the team backing us up is great."

Though they all may hail from different backgrounds, they share one commonality — their desire to make a difference.

"I think health care is really about equity and I think if you choose to live in Borroloola or Ramingining, you deserve exactly the same access to health care as someone who chooses to live in Darwin or Melbourne or Sydney," Dr Thiemt said.

"There shouldn't be a difference and what CareFlight does is gives that access to health care, to every single member of the Territory regardless really [of] where you choose to live or where your land is."

One year on, and most of the registrars have since left the service after their six months of training — except Dr Nicholls.

As he finishes talking, his pager buzzes on his phone. It means he has around five minutes to suit up and get ready to head to the sky to potentially save another life.

As he races towards the door, he offers one final tip: "Be prepared for anything and be prepared to have your limits tested, but it's probably the most rewarding job I've done".