Tiwi By Design Day Tour

Overview

Available languages

English

9 hours

Mobile ticket

Visit a traditional Aboriginal community on the Tiwi Islands, off the coast of Darwin. Accompanied by a local Tiwi guide, you'll learn about local history and Tiwi rituals by visiting all the places of interest. Share a traditional morning tea with Tiwi Islanders before taking an art workshop taught by Aboriginal artists. Tourism is limited on the island, making this a rare chance to visit this Aboriginal community that holds on tightly to its traditions.

Additional Info

Wheelchair accessible

Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller

Service animals allowed

Public transportation options are available nearby

Specialized infant seats are available

Transportation options are wheelchair accessible

Suitable for all physical fitness levels

This is a walking tour, an easy stroll over short distances between the ferry landing, art centre and mission precinct. **Please note that the Bathurst Island Museum is closed until 2022, and is no longer included in this tour**

Covid Procedures: We have always had stringent and rigorous hygiene standards, cleaning procedures and health and safety practices. During this time, we have stepped our practices and procedures up even further. Where possible we have made additional hand sanitisers and cleaning stations available to our customers and employees to exercise good hand/hygiene practices. We have also placed hygiene communications in our vessels, vehicles, accommodation, food venues, shop fronts/counters/terminals from the relevant health authorities.

Dietary requirements: Please advise of any dietary requirements at the time of booking

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

What‘s Included

Local guide

WiFi on board

Lunch

Restroom on board

Food and drinks, unless specified

Hotel pickup and drop-off

What To Expect

SeaLink Northern Territory

Servicing the Top end since 2013, SeaLink Northern Territory provides a safe, comfortable and reliable ferry service with state-of-the-art high-speed catamarans and friendly qualified crew. Built especially for remote locations, the SeaLink NT ferries are capable of beach landings, carrying large numbers of passengers in comfort, and are all equipped with kiosks, men, women and disabled toilets, air-conditioned cabins, and spacious outdoor decking.

5 hours • Admission Included

Tiwi Design

After a rest and lunch in the shade, it’s time to re-visit Tiwi Design and participate in an exclusive ‘behind-the-scenes’ screen printing workshop. Choose from contemporary or traditional Tiwi design to print onto a take-home t-shirt, tea towel or fabric – a wonderful souvenir of your Tiwi visit.

