T H E T E R R I T O R Y
T H E T E R R I T O R Y Most territories became states long ago. But a few remain. The name implies rough, unpolished frontier land far removed from civilisation. They don’t come much more rough and unpolished than Australia’s Northern Territory… WORDS K Y L E F O R T U N E PHOTOGRAPHY C R A I G P U S E Y 46
AUSTRALIA ADVENTURE Darwin, Australia – the gateway to the Northern Territory, an area so vast that it’s difficult to truly comprehend its enormity. The numbers say the Northern Territory’s footprint is 1.35 million square kilometres, though it’s easier to think of it as being twice the size of Texas. Some of its cattle ranches are as big as countries, the livestock that populates them significantly outnumbering the hardy souls who call this beautiful but tough part of Australia home. Darwin is a staging post, somewhere to board a plane to the small town of Katherine 300km south where the real adventure begins. In Katherine, I will rendezvous with the Land Rover Experience crew for an epic adventure into Australia. Waiting for me is a Land Rover Discovery Sport. It will be my home for the next four days, on a 1,000km off-road journey through the heart of the Northern Territory. My tent is a swag – a typical Australian bedroll that you’ll see in the back of just about every vehicle out here. Brilliantly simple, it’s a mattress, groundsheet and cover literally rolled into one. That’s tomorrow, though, as the first night in Katherine takes in the five-star luxury of the Cicada Lodge, a contemporary eco-resort owned by the Indigenous Jawoyn people. They are custodians of the Nitmiluk National Park and Katherine Gorge, a place of great ceremonial significance. Nitmiluk means ‘the place of the cicada dreaming’ – the place where the spirits of creation reside. It isn’t difficult to see why Katherine Gorge is so significant to the Jawoyn. The landscape is spectacular, with stunning freshwater lakes fed by the Katherine River, framed by smooth, weathered 47