Top of the Territory

FROM safari suites with views across the floodplains, to air-conditioned tented cabins under the stars – here's the NT's hot stays of 2008.

FROM safari suites with delirious views across the floodplains, to air-conditioned tented cabins under the stars – here's the NT's hot stays of 2008.

Hot spots

Wild bush luxury is the hot theme for 2008. Properties with tented cabins and safari suites are springing up from the Top End to the Red Centre, closing the distance between travellers and the natural world, but without ever quite surrendering their sense of indulgence.

Hot beds

On the edge of the lily-carpeted Mary River floodplain near Kakadu's western fringe, Bamurru Plains is like a collision between Belle magazine, an R.M. Williams catalogue, a David Attenborough documentary and the scrummiest menu you can imagine. Guests are pampered with nine safari suites (with corrugated-iron bathrooms featuring unlimited water), along with an open bar, an unending stream of delicacies (oysters or buffalo skewers, anyone?) and an infinity pool with a delirious view across a floodplain that can be explored in airboats that zip lightly among the magpie geese, crocodiles and water buffalo.

Surrounded by the looming George Gill Ranges, Kings Canyon Wilderness Lodge is in the middle of a working cattle and camel station 36km from Kings Canyon. Accommodation is in the form of 10 air-conditioned tented cabins among the desert oaks, and dining out means the finest gourmet tucker by the fire beneath the stars.

Possibly the remotest of the Territory's plush options, Dugong Beach Resort's bungalows, suites and luxury tents occupy 25ha on the coast of Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The resort was developed in consultation with the traditional owners and aims to showcase the culture and way of life of the Anindilyakwa people.

For more information, visit Travel NT.