2 hours • Admission Included

Options

SeaLink Tiwi Islands

Ferry

Reviews

4.43

166 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

119

Very highly recommended
Rose G,
Oct 2, 2025
- Review from Viator
5.00
We had a fantastic day on Bathurst island learning about Tiwi culture. After a 2 1/2 hr ride on a SeaLink ferry we were met by Vivian (?) our guide who brought us all as one group to watch a ceremony that started with a smoking ceremony and dance, that was fabulous. One elder- Romy ( not sure of correct spelling) was very entertaining and funny. We had really lovely damper and tea for morning tea. The group then spilt into two with our group going for a walk through the streets with our guide to see the museum and the heritage- listed Catholic Church. Our guide Vivian told us about Tiwi culture and history, it was very educational and interesting. We then returned to the cultural centre to have a really lovely lunch ( quite big and couldn’t be finished). Our group then did some screen printing with Victoria and Alan who had been doing it for 40 + years. This was a fun experience enjoyed by all. The art centre had a lot of local art & sculptures for sale. I count resist a lovely painting to take home. We had a lot of time to rest whilst waiting for the group to finish the screen printing so we were able to watch and chat to the local artists who were painting in the garden. I would highly recommend this culturally immersive day of Tiwi.
Loved it!
Carmela G,
Sep 26, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
Exceptional day. Very friendly and welcoming place to visit. Screen printing with my teenage daughter was a highlight and our tour guide was full of interesting facts and stories about Tiwi culture. The ferry trip there and back is about 2.5 hrs each way, but well worth the effort. Would do it again on a heartbeat.
Great taste of Tiwi!
Amelia S,
Sep 25, 2025
- Review from Viator
5.00
My parents, partner and I loved our Tiwi Design tour. It was the perfect taste of the Tiwi Islands and very special to learn about the Tiwi culture and try our hand at Tiwi art. The damper and fresh sandwiches were delicious!
Wonderful day morning tea...
Carolyn S,
Sep 13, 2025
- Review from Viator
5.00
Wonderful day morning tea and lunch was great. The screenprinting experience was wonderful. Would certainly recommend this trip to Tiwi.
Don’t bother.
lailak2,
Sep 12, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
1.00
The tour was slow , not much to do or see. The “show” was silly and staged badly. 2.5 hours on the ferry each way to spend time in a hut making a tea towel was a total waste of time.
Tiwi Islands Great! Viator let us down.
Laura R,
Sep 11, 2025
- Review from Viator
2.00
Painting experience was great and everyone was friendly. Viator messed up our tickets and caused us a lot of trouble when trying to get on the tour, arriving at the island and when leaving. It really made the whole day quite frustrating.
Tiwi Visit
Daydream674846,
Sep 5, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
4.00
Lovely day on Tiwi Islands, the people were so welcoming and shared their artistic skills and wonderful culture. Guide Rumi and artist Alan special people
Fantastic experience
tomloutess,
Aug 24, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
I took my daughter her partner and grandkids. The ferry ride over takes about 2.5hours . Nothing to do but look at the scenery so take a book or chat to other tourists. On arrival we did a welcome to country and dance with some of the people that work at the art centre. Then the group broke into two groups and one did the screen printing and the other group did a tour at the museum and old church, then swapped. The screen printing was fantastic and Allan and Keira were so patient with us as we chose our screens and paint colours. They took the time to individually show us how to do our tea towels or tshirts. We also got to keep what we made. Even my little grandkids were helped to make their tea towels. The museum visit was very informative too. The whole day was really interesting and the people were very friendly. We loved it
Art and culture knowledge gain
Gemma W,
Aug 18, 2025
- Review from Viator
5.00
A truly wonderful day with soooo much learning. Thanks Tiwi Designs! I will cherish my tea towel and hopefully come back to see more of the beautiful islands
A Truly Genuine Welcome to Country.
Kelly M,
Aug 16, 2025
- Review from Viator
5.00
Until very recently the Tiwi Islands were not even on my radar, but once I saw this tour advertised I discovered that, largely thanks to the movie, Top End Wedding, I was in the minority. I was slightly trepidatious about the tour, as I feared that it might feel intrusive and somewhat cringe worthy to go traipsing into people’s culture and heritage as a tourist. Thankfully it was absolutely not at all like that. From the moment I stepped onto the ferry I felt welcomed and relaxed. By some great good fortune, I happened to be going on a very busy weekend for the island, and members of the community were heading home for a weekend of AFL, which, it rapidly transpired, is the “second religion,” of the islands. Our Welcome to Country on arrival began with a good natured quizzing on which teams we all supported. - The nonagenarian nun’s team is unashamedly the Sydney Swans - and with that we were warmly welcomed by Elders and Aunties with a Smoking Ceremony and dances before being split into two groups to create screen printed artwork at the art gallery, or to take a walking tour of the island to the delightful and extremely interesting little museum and the heritage church made famous in the movie my friends had told me to watch. (If you haven’t seen it, I recommend you do.) My group did the tour first, then came back to the art gallery for lunch and a chance to create our own screen prints, while the other group did their museum tour. It was a fabulous day of good natured banter, as well as being extremely informative, and I got to bring home my own screen printed memento, as well as a beautiful carved bird that I absolutely couldn’t resist buying from the gallery shop. My only regret? I wish I had known about the weekend of football and had somehow been able to stay for the whole thing - and the kicker there? I don’t really care about AFL, at all.