Darwin’s hospitality workers got the opportunity to discover “Kakadu in a day” thanks to AAT Kings, Kakadu Air, Parks Australia Hospitality NT, and Kakadu Tourism, combining to showcase Australia’s most spectacular national park.
While Kakadu is just a three-hour drive from Darwin, many of the city’s hospitality workers are recent arrivals and the purpose of the familiarisation tour was to introduce them to the incredible experiences available throughout the park so that they could recommend a visit to Kakadu to Top End tourists.
The group of 24 packed a vast amount into their day. Aboard a sleek AAT Kings coach – one of the leading companies providing tours to Kakadu – the group was introduced to the National Park with a spectacular flight over the Escarpment and surrounding bush that has turned a verdant green with the summer rains.
It was then onto the Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel for lunch, sponsored by Parks Australia, where they tasted famed local produce, including barramundi and kangaroo, while viewing paintings and crafts created by local Aboriginal artists in the hotel’s Ochre Gallery.
An exhibition of Kakadu’s 65,000 years of continuous Indigenous settlement – the oldest in the world – was on display at the Warradjan Cultural Centre, before the group came face-to-face with crocodiles during a Yellow Water Cruise.
A Taste of Kakadu inspired afternoon tea at Cooinda Lodge was the final course on the Kakadu menu, before the group returned in air-conditioned comfort to Darwin aboard the AAT Kings coach.
“It was an action-packed tour of Kakadu, but the idea was to show these hospitality workers that Kakadu is an absolute ‘must’ for any visitor to the Top End,” Kakadu Tourism’s Sam Waldron said.
“We are so close to Darwin and yet perceived as being so far – a myth that AAT Kings was able to dispel with their seamless tour to Kakadu.
“We also wanted to show that even during the wet season, Kakadu is an amazing destination to view. The fact that they were able to see Kakadu from the air, on the ground and from the water showed how easy it was to get a feel for the landscape, even in a relatively short period of time.
“Obviously we recommend that visitors stay for at least two or three nights to fully immerse themselves in Kakadu’s culture but given how many visitors that hospitality workers talk to, we thought they would be powerful in getting out the word that Kakadu is not only open, but very welcoming, even during the tropical summer months.”
