One evening in Darwin we have dinner when Trish says: “How about a trip to Arnhemland, Fen?” I happily take the offer and so we skip work for a couple of days to head into the bushland for a long weekend.

Arnhem Land is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from Darwin. This is approximately the same distance as Amsterdam – Paris or Munich to Milan, and half of it is dirtroad where you probably won’t see anybody else.

The region has an area of 97,000 km² and its small population consists of predominantly Aboriginals, there’s only 16.000 people on lands the size of Portugal. Arnhem Land is a habitat for fascinating numbers of wildlife including salt water crocodiles, buffalo, dugong, wallabies, nesting turtles and migratory birds.

One of the last pristine areas in the world, the area is beautiful and diverse, with rugged coastlines, remote islands, rivers teeming with fish, lush rainforests and savannah woodlands. Not to forget, it’s also one of the best fishing destinations in the world.

Not the typical ladies-destination you’d say, but there’s enough supplies & wine in the the Landcruiser to party every day, no matter where we’d strand.

For my Dutch friends reading along, I’ve figured out why it’s called Arnhem Land. Captain William van Colster made it to Cape Arnhem in 1623, which is named after his ship, the Arnhem, which itself was named after the city of Arnhem in the Netherlands.

We leave while the stars are still shiny, so we get to drive into the sunrise. As the red sun shines upon the road, the landscape starts revealing bushland covered in a layer of fog with odd trees I’ve never seen before. We pass several creeks that look serene but will hold big mean salties just underneath their surfaces and dozens of birds circling above to find them rodents scurrying in the tall grass. As there’s so few humans living here, the wildlife galores, some of it right next to the highway. They seem like big odd rabbits when I see them for the first time, but when we pass some more I realise they’re wallabies, small kangaroos! Apparently the grass tastes best where the dew just runs off the highway, but some of them don’t understand they need to hop away from the car and not towards it. We almost get one under our front wheel, but it makes a 180-degree-turn in the blink of an eye and hops to the safety of the bush. We also see a dingo and heaps of buffalo shit but none of them comes to show, something for the way back, I reckon.

East Alligator River crossing, Cahills Crossing

Wallabie!

Stopping for some Aborigine art

The ride to Wingili is not to be done without planning, starting with a permit, allowing you to enter aborigine lands. This permit allows you to go from A to B, without any deviations on the way to explore the area, though I haven’t heard of anyone getting checked. Before hitting the dirt road, there’s the famous East Alligator River crossing, Cahills Crossing that makes it to the newspapers frequently because of cars crossing when the tide’s too high and they’re toppled over, right into croc territory. Yaiks! Luckily, Trish is a cautious and very good driver and schedules the crossing long before dangerous water levels. Nevertheless, she always rolls the windows down and all seat-belts must come off before we dip into the stream. Once across, big red clouds rise up behind the tires as we zoom across the dirt road with ease. During the ‘wet’, parts of this road get closed because of floods or deep trenches cutting through the middle. People living in these corners then need to get flown in and out of the area on yet another dirt road airstrip that comes with no other facilities but a solar powered telephone. Mobile network is non existing out here so besides your radio, it’s common sense to have a sat-phone in the car. Water is to be used scarcely and wisely, as it’s brought in from Murganella, a 30 minute drive from Wiligi. I guess that by now you get the idea of the term remote in Australia.

Now you might be thinking: “why would people come all the way out here..?”

Where we’re at, people come for some glorious glamping, fishing and relaxing. Glamping? Glamorous camping that is. Besides fantastic inventions in and around their 4×4’s, you can stay in luxurious tents or even a cabin for six. The ‘Wiligi Experience’, owned by Reuben and Dawn started about 4 years ago with help of their friends Trish and Bob among others. That’s how they frequently get to come out here, visiting their friends and enjoying life away from life. Their website doesn’t show the amazing beach and endless blue ocean in front of their house and you can’t hear the sound of the breeze coming through the trees while small fishing boats return with bags full of Skinnies (Queenfish) and Barras (Barramundi). This place doesn’t really need its business from the internet, as the word of mouth will tell you the details on eating fresh fish and sharing stories as the sun sets yet another day behind those tiny islands sitting on the horizon.

Now, it’s essential to get the right vibe of our weekend out here, so click here for proper background music for further reading, even when you’re in the office, do it, trust me, do it now.

Upon arrival, we sit the car next to the house on the friends-only area of the camping. The solar panels on the roof keep our 2 coolers going and the doors open upwards providing us with ample shade to set up the table. We have a quick stroll on the beach and the grounds, causing sweat running down our spines in the hot mid-day sun so we’ll need to quench our thirst with a cold beer. Just as we mention the need for skinnies to make Bob’s famous and delicious numus, two blokes come in mentioning what they caught that morning which includes a flatback turtle. Luckily for this fellow, Dawn tells them to release him.
I jump on their pickup to get the skinnies and release the turtle. It flaps its paws madly when touching the water and swims for its life, never looking back. Happy turtle, happy Fenna. The afternoon is spent prepping numus while more and more friends and visitors are popping in and out for making food or just a chat and a drink. So Namas or nummus, is a bit of a Darwin classic and many people have their secret recipe to make pickled fish, origined from SE Asia.

