{"id":162641,"date":"2018-07-18T09:55:40","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T23:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/?p=162641"},"modified":"2021-01-15T15:31:15","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T04:31:15","slug":"walking-hiking-kakadu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nt\/kakadu\/walking-hiking-kakadu\/","title":{"rendered":"The best routes for walking and hiking in Kakadu"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kakadu National Park is a mini-world that\u2019s better explored on foot than on wheels, and better swum inside than feared from the water\u2019s edge. Here are our picks on the best walking and hiking in Kakadu.<\/h5>\n\n

I\u2019m lost inside a technicolour canvas. Really lost. And I can\u2019t recall having popped LSD. Before me lies a charcoaled ground. It\u2019s carpeted in burnt sticks and logs. Ahead, fluorescent green regrowth bursts from branches, caramel-toned kangaroo paw drapes at elbow-height and refracted purple light cuts angles in the air.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been bopped with the beauty gun \u2013 as is wont to happen in Kakadu. I gasp, freeze, delight, linger. Until eventually, I lose sight of my walking group.<\/p>\n

\"Walking

On the march back from Maguk, Kakadu (photo: Jennifer Pinkerton).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cCooooeee!\u201d I call, channelling a slightly bedraggled and far more ocker Alice in Wonderland. I search for a clearing beyond this enchanted slice of bush. Ten strung-out minutes tick by. I fret, stress and maybe catastrophise a little. Finally, relief slides into view.<\/p>\n

Emerging from a\u00a0thicket of eucalypts, a walker appears in perky pink shorts. It\u2019s Michele, one of our hosts from touring outfit World Expeditions. \u201cDay Two and you\u2019ve already earned the nickname Little Miss Walkabout!\u201d she shouts merrily. My cheeks turn the shade of Michele\u2019s shorts and I gallop over to her, vowing to keep my eyes on the prize for the remainder of the trip.<\/p>\n

Along with nine other hikers, I\u2019ve voyaged to Kakadu to explore the bounties of the world\u2019s largest terrestrial national park on foot.<\/p>\n

Over five days, we\u2019ll tread 45 kilometres and spend four nights under the stars, sleeping in semi-permanent tents. I\u2019ve visited Kakadu before, but with my own wheels in tow \u2013 as is the case for most travellers who venture to this neck of the Top End. In an instant, walking slows the pace to a comfortable and steady heartbeat.<\/p>\n

Instead of spinning along Kakadu Highway to park the car, strolling a few hundred metres and going camera crazy at A) a lookout, or B) a swimming spot, the act of walking morphs time into something rather liquid.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m experiencing a new level of absorption with my surrounds. There\u2019s space to stop, exhale and notice the little things \u2013 which, granted, can land you trouble if you trade in high levels of vagueness.<\/p>\n

Meditative contemplation is permitted; however, when we reach the highest point of today\u2019s trail, the 12-kilometre Barkk Sandstone Walk at Nourlangie Rock. While the trek begins in a shady chain of rock art galleries, their floors stamped with salmon-coloured leaves, the trail quickly lifts to a steep ascent. After passing bouquets of pandanus, we emerge at a giant rock shelf.<\/p>\n

The rugged stone country around us is ringed with behemoth boulders and cube-shaped towers of grit. The latter resemble Mayan ruins \u2013 a sight that continues as we traverse the escarpment, then descend into lusher terrain. Before we do, though, the group silently drinks in this breath-seizing view, each walker claiming their own peaceful place to perch and ponder.<\/p>\n

Lunch with ancient art<\/h2>\n

Over a lunch-time salad platter, which we roll into wraps, guide Dan Rose points out tucked-away rock art. Images of waterbirds, turtles and snakes hint that this area was once close to the sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese paintings are an encyclopaedia of all the dramatic changes Kakadu\u2019s been through, culturally and environmentally,\u201d he says. We let the ancient art distract us for a while, before our thoughts turn to the journey ahead, which tonight will continue in the form of a two-hour cruise on Yellow Water Billabong.<\/p>\n

The next morning we wake under nets of dappled light to a chorus of singing birds. Today we\u2019ll venture further south to waterhole territory.<\/p>\n\n

\"Maguk

The plunge pool at Maguk Gorge, Kakadu (formerly known as Barramundi Gorge).<\/p><\/div>\n

First stop: Maguk. After scrambling over boulders to reach the water\u2019s edge, our group erupts into a squealing frenzy. We sound like a litter of piglets, part thrilled, part spooked. \u201cHow do we know this is croc-free?\u201d a voice shrieks. Dan cancels out concerns by wading into the sparkling lagoon. One by one, the rest of us follow. Though before plunging in, some cling to dry land for what seems like a shameful misuse of minutes.<\/p>\n

