I am not about to deny the allure of a white-sand beach with diamond-sparkling water; nor the majesty of jagged snowy peaks cutting into an unreachable horizon; (*insert your favourite travel image here*), etc. etc. But at the end of the day, sometimes the greatest treasures are waiting at your back door. Sometimes it’s just a matter of seeing with fresh eyes. Great tone, engaging start.
If you don’t believe me, that’s your loss. You can wander back to buying that $2000 return ticket to Paraguay in the name of exotica.
For the rest of us, our bank accounts will be grinning at the prospect of coughing up a mere few hundred dollars to fly to Darwin (yes, Darwin) and back in order to walk through a part of Australia that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world. And that part of the world is known as the Jatbula Trail, located in the Nitmiluk National Park, just a couple of hours south-east of Darwin.
And yes, you did just see the word ‘Trail’ which means walking, backpacks, walking, camping, squatting to pee, walking, etc. (consider yourself warned). The track winds its way along the edge of Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk) to Edith Falls (Leliyn), covering a distance of approximately 57 kilometres. The trail is a five to six day adventure that appeals to those who love a physical challenge and don’t mind hiking in temperatures that can comfortably exceed 30 degrees Celsius in the dry season (which is everyone else’s ‘winter’).
So granted, if your idea of great travel includes settling into one of the famously glamorous beach resorts on the French Riviera, occasionally gracing a quaint little back-street café for a fresh-brewed coffee, then perhaps this note of nature may be of little interest to you. But for those with a passion for the environment and discovering and respecting nature, it is reassuring to know that conservation is a number one priority in the Nitmiluk National Park. Campsites are strictly designated and limited groups/hikers can travel through at any one time. This means you will be following a specific hiking plan with no option for an extended stay at one site or an extra night at another. But for the guarantee of lessened strain on the environment as well as the fabulous advantage of not seeing another soul for the five or six days of your hike, it’s a very meagre sacrifice.
However, it is not the only sacrifice. In the name of honesty I will admit to the lone memory of trudging along a sandy track at midday watching sweat collect from every unblocked pore on my body, feeling as though my shirt was about to coalesce with my heaving chest, and thinking “What the hell am I doing here? – Surely my body doesn’t deserve this!” But at every lunch stop and evening campsite my whinging and whining was forgotten and my physical sacrifices well-worthwhile when I would round a corner to yet another clear, crisp spring or billowing waterfall.
Inevitably, this sweet reward can become the number one motivation for some hikers, very much advocating the work-hard-to-get-the-prize-at-the-end incentive (and I am very much in support of this at times!). But if you’d like to add a badge to your sweaty lapel and try for the higher ground of some intrinsic motivation, I’d point your attention to the trail’s uncanny potential to cultivate a powerful respect for the land. From the delicate flora littered among the sunburned rocks and dusty shrubs, to the subtle changes in scenery as you progress, this classic Australian landscape has the potential to quite unwittingly nestle into your record books of ‘most beautiful travel scenery’. As you wake up each new morning, your legs a little sorer than the day before and you go to sling your 15kg pack onto your back and lace up your scuffed and sweat-stained boots, you will find the days refining your eye for beauty and teaching you about the value of a journey.
But if this all sounds a bit too hard, there is always the option of hiking with guides who can also provide all your meals – but keep in mind its not cheap! The whole experience is clearly not suitable for your grandmother’s walking frame or the kids’ tricycles but as long as you’re fit and active with a touch of bushwalking experience, you’ll be finishing up with an impressive sock tan and some well-defined calf muscles. So grab some good mates and a pair of worn-in boots, strap on a pack, and head for your back door – the journey awaits!
Anita Gersbach is
studying to become a high school teacher of English and PE – two of her greatest loves. Whilst this subject combination brings the frequent conversational response of “Oh…what an unusual mix!” she argues that two things with such dynamic potential to experience and capture life shouldn’t be separated.
