THE TOP END'S GREAT GREEN RESET

There’s something special about waking up to the sight of a blazing, early morning campfire. Especially when you are still snuggled up in bed, watching the stars, and it’s someone else who’s braved the wintertime chill to ignite last night’s embers and get the coffee on.

I was laying in a swag a few metres above the Katherine River on a little-seen stretch of the waterway, waiting for breakfast damper to bake and for the sun to peek over the paperbarks. The Northern Territory isn’t known for its grand rivers, but the Katherine is a magnificent exception with sheer, plunging cliffs, sandy beaches and an abundance of wild things (including crocs) found only in Australia’s rugged far north.

In the NT’s COVID-19 haze as borders restrictions were beginning to ease, tours within Katherine’s Nitmiluk National Park, where most travellers go to take a boat cruise or walk the trails, were limited. So, after being bound up in Darwin for far too long, we went looking something less fleeting and found it on the other side of the national park border on a small group paddling safari with long-time local company Gecko Canoeing and Trekking.

In our two-week tour of the Top End’s big-ticket destinations, the Katherine River trip really shone, reminding me that even in these crazy COVID days there are still