Driving Nature’s Way

Start in Darwin and wind through a wetland wilderness steeped in Aboriginal culture and pioneering history on the Nature's Way touring route. It takes you from World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park to Litchfield National Park and Nitmuluk National Park. Canoe down the Katherine River, swim in waterfalls at Litchfield and see the world’s largest collection of Aboriginal rock art at Kakadu. Here you can hike to the top of Gunlom Falls, made famous in the movie Crocodile Dundee as Echo Pool, explore rock pools and cook a campfire meal at the base of Arnhem Land escarpment. For photographic, wildlife and bird watching enthusiasts, this is a dream drive, all on a fully sealed road that suits a two-wheel-drive.

In tune with the seasons

You need to visit Kakadu more than once to appreciate its dramatically different seasons. The local Bininj people have classified six, beginning with the thundering waterfalls and dazzling lightening of the Gudjewg monsoon season between January and March through to the hot dry weather of the Gurrung months in August and September. See blossoming paperbarks next to billabongs filled with waterbirds in the Banggerreng season of April. Enjoy pleasant temperatures and clear skies in the Wurrgeng cold weather months between June and August. Soak up this changing scenery on a sweeping flight over the landscape or up close on a bushwalk, billabong or river cruise.

With the spirit of adventure

Four wheel drive to Koolpin Gorge or the base of the Arnhem Land escarpment and camp overnight. Or join a four wheel drive tour to key locations such as Jim Jim Falls and Barramundi Gorge. Take in Kakadu’s majesty and size on a scenic flight or catch a barramundi with an experienced sports fishing guide. Glide down East Alligator River on an Aboriginal culture cruise or paddle a canoe to majestic Twin Falls. Bushwalk through monsoonal forest, past waterfalls and clear plunge pools.

With rare and ancient flora and fauna

Take the Gubarra Pools Walk past sandstone cliffs to shady monsoon forests or the Bubba Walk through wetlands rimmed with paperbarks, pandanus, cycads and lotus lilies. See the spectacular Jim Jim Falls which drop more than 250 metres. Cruise the East Alligator River and Yellow Water past crocodiles, barramundi, and birds such as magpie geese, brolgas, jabirus and white-bellied sea eagles. See jacana and jesus birds flying between lily pads. A quarter of all Australian freshwater fish species, and over one third of Australian bird species can be found in Kakadu.

Rocking out with Aboriginal art

Kakadu is home to one of the world’s highest concentration of Aboriginal rock art. See rock crevices cut by Dreamtime ancestors at Nourlangie Rock. Or view a painting of Lightning Man, the Dreamtime ancestor who still controls the violent wet season lightning storms, in the nearby Anbangang Gallery. Check out a painting of the Rainbow Serpent and some of the world’s finest examples of X-ray art at Ubirr Rock. You’ll see hand prints of animals, hunters and Dreamtime figures, as well as shelters, stone tools, grindstones, rock art and ochre for ceremonial paint. Learn how the art depicts Kakadu’s social, cultural and natural history on a guided tour or through the interpretative signs.

Go castaway

Join a day tour to the tranquil Muiron Islands, classic desert islands with tropical waters teeming with marine life and complex coral reefs. Dive or snorkel at Turtle Bay, a nesting sanctuary for turtles. You’ll find many other great dive sites just offshore, with colourful coral gardens in depths of 3 to 20 metres. Laze on a deserted beach or cast your line in the shallow waters for a giant trevally. For the ultimate in solitude and romance, get permission to camp overnight.

Have adventures on land and sand

Four-wheel-drive the Shothole Canyon Road or Charles Knife Canyon to Cape Range National Park, just 35 kilometres from the centre of Exmouth.  Here you can camp where spectacular gorges, carved by ancient rivers, meet Ningaloo’s coral reefs, clear blue seas and sandy beaches. Walk to Yardie Creek past wildlife and wildflowers, watching out for rare black-footed wallabies crouching on the steep walls. These mangrove areas shelter many bird species and marine animals. Or follow the three-kilometre walking trail through Mandu Mandu Gorge for panoramic ocean views. When it's time to dry off, explore more of the coastline on a four-wheel drive or quad bike.