Top End dreaming

Exploring the Northern Territory was well worth the travel, writes Emily Bosman

While working at Banka Banka, we heard from many travellers about Bitter Springs in the town of Mataranka. We were told about this natural swimming hole that was bright blue and some of the clearest and warmest water they’ve seen in the NT. We were excited to arrive at our caravan park among the tropical trees and spent the afternoon floating with the current in the waterhole.

Our next destination was East Arnhem Land which is situated in the far northeastern end of the Northern Territory. The region covers an area of 33,310 km and is owned by the traditional owners.

In order to travel through this country, a permit is required and permission from an elder in the area. The permit process was not for the faint hearted – it was a pretty confusing application process but it was worth it all once we received our approval.

The Central Arnhem Road starts just outside Katherine and stretches across 675kms of country. We split this drive up into two days as 99% of the drive was corrugated dirt road with many pot holes and bull dust to watch out for, not to mention there was no signal so that made it a bit nerve wracking.

We finally arrived at the coastal town Nhulunbuy and were so pleasantly surprised. We spent the next five days camping around the area on the beaches and along the rivers. We made friends with an awesome Perth local who took us out on his boat for the morning which was an epic experience. This part of the country is a fisherman’s dream so Glen beyond excited.

The Northern Territory is known for its aboriginal history, national parks and waterfalls. Kakadu National Park is home to the coolest waterfalls and incredible rock paintings that tell many stories about the First Nations people and the way their culture teaches lessons and the way of the land. Adelaide River is situated just outside the National Park and is the place to go if you want to see 5-6 metre crocodiles in their natural environment.

Being in Darwin was a complete change of pace for us, we weren’t used to the people, the traffic and the noise that cities bring. We went to many night markets, explored the museum, played on the inflatable obstacle course and experienced a local rodeo 40 minutes out of town where a local Toowoomba boy took home first prize.

We had planned to fly home for a wedding so with a few days to kill before our flight we ventured out to Dundee Beach which is one of our favourite camp sites. What made this destination even better was that the camping was free. We spent three days relaxing, fishing, eating and napping which was a great end to our Northern Territory stay.

Once we arrived back to Darwin from our visit back home, we picked up a our new boat and made our way to the border to cross over to Western Australia.