First full day in Nitmiluk: our helpful visitor centre guide has given us full directions on how to cover the best parts of the part in a day, and it’s going to be a hot one, so we set off before sunrise.
A couple of kilometres up a steep fire trail and we can just see the sun beginning to rise over rolling hills. As we wind through fairly level ground the light starts to catch fine details: the fuzz on long grass or the peak of a rocky outcrop. We walk towards the sun to the first lookout (Pats), everything in front is in silhouette. I’m not sure what I was expecting, and this sound stupid but I’m so used to dry river and creeks that the NT keeps surprising me when there’s actually water!
So it’s a wonderful shock when we round the a bend, step out onto a rock flat platform above a shear drop and the view opens up. We look down over a wide river far below, deep blue water (the sun not being high in the sky, the water doesn’t sparkle yet), snaking through a gorge until out of sight at a bend. Yellow cliffs opposite aid the sense of our own height above the water.
We walk for some kilometres weaving close to the gorge edge and then back through bush land. Each time we can see into the gorge the sunlight has changed the view. The water starts to sparkle, the rock walls change colour, light dances on the cliff from the river, canoes move in and out of view. Now we head down into a branch of the gorge.
Smooth river rocks are our path, steeply descending. Open, scrubby bush becomes more lush in the shelter of the close walls. The path loses its steepness and we cross some stagnant water holes, a disconnected river. Suddenly we round a small bend and find ourselves at the end of the trail.
We stand at water level, in the sunlight, looking along the river into Katherine Gorge. Quite stunning! We can hear distant canoe conversations (a school camp group) and the water looks inviting. But instead of swimming we take a break and have some food, really wanting someone else to jump in the water before us – obviously they’ll be taken by a croc if there is one!
Our wish is granted after lunch when a family arrives and jumps right in. That’s our cue, and in we go.
The rest of the walk is a fairly practical 8km, with a stop at a lookout right towards the end. I’m hot and sweaty when we arrive, so I stop to cool off and take in the view. As I look out into the gorge I get a sudden rush of peace and serenity. I find it quite emotional looking out into this majestic place. We’ll come back later for sunset, and to see the bats take off for their night hunting (as advised by our helpful visor centre guide).
When we return to that lookout (the fast way, up the stairs), we set-up with cheese and beers to wait for the sunset. The sun again changes the nature of the gorge. The water goes bright and reflects the sky and in the next moment it turns to ink. As the light really fades the bats begin to screech and swarm from their roosts, they dip into the water to cool and then stream down the river. Looking against the last light, not only are there bats close to us, but there are thousands and thousands of bats appearing as tiny specks far off into the distance.
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