The floodplain was surrounded by sandstone country.

Many of these places are sacred and contain walls of rock art, some which outsiders have been allowed to visit, and others which are for only the initiated.

We skirt the shores to find sandstone and lush vegetation side by side.

And even get to venture on land.

It’s quite a view from the top.

Visiting at the tail-end of the Wet, the clouds sometimes threatened rain.

Sometimes the rain missed us.

But at other times it hit the bullseye!

Fortunately, the downpour was over in five minutes, and as the temperature was close to 30C we were dry again in no time.

Our other adventures at Mt Borradaile involved cruising the various waterways in this flat-bottomed boat.

We discovered very quickly that there were many habitats in the wetlands, the first we passed through being the monsoon rainforest. These are tropical areas that are waterlogged during the Wet but are completely dry otherwise. For example, this ‘canal’ under the paperbark trees in the Dry season is a road!

Paperbarks weren’t the only type of forest we cruised through – there were patches of Livingstonia palms, straight out of the dinosaur era.

And water-loving Pandanus Aquaticus, which I’ve seen in many parts of Northern Australia that I’ve visited.

I loved how serene it all was, particularly when our guide cut the motor – beautiful reflections, and no sound bar the trickle of water and the twittering of birds.