The Top End

SEVEN SPIRIT BAY

Wilderness Lodge, Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory

Perched on the very northern tip of the Northern Territory, the Cobourg Peninsula looks out across the glassy tropical waters of the Arafura Sea, lying closer to the islands of Indonesia than any of Australia’s major cities.

The marine life at Seven Spirit Bay is one of Australia’s best-kept secrets although the inviting blue-green waters can be deceptive - salt-water crocodiles and tiger sharks make it safer to swim in the lodge pool! However, spotting huge manta rays or dolphins, searching for mudcrabs, watching the small reef sharks hunting over the mud flats, or trawling for queenfish, provide an endless variety of interest and activity in the bays and tidal creeks off Australia’s remote northern coast.

The Peninsula also harboured the first European settlement on the north coast, Port Victoria, whose crumbled remains bear witness to the difficulties the first settlers encountered when establishing themselves in this northern wilderness in the 1820s.

Accommodation / Meals: There are 24 individual “Habitats. Louvred shutters on each open out into the surrounding bush to create a feeling of intimacy with the land. Adjacent to each habitat is a private ‘garden bathroom', partially open to the sun and stars. An experienced chef produces a very high standard of meals, supported by an extensive wine list.

Activities: Fishing: some of the best fishing at the top end of Australia, with Barramundi and a host of other fish regularly on the line. The marine wildlife is exceptional. At high tides you can watch at very close hand, the reef sharks feeding in the shallow waters over the mud flats.

Bush walks: a variety of guided walks take in the coastal sand cliffs, paperbark swamps, coastal mudflats and the ruins of the Victoria settlement hospital.

Wildlife Viewing: There is a host of introduced species, which give the Cobourg peninsula numbers of animals more akin to Asia. Expect to see large numbers of buffalo, banteng, wild pigs, Timorese ponies, as well as wallabies, goannas, dingoes and, if you are lucky, other marsupials.

Rock art galleries in Arnhem Land are accessible with private aircraft charter day trips.

For the less energetic, an evening sundowner on a deserted beach overlooking the Arafura Sea.

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