Description
Arnhem Land is a land of mystery and a place of fascination for John and I.
So we joined a tag-along tour to find out more about this secret place.
East Arnhem Land
We began at Katherine and headed for Nhulunbuy, the main town of Arnhem Land. The tag-along group included 7 vehicles plus our leader and we were ready for a great adventure.
Our experiences in eastern section were many and varied. We saw:
- Nhulunbuy beaches and the Rio Tinto Alumina refinery site
- Yirrkala and its well-known indigenous community-controlled centre and museum
- Bawaka- where everyone enjoyed beachside life and the fishing, plus swimming at Lonely Beach
- Baniyala-a day of cultural experiences, including spiritual and sacred sites, sharing lunch of damper and crab. Later there was didgeridoos and dancing.
After a short break at Bitter Springs near Mataranka we all headed to Jabiru for more adventure- this time in western section.
Cobourg Peninsula
In western Arnhem Land we visited Wiligi Outstation and Garig Gunak Barlu National Park on the Cobourg Peninsula.
Wiligi Outstation overlooked Mt Norris Bay where more fishing and beach strolling were top of the agenda. We all visited the small offshore island for more fishing and hunting for oysters.
Once into the National Park we spread out into our own camping area and relaxed back with more waterside views.
Highlights here were:
- A visit to the old Victoria settlement, which is accessible only by boat
- A group fishing charter, which returned with a haul of fish to feed us all, a fitting end to our amazing adventure.
Our adventure was a wonderful experience with Great Divide Tours. You can find out more from their website at www.4wd.net.au.
We found Arnhem Land to be an amazing experience and you can see it all in this comprehensive video. The video includes these and many other experiences we shared.