Dinner is a mixture of salads and delish fresh fish and barbie classics while fourteen pairs of dog eyes follow our every move hoping to find some of the scraps on the floor. As everyone disappears into their camps we finish our bottles of wine, talking with Ruben and Shane, father and son, owners of the land, making some plans for the days ahead. When we finally go to bed, I already know that getting up in the morning is gonna be hard, but hey, no drama, I’m in the outback, where anything else would kill ya before the hangover can.

The family house

The cabin

That’s what ironing boards are ment to be…

Dawn’s delicious mudcrabs!

Infinity (and hidden crocodiles)

Off to freedom! Except for the fish..

Solar powered phone

Saturday morning and part of the afternoon is spent doing as little as possible. We clean the cabin as there’s a changeover, but that’s basically it. I tie my hammock onto the trees and hide in there for some hours, reading, writing and napping. When Shane gets back from the morning-fishing, he takes me out on the waters in the arvo. I drive the corroded Toyota down the beach boat ramp and we release the boat. It would be bad luck not to drink beer while fishing, so I indulge on yet another Australian beer. I get rewarded by catching one after the other. Gold trevallies, barracuda, queenfish, we pull them up, give em a kiss and toss them back out. This is just practice for what’s yet to come as something big grabs my lure and runs away with it. It puts up a very good fight for the next fifteen minutes before biting my line and racing for freedom. We never get to know what it was on there. We attach a new lure and I start reeling it in, excited to catch something big. And so I do, but when I start pulling, it takes off within seconds, taking all my line and leaving us astonished. Shane reckons it must’ve been a shark or a very big mackerel. The sky starts turning pink and the sun is slowly sinking down into the ocean as we make our way back to shore. When we get back to the house, it’s dinnertime and folks from the whole camping ground join in for another feast.

On Sunday our planning is as wide open as the lands surrounding us. I start to chat with a couple from Darwin and we figure out they’re our backdoor neighbours. She’s a journalist and he’s a tour guide, and they’re gathering a lot of info on Wiligi to be able to write about it. When they ask me to come along for a ride with Shane-Boy (grandson) showing us the lands, I jump in the back of their pickup without hesitation.
We’re off for some serious four wheel driving, going off-road in search for the trail that leads us to the billabong where buffaloes can be seen. We don’t find wildlife, but it’s a lot of fun going over trees and ducking for big branches. Later on, we head out for some fishing and again, we catch many fish, which is good fun. Shane beaches the dinghy on tiny Copeland island where we’re off for exploration. We find a turtle nest, gather and eat fresh oysters and imagine life as a castaway on this little patch of land. In the blink of an eye we hear a crackling sound and smell fire, see Shane bent over lighting bushfires to burn the tall barren grass. Big orange flames roll over the island, leaving black smouldering soil and only green patches of bush behind. 

When we ride around the island we catch a last glimpse of the flames while the sky converts into bright orange, merging with the flames on the island.

Did I mention dolphins?

Fishing with a broken arm, no problem for Shane Boy 😉

Arnhemland is a spectacular region, I understand how people become ‘repeat offenders of the wiligi experience’. I hope to be back for more exploration and a few dives to see those big fish and the turtles that got away. It’s unique to find a place that’s unspoilt and teeming with life as there’s hardly any people, and considering the conditions and remote-ness, this will not change anytime soon.

A big – BIG thanks to Trish for taking me out there (and back)! :p
And to Reuben & Dawn for having us! 

***

Wiligi Outstation is a remote outstation in Arnhemland nestled on a cliff overlooking Mount Norris Bay and Copeland island, just outside the Gurig Balak National Park in Cobourg Peninsula.

Reuben Cooper is a senior traditional land owner of Wiligi outstation, his language is Iwadja and his clan group is Muran. His great grandparents, lived on the country as did Reuben’s Grand Father who Reuben was named after, Reuben Cooper SNR started Cypress pine milling, boat building and crocodile and buffalo hunting, in the early 1900’s, the remains of the mill can still be seen to-day. 

Reuben’s father Ronald Cooper and his 4 sisters, were born on country and was forced to leave when the second world war threatened the Top End, he always wanted one of his sons to live back on country, Reuben took up the challenge, by moving back to Coburg Peninsula with his wife Dawn, they cleared land built a small house now known as the family house had a bore put in and then moved to live permanently at Wiligi Outstation in 1999, which was formally a Barge Landing site, and to make their dream a reality they decided to share their love of the country with others,hence the beginning of “ A Wiligi, Experience Out of Arnhemland”.

Source: wiligiarnhemland.com.au