Tiwi Islands Aboriginal Culture Day Tour
Highlights & inclusions
1. Select date
April 2025
2. Select participants
What you can expect
Begin your journey to Tiwi Island with a scenic ferry ride to Bathurst Island departing the Cullen bay Ferry Terminal. After your ferry ride, a local guide will take you on a journey through the fascinating lifestyles of the Tiwi Island's people. Visit a museum with displays of traditional indigenous art and depictions of the Tiwi 'Dreamtime' stories, a unique Tiwi style Catholic Church, arts and crafts centres and enjoy some billy tea and damper with some Tiwi ladies for morning tea.
Locals will demonstrate totem dancing and will perform a smoking ceremony, before you head out on a scenic drive through the Bathurst Island wilderness. As if you haven't already learnt enough about this amazing community, you will also learn about traditional bush tucker and bush medicines to complete your visit to the Tiwi Islands.
There aren't any accommodation transfers included in this tour, so guests are to make their own way to the Cullen Bay Ferry Terminal by 7:30am to depart at 8am and return at 7:30pm. If you were looking for a complete Aboriginal Cultural experience not far from Darwin, then book this tour online today.
Location
What you need to know
- Return ferry to Bathurst Island departing Darwin
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- Experienced driver/guide
- Morning tea
- Hotel pick ups and drops offs - you will need to make your own way to the Cullen Bay Ferry Terminal
- Ferry Crossing to Bathurst Island
- Morning Tea with the Tiwi Ladies
- The Museum
- Arts and crafts co-operatives
- Lookout and burial site
- Tours depart on Thursday and Friday (May, September and October) and Monday, Thursday and Friday (June-August)
- Tour does not operate from November - April
- Check-in commences at 7:30am for 8:00am departure
- Please note there are no hotel pick ups for this tour, you will need to make your own way to the Cullen Bay Ferry Terminal
- Sunscreen
- Hat
- Comfortable shoes
- Camera
- Insect repellent - cream or lotion (non aerosol)
- A reasonable level of fitness is required
- The roads can be dusty, not a place for your best clothes
- Companion card holders are entitled to a 50% discount, however the companion card must be presented at time of travel to validate. Please contact the tour operator directly to book in for your companion passenger. Once the booking has been made you will be sent a voucher with the tour operators details attached
- __Your booking can take up to 1-2 business days to be confirmed with the operator. Please ensure that you contact us 07 5592 2233 to confirm your booking if your travel date is within this period__
Recent reviews
Molly Johnson
almost 2 years ago
Culturally incredible, spiritually wonderful and worth the rocky waters to get to!
Absolutely fantastic trip over from Darwin via the Sea Link Ferry - we had a wonderfully smooth ride over and got to enjoy some local NT flavours on the boat. Once we arrived, we were greeted by our Tiwi guides, Freddy, Andrew and Basil, we ventured to the arts precinct where we got to look at all the various arts and styles the Tiwi people have done/do. We had a local explain to us the stories of some of the art which were phenomenal. We were able to tour the town via an air-conditioned bus but had a perfect mix of walking to really explore, the museum is incredible and definitely, a highlight of the trip, as were the Tiwi guides performing a cleansing after lunch and showing dances for their totems. Absolutely wonderful day trip!
M Pascoe
over 6 years ago
This tour was great and the ferry trip over was lovely.
This tour was great and the ferry trip over was lovely. The tour during the day was great - getting to know the local indigenous culture and people was the highlight of the tour. The local indigenous tour guides were lovely and fun and knowledgable and answered all my questions and I got some lovely photos of them undertaking the local art and smoke ceremony. It was also great to hear that these local tour guides from the island got paid and were able to gain an education and support their families from this income and it was obvious they loved their jobs. Learning about the history of the island and the Tiwi island indigenous people was also great. I did 4 days tours from Darwin and this was the best of the 4.