While Maguk\u2019s teal swimming hole, with its towering backdrop of black stone and neat guard of pandanus trees, is hard to beat, this evening\u2019s itinerary throws up paradisiacal rivals. As the sunlight starts to fade, we arrive at Gunlom. Here, a waterfall travels through a copper escarpment, plunging 100 metres to a waterhole below.<\/p>\n

\"Gunlom

A post-walk soak at Gunlom Falls, Kakadu (photo: Jennifer Pinkerton).<\/p><\/div>\n

To reach the network of infinity pools perched at the top, you have to work for it. So, with an hour of light remaining, five of us puff a path to the peak. Then, as the sky fades and the rocks blush in the twilight, four begin the descent. \u201cSure you\u2019ll be right?\u201d one companion asks, before venturing out of sight. \u201cYep, yep,\u201d I reply, eager to nab some alone-time.<\/p>\n

Floating in a pool nearest to the cliff edge, I luxuriate in the thought that Gunlom trumps any hotel pool I\u2019ve visited. Buxom clouds reflect their shapes in the water\u2019s surface and, beyond, an endless quilt of trees shift from green to gold in the dying sun. All this lingering will, of course, cost me further cred with the group. \u201cHeeeeeeeere she is!\u201d sings Dan when, eventually, I skulk back to camp.<\/p>\n

\"Gunlom

Walking back down from Gunlom Falls, Kakadu, at dusk (photo: Jennifer Pinkerton).<\/p><\/div>\n

Motor car falls<\/h2>\n

A new morning dawns in which to prove my bush savvy. We\u2019re trekking the 14-kilometre Yurmikmik Circuit past Motor Car Falls, which draw their name from a mid-century mishap.<\/p>\n

A poor bloke, a tin-miner named Paul Allmich, was the first to try to cross this area on wheels, but his Chevrolet tyres sunk deep into the mud, bogging his truck.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll walk the same track followed by his ill-fated Chevy, looping out to Kurrundie Falls, then returning via Motor Car Falls. Upon our arrival at the latter, we unfurl atop a rock to lunch, lounge and peer at the water\u2019s residents \u2013 long-armed freshwater shrimp and short-necked turtles.<\/p>\n

\"Kakadu

Peering at Motor Car Falls atop a giant boulder (photo: Jennifer Pinkerton).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAh look!\u201d cries Michele. From stage left, a lacewing butterfly sashays in our direction. It weaves through her legs. Then, like a rising sheet, a cloud of fellow butterflies ascends from a nearby rock. They\u2019ve been feeding on surface minerals. \u201cThis is magic,\u201d one walker whispers.<\/p>\n

Once more, I feel the beauty gun\u2019s target on my forehead. I gasp, freeze, delight, linger. Until, eventually, I lose sight of all that exists beyond park borders. Walkabouts are OK, I figure, as long as they\u2019re confined to the mind.<\/p>\n

\"Swim

Lunchtime swimming at Motor Car Falls in\u00a0Kakadu National Park (photo: Jenniger Pinkerton).<\/p><\/div>\n

Some of the group take the opportunity to cool off in the inviting waterhole. Dan, first into the water of course, somewhat breaks the tranquil moment I\u2019m enjoying by splashing water in my direction, startling me with seemingly ice-cool spray. I\u2019m yanked back to Earth.<\/p>\n

But considering that grounds me right here in Kakadu, it\u2019s not such a bad place to be. I\u2019m happily fixed inside this tropical terrarium \u2013 a mini-world that\u2019s sunning my face, pooling at my feet and dancing in the dry-season breeze.<\/p>\n

For more information on Kakadu & things to do in the NT, visit the official Northern Territory website at northernterritory.com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kakadu National Park is a mini-world that\u2019s better explored on foot than on wheels, and better swum inside than feared from the water\u2019s edge. Here are our picks on the best walking and hiking in Kakadu. I\u2019m lost inside a technicolour canvas. Really lost. And I can\u2019t recall having popped LSD. Before me lies a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"article-deals.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[1082],"tags":[6322,5714,4403,4210,4587,4748,5139,4564,1051,4628,5879],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Best Walking Tracks in Kakadu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sure you can drive it or even fly over it, but the best way to really get to know Kakadu National Park is to walk it on one of these top walking tracks.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.australiantraveller.com\/nt\/kakadu\/walking-hiking-kakadu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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