Untamed Kimberley

Welcome to Darwin! This afternoon you will enjoy a tour of this tropical city. See the mixture of old and new architectural styles and cultural influences including old Government House and the new Northern Territory Parliament building. You'll also see for yourself some of the damage caused to the town during Cyclone Tracy of 1974. Enjoy dinner this evening with your Travel Director and fellow travellers at a restaurant with spectacular views overlooking the Darwin Waterfront.

Travel south along the Stuart Highway stopping at Adelaide River War Cemetery along the way. During WWII, Adelaide River was the headquarters of a large military base. A large cemetery was created especially for those who gave their lives in the service and defence of their country. This afternoon you continue through Katherine to Nitmiluk National Park. Take a relaxing cruise at Katherine Gorge where you'll really feel the spirituality of the land and marvel at the gorges while you spot wildlife and learn about the history and culture of the local Traditional Owners, the Jawoyn people. In the afternoon, you’ll meet Tom Curtain and experience his spectacular Outback show, it will be an experience you’ll never forget.

Watch the landscape transform as you journey across vast pastoral leases and Aboriginal homelands into Western Australia. Visit the historic Durack Homestead Museum. The homestead was originally built in 1895 by the famous pioneering Durack family on Argyle Downs Station. Cruise the Ord River from Lake Argyle to Kununurra on an exhilarating and educational boat journey where you will experience an abundance of wildlife and some of the most spectacular landscapes in the Kimberley. The magical sunset on the water at the end of this journey as you arrive into the town of Kununurra is something you will never forget. Note: Accommodation may be amended on some departures due to availability. Our friendly Reservations Team will advise full details at time of booking.

Today you can take an optional early morning scenic flight over the spectacular Bungle Bungle beehive domes before a tour of Kununurra, or you may like to join an in depth 4WD tour of the Bungle Bungles in the World Heritage listed Purnululu National Park. Alternately join your Travel Director and visit Mirima National Park, which has great cultural significance to the local Miriwoong people and features intriguing natural rock formations. Afterwards you'll have time to view the town from Kelly’s Knob Lookout before enjoying a free afternoon to relax and unwind. This evening, you’re invited to a privately hosted ‘Be My Guest’ dinner at the Kununurra Sandalwood Factory in the heartland of Kununurra’s Sandalwood plantations. Enjoy a dinner based on fresh locally grown produce from the Ord Valley, Australia’s next ‘food bowl’.

Our long-time partners and family at Hoochery Distillery will take you on a guided tour to hear how Spike Desert and his family came to open this award winning rum distillery. The family will take you behind the scenes of the distillery before you sit down and try their famous Ord River Rum Cake for morning tea. Today you get to hit the Gibb River Road and travel to El Questro Wilderness Park for your stay at Emma Gorge Resort. Nestled at the foot of the rusty red Cockburn Ranges, you won't even know the resort is there as you approach down the dusty dirt road, but before you know it, an oasis of native pandanus and palms appear. Staying in safari style tented cabins, you really feel like you're immersed in nature. It's just magic!

This morning rise to the calls of native birds and head to the resort's large veranda for a hearty breakfast with views of the surrounding ranges. Next up you'll travel across the mighty Pentecost River to the hub of El Questro Wilderness Park for a cruise on Chamberlain Gorge, a fresh waterhole fringed by tropical vegetation and 60 metre tall escarpments. Afterwards, spend a little time at the station and grab a bite for lunch before heading back to Emma Gorge Resort. This afternoon is free for you to relax and enjoy your surrounds. Maybe take a dip in the resort pool, lay back with a good book on your cabin's veranda or if you have a high level fitness you might take the challenging hike to Emma Gorge for a dip in the crystal clear waterhole.

Today visit the Argyle Diamond Mine. Located at the traditional Barramundi Dreaming site at Barramundi Gap, it's the world's largest supplier of natural coloured diamonds. The mine has been operating since 1983 and has produced 800 million carats of rough diamond since! A local Indigenous guide will join you for an extensive behind the scenes look at the diamond mining process and cultural significance of the mine site. Continue south to the historic town of Halls Creek, situated on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. The town is rich in Aboriginal and European history and culture.

Begin your Broome adventure in the fascinating Chinatown district. Breakfast or brunch beneath the multilingual signs, shop for a coveted South Sea pearl in the showrooms and wander past the old billiard saloons. Learn more about the Japanese migrants lured here by Broome’s lucrative pearling industry in the Japanese cemetery, which dates back to 1896. The 707 graves have headstones fashioned from colourful beach rocks. Afterwards, see pearls being cultured on a tour of the pearl museum or cruise Roebuck Bay on an old pearl lugger. During the dry season, from May to October, you can swim safely from the soft, white sand of Town or Cable Beach. Whatever season you visit, make sure you finish the day with an iconic sunset camel trek along Cable Beach. Watch the sun blaze a trail into the Indian Ocean, then dine beneath the balmy, star-filled sky at a café or restaurant near the beach.

Walk or do the five minute drive to Gantheaume Point, where deep red cliffs plunge dramatically to the turquoise water of Indian Ocean. At low tide you can see dinosaur footprints more than130 million years old in the rocky reef. If it’s high tide, check out the plaster cast of the tracks in the cliff top. Afterwards, visit the Broome Bird Observatory in Roebuck Bay, home to the world’s greatest diversity of shorebird species. Or head to the aquaculture centre in Manaba, where you can explore the connection between the area’s traditional Aboriginal owners and the sea. If you’re here between March and October, head to Town Beach to watch the ‘Staircase to the Moon’, a visual illusion created by the reflections of a rising full moon off the tidal flats of Roebuck Bay. At any time of year, Town Beach is a bustling place to grab a bite to eat.

Join a 4WD tour along the Dampier Peninsula - a rugged, spectacular coastal stretch dotted with small Aboriginal communities. Head north on Cape Leveque Road, stopping in Beagle Bay to visit the small Sacred Heart Church. The lovely mother-of-pearl altar here was built by the Aboriginal community and Pallottine monks in 1917. Further north, on lighthouse-tipped Cape Leveque, you can stay in an Aboriginal-owned wilderness camp, a remote natural paradise where you can swim, snorkel and fish. Learn to catch mud crabs on an Aboriginal cultural tour and see multi-coloured marine life from a glass-bottomed boat. Fly over the Buccaneer Archipelago and its breathtaking horizontal waterfalls in a helicopter. Hire a dinghy or just enjoy walking the tranquil, white beaches past craggy red cliffs. Camp in the campground, beneath a beach shelter or stay in a log cabin or deluxe safari tent.