GUNBIM GALLERIES

The sheer size of Kakadu's renowned natural reserves is truly mindboggling, and you won't fully appreciate it until you embark on a trail, explore the ouerhangs and immerse yourself in the places that bear witness to thousands of years of life. In this article, we showcase the top Indigenous galleries in Kakadu and the fantastic brief hikes that take you there.

- Catherine Lawson

A wander here helps to fill in some of the blanks, weaving the threads of my sublime natural experiences into a larger, more meaningful picture of all that this destination truly is.

The car-park is empty when we hit the trail, climbing gently above a gully of Darwin woollybutt trees still dusted with early morning mist. Anbangbang's sweeping rock art galleries tug for my attention, but I'm chasing the rising sun - and my daughter too - towards Gunwarddehwarde Lookout, high above on the escarpment edge. The heady, honeyed scent of fern-leaved grevilleas hangs potently in the air, and treading softly, a black wallaroo and I startle each other around a bend. Finally, we are standing atop the rocky bluff known as Burrungkuy and peering out across Kakadu's rugged stone country as the sun warms the sky.

Beyond this viewpoint, the Barrk Sandstone Walk sets a surprisingly lonely six-hour-long challenge, looping past the sculpted Enchanted Castles and Balancing Rock to remote, rarely visited Nanguluwurr (Narng-oo-loo-war) Gallery. This site safeguards intricate Dynamic Style art of powerful ancestral beings, dating back to around 15,000 BP (before present, which means 15,000 years before the arrival of carbon dating in 1950). There are animal X-ray motifs from the Estuarine Period of Indigenous art (around 8000 BP) and the most recent, 200-year-old Contact Art from the Freshwater Period that depict distinctly European-style sailing ships.

Nanguluwurr's ancient meeting place rewards determined hikers with certain solitude and a cool pause before the return loop back to Anbangbang (Arn-barng-barng) Gallery. Here, crowds gather for ranger-led storytelling tours about Namarrgon the Lightning Man, who ignites Gunumeleng's premonsoon storm season, and the dangerous spirit Nabulwinjbulwinj who strikes females with a yam and then eats them.