4 Hour Self Guided Gourmet Lunch and Aboriginal Art Tours

To take the tour, download the free Junket app For Android devices https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.junket.app&hl=en_US&gl=US For iPhones and Apple devices https://apps.apple.com/us/app/junket-explore-your-world/id1297242830 …and get the tour here: https://wejunket.com/junkets/Darwin_City/Darwin_Gourmet_Tours_Self-Guided/ Use the app to guide you with maps, narration, photos and videos. Your first stop is the restaurant Moorish Cafe. Just let staff know you're with the tour when you arrive.

Here are the kinds of gourmet dishes you can expect on a typical tour. You’ll get to try at least 12 different dishes. Note our focus on NT-sourced produce or Aboriginal bush foods. Menu samples · Local Lebanese eggplant with sweet and sour dressing · Local NT Jewfish in coconut and lime (severed chilled) · Berber-spiced kangaroo with tomato jam · Savoury slice (quiche) with Aboriginal bush foods · Native-inspired dips with flat bread · Aboriginal bush food-inspired alcohol-free beer, flavours may include finger lime, lemon aspen, pepperberry and Davidson plum · Green papaya salad · Salt and pepper marinated crocodile with cabbage slaw salad · Caramelised banana, vanilla ice cream, wattleseed caramel, macadamia, mint

Austin Lane, West Lane and other areas: an unexpected surprise when wandering Darwin's city streets is the murals that adorn the walls of our laneways. Since 2017, the Darwin Street Art Festival has brought vibrancy and colour to the city's walls, with international, national and local artists contributing to the large-scale art gallery. We’ll have photo opportunities in Darwin's celebrated Austin Lane, home to giant street art paintings.

The next stop on our culinary tour is Aboriginal Bush Traders, located on the ground floor of Charles Darwin Centre. You’ll be treated to some delicious and exotic tastes brought to you by the world’s oldest living culture. The food you’ll be sampling here features bush spices and other ingredients sourced from the Northern Territory. And there’s time in your schedule to browse the attached art gallery and shop, featuring everything from digeridoos to bush medicine, art, and homewares. ABT is a not-for-profit that sells ethically sourced products that support local Indigenous communities. They promote issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the region, and their desire to genuinely be engaged in the evolving economic opportunities of the region.

On Christmas Eve 1974, after almost a century enduring tropical conditions and 64 air raids during World War II, Darwin's Town Hall literally started crumbling during Cyclone Tracy. The heritage building—erected 14 years after European settlers arrived in the region in 1869—was damaged beyond repair by the natural disaster, as was much of the city. Some of our tours will have photo opportunities at this heritage-listed site, a testament to the destructive power of the cyclone that destroyed much of Darwin.

On your left is a church that was also hit by Cyclone Tracy’s tremendous winds. You can find out more about it in the text. Let’s talk about food. See that magnificent shade tree on the lawn, just to the left as you look across at the church? There’s a smaller one behind it, same kind of tree. Those are tamarind trees. The big tree could be over 200 years old, and it’s not native, so we’d love to know the story of whoever planted it here. And if it’s the right time of year and the tree is fruiting, you might be able to pick one of the pods and taste it. Tamarind paste is a staple of Indian curries and Thai dishes including Pad Thai. It’s sour and citrusy, with hints of smoke and caramel, giving a complex flavour to both sweet and savoury dishes. Tamarind is what gives Worcestershire sauce its distinct tang. Bet you didn’t know that!

On the 19th of February 1942, Darwin experienced the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that fateful day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in Darwin Harbour and the town's two airfields. The Japanese were trying to prevent the Allies from using Darwin as a base to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II. This spot is where survivors of the bombing gathered to survey the damage in the harbour.

You’re currently standing on the top of a cliff, or as we sometimes call it, an escarpment. We’re headed down to Darwin’s Waterfront Precinct and to get down there, there are steps and a long skybridge and a glass elevator. The Waterfront features over 20 places to eat and drink as well as a wave pool, shops and gardens. As you walk across the Sky Bridge, on your left, check out the native birds flying across the wall. You’ll see a trio of black and white geese called magpie geese. They’re prolific in this part of Australia, counted at over a million. They’re often considered pests when they raid mango farms. Sure, they love mangos just as much as anyone else. During the Wet, they’re fair game, and Aboriginal people consider them to be very tasty bush tucker indeed. By the way, here’s a little secret… Near the end of the Sky Bridge, look down to the left at the balconies. Think in three dimensions to find a hidden bird. Do you see it?