Starry nights
For a true cultural immersion, you need to pack your PJs
WORDS NATASHA DRAGUN
Starry nights
For a true cultural immersion, you need to pack your PJs
WORDS NATASHA DRAGUN
There's nothing like the Outback at night.
Daytime visits to Australia’s most culturally significant sites inspire when you’re in the company of an Aboriginal guide, but multi-day trips can take your experience to the next level.
Camp out at Wilpena Pound Resort to make the most of the beautiful surroundings.
Stay in a luxurious Ikara Safari Tent.
Wilpena Pound
It’s sunset over the Ikara-Flinders Ranges, and the entire South Australian landscape is cast in a fuzzy peach blush. All around, tall stands of grass bristle like an old man’s beard and I can hear a couple of grazing wallabies soaking up the day’s last rays.
A proud Yura Custodian, Mick McKenzie has this backdrop on repeat — he’s been bringing guests from Wilpena Pound Resort to this remote and ravishing lookout for eight years. Toasting dusk here with Mick feels like a privilege; something few people make time to do.
Wilpena Pound is noted for its geological history and Aboriginal rock art.
Toast the setting sun.
Mick grew up here on Adnyamathanha land, 430 kilometres north of Adelaide in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, among 90,000 hectares of red peaks, gorges and valleys tinged with the silvery glow of eucalypts. There’s one road, few settlements and even fewer people. But what the destination does offer, in glorious abundance, is a landscape that humbles — geologically and historically.
On my hike with Mick to Akarroo Adnya (a sacred rock-art site), I’m treated to a glimpse of the region’s mind-bending striated rock formations, which create an enormous natural amphitheatre (the Pound) that provides a window through 800 million years of the Earth’s history.
It’s eye-opening to view the landscape and biodiversity from an Indigenous perspective. Even more special is getting to sleep here, in one of the Ikara Safari Tents at Wilpena Pound Resort. This accommodation is surprisingly plush for its remote setting, replete with queen bed, air-con, ensuite bathroom, a patio I never want to leave and a firepit. I’m a short walk from the main hub of resort cabins, pool and restaurant. But, at sunset, I feel so very far from anywhere else.
Explore the clear waters of Shark Bay/Gutharraguda.
Wula Gura Nyinda eco cultural tours
The world fades to insignificance when you’re in the company of Wula Gura Nyinda Eco Cultural Tours' guide Darren ‘Capes’ Capewell, exploring the Shark Bay/Gutharraguda region of Western Australia.
A wildlife refuge, this pocket of the state is all powdery white coves and gin-clear waters that naturally attract dolphins, whale sharks and (during migration) the world’s largest population of humpback whales; over 10,000 of them. You won’t want your time with Capes to end – which is why he launched new overnight Francois Peron Camping Tours.
‘It’s a cultural immersion,’ Capes says about the experience, which gives you access to exclusive campsites so pretty they’re a salve for the soul.
‘We go to the Big Lagoon in Francois Peron National Park (Wulyibidi), forage for food, go fishing or kayaking and visit a hot tub in the evening under the stars,’ he says.
Fish or forage for your supper.
Dinner is whatever you catch while out exploring, whether that’s fish or briny oysters. And you cook it up over a beach campfire while Capes treats you to haunting tunes on his didge. Then it’s the Milky Way’s time to shine – with no light pollution for kilometres, the only thing between you and a bedazzlement of stars is your swag, spread out on pindan soil.
‘It’s important to do the overnight trip because it’s a slower pace and you aren’t rushing around,’ Capes says. ‘It’s not what you see; it’s what you feel.’
Ngaran Ngaran
Culture Awareness
As vast and open as Australia is, pockets of the country are virtually inaccessible, because their sacred status requires that they be visited only in the company of an Aboriginal guide. This not only offers travel exclusivity, but gives you an opportunity to enjoy an an immersive journey into Indigenous history and cultures.
Insights that reveal just how wide, wonderful and ancient the country really is.
Welcome to Mount Dromedary/Gulaga in southern New South Wales, the backyard of my Yuin guide, Dwayne ‘Naja’ Bannon-Harrison. A Traditional Landowner and the founder of Ngaran Ngaran Culture Awareness, Dwayne welcomes me to Country via song and a smoking ceremony.
Immerse yourself in Aboriginal culture.
The Yuin Retreat itinerary can be personalised.
Experience the world's oldest food culture.
Safari tents are just one of the accommodation options.
Spending two days at Yuin Retreat gives me time to grow my connection to the land as I learn about ancient customs through traditional yarning circles, and hike to spiritual Gulaga Mountain via escarpments that appear to cleave off the edge of the Earth.
The land is wilder here, the colours brighter, the air clearer. It’s like someone has taken the glasses off my nose and cleaned them for the first time. Even darkness doesn’t temper the natural drama. I’m kilometres from the nearest town and, in the absence of neon and streetlights, it’s all about Southern Hemisphere stargazing – even from bed in my safari tent.
Take the time to experience the sunset over Kakadu.
Kakadu Cultural Tours
From Arnhem Land to Kakadu, Katherine to Uluru, the Northern Territory is one of the world’s last remaining wilderness frontiers. Waterfalls tumble into cool swimming holes, rainforest clings to precipitous gorges, and wetlands heave under the weight of mangroves.
This is your backdrop when you check in for a 3-Day Kakadu and Arnhem Land Cultural Adventure with Kakadu Cultural Tours, which takes you deep into the wilderness to Hawk Dreaming Wilderness Lodge at Cannon Hill.
Learn some traditional skills.
Take in the changing colours of the sky at twilight.
The sandstone cliffs that surround this pocket of the state are coloured with rock art dating back millennia. And I have exclusive access with my guide Joey Nganjmirra from Injalak Arts Centre.
Head out on the water on a Guluyambi Cultural Cruise.
The Guluyambi Cultural Cruise traverses Kakadu’s spectacular East Alligator River.
‘It’s mind-blowing to think there are more than 50,000 rock-art sites in the region, dating back 20,000 to 30,000 years old,’ Joey says.
Visiting Injalak is a powerful experience. Here, everything is raw. It’s all about being in the moment, Joey tells me.
‘If you feel different here, that’s because this place changes you without you knowing it.’
As I wander back to camp, I’m thankful I have this experience on repeat for the next two days…
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