Heart of Kakadu

THE GHAN - A PRE-TOUR OPTIONAL EXTENSION 03-05 AUGUST 2022

If you have never travelled on one of Australia’s most iconic rail journeys this is your chance!  The Outback Spirit Northbound adventure departs Adelaide on Wednesday 03 August and arrives in Darwin on Friday 05 August – Day One of our Into the Heart of Kakadu journey.  For details on this exceptional pre-tour add on please click here.

DAY 1 | FRIDAY 05 AUGUST 2022 | 2 NIGHTS | THE VIBE HOTEL DARWIN

Darwin is world famous for its fabulous food, colourful outdoor markets and a diverse range of activities – and we will have plenty of time to enjoy them during our time in the Territory’s tropical capital!

On arrival we will be met and privately transferred to The Vibe Hotel on the famous Darwin Waterfront.  Those arriving throughout the day are at leisure until your fellow travellers pull in on The Ghan this evening.  A welcome cocktail or coffee will be enjoyed before retiring for the evening in prepaaration for a fabulous week ahead!

Accommodation :  The Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront

DAY 2 | SATURDAY 06 AUGUST 2022 | DARWIN

Today we will attend the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) a prestigious event that is one of the most significant festivals showcasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts in the world. There is a range of artistic styles, mediums and products on display including: paintings on canvas, bark paintings, works on paper including limited edition prints, sculpture, didgeridoos, fibre art and cultural regalia. The diversity of Indigenous art at the DAAF is remarkable!

The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair boasts a program of artist workshops, spectacular traditional dance performances, film, fashion and more. You will have the opportunity to meet both emerging and established artists from more than 75 communities across Australia – a memorable experience engaging with the oldest continuous living culture in the world!

Lunch today is to your own account as there are several food outlets for you to choose what tickles your tastebuds.

Return to The Vibe Hotel at your leisure this afternoon to prepare for a hosted dinner this evening at Wharf One – walking distance from our hotel.  In this award-winning NT restaurant we will dine, alfresco, on a wood-fired tapas menu – delighting in small bites such as wood-grilled SA squid with smoked hummus and lemon; wood-fired prawns with radish salad and chilli jam; followed by NT barramundi with miso and pickled daikon (or similar).

Accommodation :  The Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront

DAY 3 | SUNDAY 07 AUGUST | 4 NIGHTS | HAWK WILDERNESS DREAMING LODGE KAKADU

After breakfast this morning we depart for one of Australia’s most majestic natural wonderlands, Kakadu National Park, registered as a World Heritage Area. This is a timeless place of extraordinary ecological and biological diversity that supports an astonishing array of endemic plants and animals. The unique tropical environment encompasses eight distinct habitats including deep shaded woodlands, stunningly beautiful rock formations, towering sandstone escarpments, monsoon vine forests, lowland savannas, broad floodplain, deep gorges, tumbling waterfalls and mangrove-covered tidal flats. It has been home to more than 19 traditional-owner clan groups, known as Bininj, for more than 65,000 years and showcases a spectacular collection of Aboriginal rock art.

Our first stop on entering Kakadu National Park is the Bowali (pronounced Bor-Warl-ee)  Visitor Centre west of Jabiru where there are interpretative displays that will provide a deeper understanding of this fascinating landscape the people and the flora and fauna of the region.

We will then delve into the landscape for a first-hand encounter, bound for Hawk Dreaming Wilderness Lodge. This is our home for the next four nights – ‘glamping’ in tents complete with comfortable twin beds, a full bathroom, storage space and a small deck. With canvas and fly screens for walls there is little between us and the tranquil sounds of nature.

Hawk Dreaming Wilderness Lodge is located in an exclusive and restricted area of Kakadu National Park, an extremely special and justifiably renowned part of Kakadu, known as Cannon Hill. The area is abundant in wildlife, especially bird and marine life, and is where Kakadu’s diverse landscape elements come together. Cannon Hill is a registered sacred site with the sandstone outliers around Cannon Hill hosting significant rock art dating back many thousands of years. The lodge is owned and managed by the traditional land owners and features just 12 ensuite safari tents complete with comfortable twin beds with crisp linen, a light, fan, bedside table and a small verandah. We are warmly welcomed into camp by our hosts before travelling to a stunning sandstone escarpment to watch our first spectacular sunset over the wetlands. We will return to camp for a delicious evening meal, accompanied by fine wine, beneath a blanket of stars before retiring to the comfort of our tented safari cabin in preparation for our heart warming cultural immersion in the days ahead.

Accommodation :  Hawk Dreaming Wilderness Lodge

DAY 4-6 | MONDAY 08 - THURSDAY 11 AUGUST | WEAVING WORKSHOP

This morning we awake in this ancient and powerful landscape. After breakfast we will meet Anita Nayinggul of the Manilikarr clan, our chief weaving instructor, along with theincredible women who will generously welcome us into their lives, onto their land and who will share with us their knowledge and the weaving skills that have been handed down through generations.

Every day will be negotiated between us, the balanda (white) women, and the Manilikarr women. There is no pre-set itinerary.

Our teaching will be conducted as it has been done for thousands of years in traditional Aboriginal communities. Together we will harvest fibre from the Pandanus tree and strip the plant in preparation for dyeing and weaving. We will forage for sand palm and other natural dyes –Wirdlwirdl (the red bulb of Haemadorum breviculae grass) for brown, Windilk (the seeds of the Haemodorum Coccineum plant, related to Kangaroo Paw) for pink, Mandjurndum (the bright orange roots of the Pognolobus reticulatus bush) for yellow and ashes from burnt bark for red – all the while also learning their traditional culinary (‘bush tucker’) or medicinal purposes.

We will grind and pound the plant matter on rocks as the ladies avidly chatter in their language before boiling the Pandanus leaves in the variety of colours we create. Then together we will sit, we will observe the women’s techniques, learn some local language and we will begin to weave under the watchful, smiling eyes of the women, guided by their experienced, strong hands. And all the while we will share stories, we will listen and we will laugh.