Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Where do tours start and finish?
3-Hour Outback Gourmet Food & Art Tour
These tours begin at Ruby Vietnamese restaurant, 48-50 Smith Street, beside Raintree Park, Darwin City. Some tours begin in Ruby's restaurant and some meet outside at the front of the restaurant. Your guide will be wearing a Darwin Gourmet Tours name tag. This tour usually concludes at the Darwin Waterfront. For this scheduled tour, you'll receive emails with booking reminders and other information.
Cruise Ship Special: 4-Hour Outback Gourmet Food & Art Tour
You don't have to be off a cruise ship to enjoy this tour. These tours begin and conclude at the Top End Visitor Information Centre, 6 Bennett Street, Darwin City. If the Centre is open, meet your guide inside. If the Centre is closed, meet at the front of the Centre. Your guide will be wearing a Darwin Gourmet Tours name tag. If you're a cruiser, there's a regular shuttle from here to your ship and we guarantee on-time return to your ship. For this scheduled tour, you'll receive emails with booking reminders and other information.
Private 4-Hour Tour: Hidden Darwin
Private tours begin and conclude wherever you like: at your ship, at your hotel, at the airport.
Exclusive Private VIP Tour: The Best of Darwin in 5 Hours
Private tours begin and conclude wherever you like: at your ship, at your hotel, at the airport.
What to wear and what to bring
Please dress smart casual for our tropical climate. Cotton clothing is a good choice. Men may want to wear shorts and a short-sleeved collared shirt in Darwin’s tropical climate, but no singlets or thongs please. Comfortable covered walking shoes are recommended. If there's a chance of rain, please bring an umbrella.
What’s the food like on Gourmet Tours?
You’ll enjoy a degustation (tasting) menu with an emphasis on farm-to-table, fresh local ingredients. Darwin's cuisine is influenced by many cultures, including Aboriginal cultures. Local delicacies may include one or more ingredients from a list spanning kangaroo, buffalo, barramundi, crocodile, prawns, tropical fruits and vegetables, and more.
Below is a wide selection from several of the restaurants on our tours. These dishes are indicative of some of the gourmet dishes you can expect on a typical tour. Selections may vary from tour to tour, but we’ll serve you several different dishes:
Menu samples
• Duck salad with banana flower, mint, and ginger sauce
• Char grilled beef in local wild betel leaf
• Kai lan with oyster sauce
• Eggplant with sweet and sour dressing
• Miso marinated crocodile
• Whole char-grilled gold band snapper with cashew sauce
• Charred bullhorn pepper
• Green papaya salad
• Line-caught smoked mackerel pate
• Cassava wedges with spicy balado seasoning and kewpie mayo
• Rum Jungle buffalo croquettes
• Skull Island prawns
• Black garlic pate made in house
• Charred Berry Spring snake beans with toasted walnut
• Line-caught loligo calamari
• Crocodile dumplings
• Kangaroo spring rolls
• Berber spiced kangaroo with tomato jam
• Caramelised banana, vanilla ice cream, wattle seed caramel, macadamia, and mint.
We cater for special diets
We cater for dietary preferences including vegetarian, pescatarian, gluten-free, shellfish-free, allergies, and others. If you told us about your dietary preference when you booked, be sure to confirm this with your guide at the start of your tour. Kindly note we are unable to cater for diets that are onion-free, vegan, halal, or kosher.
What drinks are available?
All standard soft drinks, coffee and tea are included on all tours. One welcome drink of wine, beer, or spirits is included on most scheduled food tours, but cocktails are not included. If you’d like to purchase alcohol, you can do so at most of the restaurants on our tour. Private tours are fully inclusive of all food and alcohol including cocktails.
What are the restaurants like?
Our tours are constantly changing to meet Darwin's vibrant restaurant scene. We focus on the best locally-sourced food, no matter where it can be found. Most of the venues we visit are air conditioned and in the Wet season we always sit in the air con. Eating areas are non-smoking, but smoking areas are usually available nearby. Washrooms are available at all restaurants and several other locations. All restaurants and tours are wheelchair-accessible.
What’s the walk like for scheduled tours?
Enjoy a relaxed walk at a sedate pace on level and paved walkways, all wheelchair accessible. The average walking distance is under 1.6 kilometres (1 mile), broken into several short walks between restaurants and venues. These tours generally finish about a kilometre from where they started. If the weather is poor we’ll provide transport. Scheduled tours operate in a small walking area in central Darwin.
Children
Girls and boys of all ages are welcome to join scheduled tours. Those aged 6 to 16 years old inclusive pay the listed Child’s price. Those aged under 6 years old eat free of charge.
Guest numbers for scheduled tours
Scheduled tours are generally limited to 12 guests per tour. We can accommodate more guests on application.
Private tours
If you book at least 24 hours in advance, we can guide a private tour for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on any day. Ask us for pricing and availability.
Private Tours with themes:
What are the historic and cultural landmarks we'll see on a tour?
The historic and cultural landmarks we stop to see depend on the tour and the day of the week. Not all tours include all landmarks. Your tour may include one or more of these:
Darwin Street Art
Austin Lane and West Lane
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. Many art pieces feature very cool augmented reality. We’ll have photo opportunities in Darwin's celebrated Austin Lane, home to giant street art paintings.
The Old Town Hall
11 Smith Street
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. We’ll have photo opportunities at this heritage-listed site, a testament to the destructive power of the cyclone that destroyed much of Darwin.
Darwin Waterfront
Kitchener Drive
This is a great place to find gourmet food and drink, not to mention that it’s set on a beautiful lagoon on Darwin Harbour. Our tour is constantly changing and we feature different establishments on different days of the week. Weather permitting, we’ll dine outside with a view of the harbour.
Parliament House
Some weekday lunch tours enter the building. This grand building, known locally as The Wedding Cake, opened in 1994. Photo opportunities abound and your guide will point out one or two significant but hidden features.
State Square, Darwin
Overland Telegraph Memorial
Liberty Square
The Overland Telegraph line linked up with a submarine telegraph cable between Darwin and Java in 1872. It connected with the extensive British telegraph network, providing Australia with its first solid communications link with the rest of the world. If you could understand Morse code, that is.
Survivor’s Lookout
Esplanade
This high walkway gives spectacular views of Darwin Harbour and the Arafura Sea. Its name came about after survivors of the first WWII air raid on Darwin, in 1942, gathered here to see the devastation below. There were over 40 ships in Darwin Harbour during the attack, and some of the pictures on display are of burning ships seen from this high point.
About Cancellations, Booking Amendments and Refunds
If you cancel or amend a booking 48 hours or more before the start of your tour you will receive a full refund. If you cancel or amend a booking fewer than 48 hours before the start of your tour you will be charged 50% of your total cost. If you book a tour but we cancel the tour due to insufficient bookings or for any other reason, you will receive a full refund and the option to book another tour at a discount.
Unscheduled Tours Policy
Note that only regularly scheduled tours can be booked through third-party websites. Tour dates opened by request must be booked directly through this website.