4WD trek to wilderness

ELLEN Connolly's convoy of three vehicles threads its way through Kakadu National Park on what seems like an endless rocky red road in search of off-road adventure.

The great ourdoors ... bushwalking in Kakadu

YVONNE'S knuckles are turning white and she seems to be curling into the crash position.

In front of us, great spokes of blinding yellow light carve through the towering treetops – the effect so powerful I can't help but comment that it looks like a stairway to heaven.

"Perhaps it is," pipes up my nervous passenger, tightening her grip on the dash.

We are on what seems like an endless rocky red road, threading our way through Kakadu National Park in search of a campsite.

Our itinerary is triangular. From Darwin, our convoy of three vehicles headed south on the Stuart Highway to Katherine. Today, we have left the sealed road and are bumping our dusty way into Kakadu.

We are to rendezvous at Gumlon Falls, site of the famous swimsuit scene in Crocodile Dundee.

There we will camp, but not camping as I know it – tinned food, UHT milk and plastic utensils.

This is, we're told, upmarket camping.

We eventually pull into the site and once Yvonne has extracted her fingernails from the dash, we jump out and cast our eyes over our home for the night.

We like what we see.

There are tents with beds, a lamb roast is cooking in the oven and a white-clothed candlelit table is laid out (complete with stainless-steel cutlery and wine glasses).

Accompanying this outdoor decadence are some fellow travellers and our guides, three strapping young men called Brendan, Mick and Joel.

As Yvonne remarks: "They're so decorative."

More than that, we soon find they have a great knowledge of the land and share a genuine passion for it.

Over the next four days they take us to some of the best known attractions of the Northern Territory, including a Yellow Water cruise and Nourlangie Rock. But they also lead us off the tourist track, away from the grey nomads and air conditioned tourist coaches.

We bushwalk for three hours with Brendan inviting us to touch and taste plants, pointing out native orchards and medicinal remedies.

We picnic in isolation at Gubaru, surrounded by rock art 20,000 years old. Later we swim in an isolated billabong feeling barramundi beneath our feet. We get up close, a bit too close, with a cane toad, who latches briefly on to my ankle.

Each day our Land Rover takes us on new adventures.

We drive through vast stretches of dry, desolated bushland which is suddenly interrupted by an eruption of rock and colour.

The landscape moves from monsoon rainforest to rugged escarpments and then flat dry land, dotted with spot fires.

It feels entirely empty and almost otherworldly out here. The feeling of space thrills your senses as the sky seems larger, the red-dust horizon further away from the crush of humanity.

Flames lick the road in parts and the occasional road train rumbles past.

Termite mounds as tall as us flash past and our route is littered with roadkill.

Making our way back to camp we watch the red sandstone cliffs turn a pretty pink in the spectacularly setting sun.

Under a starry sky we dine on barramundi, the freshest and sweetest I have ever tasted.

In this open-air restaurant everything tastes better. The conversation – like the wine – flows freely.

Brendan (Bainbridge), whose small tours are individually designed, usually ferries guests around in his vehicle.

But on this occasion Yvonne and I drive our own four-berth Kea Camper, complete with full kitchen, although we only use the fridge to chill the wine.

The planned drive has to be re-routed as the prolonged wet season has blocked roads to Jim Jim and Twin Falls.

Instead we opt for the next best thing: taking flight.

From the air you can truly appreciate the scale and diversity of Kakadu. The landscape is vast and ever-changing. We fly over the fast-flowing Jim Jim and Twin Falls and look down on the ominous Death Adder Valley. In the distance we catch a glimpse of the Arnhem Land escarpment.

Back on land we hit the road again for our return journey to Darwin. There are, of course, rules when four wheel driving in this part of the world – have a good selection of CDs, keep the windows up and finally, ensure the pop top is secured each morning before setting off.

The writer travelled courtesy of Northern Territory Tourism

The Sunday Telegraph