Highlights •
Bathurst Island • Tiwi and Aboriginal Culture
 Make your own way to Darwin General Aviation Airport to check in by 7.30am.
After a 30 minute scenic flight (additional cost) you arrive at the Aboriginal community
of Nguiu on Bathurst Island. With your local guide visit the museum with its interesting
displays of traditional art and depictions of the Tiwi 'dreamtime' stories and Early
Mission Precinct with its unique Tiwi style Catholic Church. Be taken through the
successful arts and crafts centres and see where the artists work. At morning tea we spend
time with some Tiwi ladies enjoying billy tea and damper while they work on their weaving
and painting. Your guides and the ladies also demonstrate their totem dances and perform a
smoking ceremony to bless the visitors. Set out for a scenic drive through the wilderness
of Bathurst Island. Enjoy lunch and time at a waterhole for a swim. Visit a lookout, which
is also the setting of a Tiwi burial site, and learn some of the complex rituals
associated with the Pukamani Poles (burial poles). Learn about traditional bush tucker and
medicine, and natural fibres and dyes on your return to Nguiu for your return flight to
Darwin (additional cost). (L)
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