Kakadu Highlights No. 1a

Kakadu: Baroalba Creek

We begin with a fairly long drive from Darwin to the Kubara walking track in Kakadu. From there, we walk about 3 km along a marked trail before heading up Baroalba Creek.

Later in the season, the creek dries to a series of small pools. At this time of year, its little waterfalls should be flowing. Our first campsite is less than 3 km beyond the end of the marked trail.

The walking gets easier after that. Following a relatively short walk, we spend three days exploring the basin with day packs.

This remarkable area contains an extraordinary concentration of Aboriginal rock art sites, as well as quarries where discarded stone tools show where tools that didn't meet the makers' standards were left behind.

Much of the basin is flat, but conditions vary. Sometimes it's very wet; sometimes it's relatively dry. Even then, this is the wet season, and water is everywhere.

When storms pass through, we can shelter in the many rock shelters, just as the area's original inhabitants did for thousands of years. Back at camp, our group fly provides shelter if it rains at dinner time.

At the end of the walk, we return to our vehicles and drive to Batchelor, where we spend a night in accommodation before starting the longer walk in Litchfield.

Litchfield: Tjaynera to Tableland

The walk to our first camp is relatively short, but the surroundings are so inviting that we take a relaxing day to enjoy them.

As we make our way south, the route has a number of ups and downs. We pass through gorges, patches of monsoon forest and open woodland, with frequent stops for swims in the many pools along the way.

We spend the last few days on Tableland Creek.

Here, pool follows pool and waterfall follows waterfall, with plenty of opportunities to swim. It's a magical place. Most of the walking is fairly easy, although there are a couple of ups and downs.

From our final camp, it's about two and a half hours' walking to the pickup point, much of it along a 4WD track. From there, we travel about 200 km back to Darwin.