A large, deep pool guards the entrance to the Second Gorge.

Butterfly Gorge Walk

A spectacular, and in my opinion, a hidden gem in the Northern Territory – make the effort and explore this gorge. This is a gorge walk, a rock, and water adventure where you are journeying by foot along the river system within Butterfly Gorge. The gorge walk has cliffs at either side of the river so the only way forward is through the water. This often involves climbing, small jumps, and scrambling with occasionally some small slides, wading through the river, and climbing behind waterfalls. A fun-filled day of adventure.

“You should always be aware of the risk of a saltwater crocodile attack in all Top End waterways.”

The Douglas River has cut a deep, narrow gorge through the surrounding sandstone plateau. In so doing it has created a cathedral-like atmosphere, with towering, sheer, cliff-faces of red and yellow rock. Flowing water from eons of wet season rain has polished the rock base to a smooth, reflective surface.

The Walk and Swim to the Gorge Entrance

The entrance to the gorge requires a short walk of about 600m from the car park. The main pool is guarded by a climb over a small cliff face, or you will need to wade through several shallow pools. The walk then breaks open onto a large sandy beach and a deep, cool swimming hole. The beach provides a perfect setting for a lunch break. The swim from the beach to the entrance of the first gorge is about 70m, and the entrance is very narrow – less than a metre in width, at least 4m high, and about 10m long.

The Gorge Walk

The First Gorge contains, several pools all fed by small cascading waterfalls from the plateau above. This gorge is about 100m in length and will require you to swim to get to the end. The last pool in the gorge is the largest with high rock walls on each side.

Leaving the first gorge, the walls of the gorge widen and the surrounding land flattens, allowing you to take in some of the spinifex-covered plateaux. You then negotiate a black boulder-strewn riverbed. The boulders in the riverbed (as well as the gorges) have polished rock surfaces and can be very slippery. This section of the open riverbed is about 350m long.

Freshwater monitor (Mertens Water Monitor)

A large, deep pool guards the entrance to the Second Gorge with its very own sandy beach. This is the domain of the freshwater monitor (Mertens Water Monitor). The gorge then angles to the left, (looking upriver) and narrows into a long gorge with deep water necessitating a swim of about 100m. This second gorge remains narrow, with cliffs on either side of the riverbed, and rock walls polished smooth by the river swollen to a torrent by the wet season rain. This section can prove to be the most challenging with the sheer cliff walls allowing no room for a track. The riverbed is still underwater, but with sections now becoming stagnant, filled with rather foul-smelling water. This section continues for about 300m before opening up into the Third Gorge. We did not venture into the Third Gorge. This will be an adventure for another day with what looks like another 2km of the gorge to explore. Trails above the gorge also need exploring.

The gorge is about 3km long of which we have only explored the first kilometre.

Getting There

The Park is located midpoint between Katherine and Darwin and is about 200 km from both Darwin and Katherine. From Stuart Highway take Dorat road (route 23) and then turn onto Oolloo Road. Note the park is only open in the dry season as such make sure the park is open before you travel.

The turn-off to Butterfly Gorge coincides with the turn-off for Douglas Hot Spring. After turning off Dorat road, travel 26km south on Oolloo road. Then turn left and travel on a graded dirt road for 24km to the car park at Butterfly Gorge (passing the turn-off to Douglas Hot Springs after 7km). The last 17km is considered a four-wheel-drive track and crosses the Douglas River three times. The road is graded and was in good condition when we were last on it.