Timeless territory gorge-ous

STOP the clock, just relax and bask in the nature's grandeur millenia old - this is Nitmiluk.

escape nitmiluk

ON MY return from a morning cruise of Nitmiluk Gorge, where sunlight on ripples bathes rocks in a magic fire, and red dragonflies flit past skittish freshwater crocodiles, a fellow passenger tells me: "I don't do helicopters anymore."

Walking with a limp, the former park ranger from New South Wales tells me how he was once in a helicopter that went down. "That's how I got this," he says, pointing to his braced leg and walking stick.

It's not what you want to hear when you are about to take an afternoon helicopter flight over Jawoyn country for a bird's-eye view of what you have just seen from ground level.

After a sensational salad for lunch at the Sugarbag Cafe in the Nitmiluk Visitor Centre which also does a plate abundant with bacon and eggs for breakfast a man at the next table tells me: "I don't do helicopters anymore."

The former NSW farmer was also on a helicopter that went down. Amazed, I tell him of the ranger. It turns out they were on the same aircraft. Travelling independently, neither knew the other was there.

Welcome to Katherine in the Northern Territory, where everybody has a story to tell.

Take Sue, the warm host of the basic, yet accommodating, wallaby-packed Maud Creek Lodge, just outside Nitmiluk National Park, who took off on a grand tour of Australia six years ago, only to stop at Katherine two weeks in and refuse to budge.

Or May Diganbal Rosas, a Wardaman-Dagoman woman and eloquent Aboriginal artist who makes works on glass and who was born "on country". She lived a nomadic childhood to avoid the Government taking her away, as they did her siblings.

Or Marksie, whose dinners under the Milky Way are punctuated with tale after tale, tall and true, amid cackles and camaraderie as warm as his campfire.

His camp oven-cooked roo, buffalo and barra, laced with the flavours of the bush, and the world's best scones, are washed down with gumleaf billy tea.

Or the Jawoyn people themselves, traditional owners of Nitmiluk, whose Dreamtime stories tell of Bula, the creator of the gorge, and Bolung, the Rainbow Serpent, who still resides in a corner of the gorge, ready to aid or harm.

In the wet season, from October to April, the Katherine River thunders through the gorge. The trees remain bent in a show of Bolung's fearsome strength, such that caused the river to flood the town of Katherine in 2006 and deposit a giant saltwater crocodile in the shopping centre.

Or so the story goes.

But when I visit the easily accessible Nitmiluk, a 30km drive from Katherine on a bitumen road, it is the start of the dry season. Water levels are not yet low enough to allow swimming or canoeing.

Park rangers are still croc-spotting to eradicate any aggressive salties that may have entered the river in the wet. A 4.6m, 700kg croc was caught in the river about 10km from town a few weeks before my visit.

Cruises of the gorge are running, operated by Nitmiluk Tours, a wholly indigenous-owned business.

Book at the visitor centre for a range of options, from a four-hour three-gorge cruise and a chance to swim in a croc-free waterhole, to single-gorge breakfast and dinner cruises.

Stroll down from the visitor centre to the boat ramp, past the vast colony of fruit bats that has taken up residence along the river. In the daytime, the bats jostle for position on heavily laden, too-small branches as hungry freshwater crocodiles wait below for a bough to break and sea eagles wait for a chance to swoop.

From the vessel, an indigenous guide tells stories of fishing and floods, folklore and films (scenes from Jedda were filmed here) and flora and fauna.

From the water you can see bonsai gum trees, underneath rock ledges, spinifex grass hanging like beards, freshies sunning themselves and flood debris caught high up in tall trees.

At the end of the gorge we climb out for a visit to the waterfall-fed lily ponds waterhole and a swim. The weather has warmed up enough to make the water enticing but the hollers of swimmers standing in the waterfall trumpet its icy nature.

Later, after a tricky helicopter descent performed by sticklers-for-safety Heliwest, I dip my toes in a secluded waterhole. The pure, fresh, water is like a healing balm, as red rock formations tower above and blue sky balloons upwards. The flight takes in the vast landscapes of the Top End, above the gorge and billabongs, keeping a respectful distance from Aboriginal burial grounds, and a watchful eye for buffalo. Then we're deposited high on a sandstone bluff and the majesty and energy of the land start to get under my skin. It is ancient country, filled with life, secret places, predators and peace. I'm bewitched.

Back at Maud Creek Lodge, as the sun sets, wallabies gather and Sue provides a bountiful antipasto platter, I can see why she insisted on staying put. Will I muster the will to go?

The writer was a guest of Nitmiluk Tours.

Go2
NITMILUK

Getting there: Katherine is about 350km south of Darwin on the Stuart Highway. Nitmiluk National Park is about 30km from Katherine.

Staying there: Nitmiluk Tours operates Maud Creek Lodge and Nitmiluk Chalets in the Nitmiluk National Park Campground.

Maud Creek offers simple accommodation on the Katherine River, 6km from the national park, including evening nibblies and an open bar, from $220. See maudcreeklodge.com.au

The Nitmiluk Chalets in the national park cost from $185 and Nitmiluk National Park campground sites start at $17 for adults and $9 for children.

Cicada Eco Lodge, a 5-star, 18-room property on the river in the national park is due to open in May.

Doing there: Nitmiluk Tours offers gorge and bush tucker tours, guided walks and canoe hire, and scenic flights. See nitmiluktours.com.au

Marksie's Stockman's Camp Tucker Night at the Katherine Historical Museum is hosted by raconteur and head chef Geoff Mark.