East Arnhem, Garma and Kakadu NP July/August 2026
Date and time: 9:00am, Friday 24 July 2026 departing from Mataranka, NT, to Saturday 22 August 2026, from Kakadu NP.
Trip Standard: Medium - a mix of easy and some sandy tracks. Some river crossings.
Description: I am looking for people interested on this trip and I need responses by mid-January. As you will see below, we need to apply for Garma volunteering by late January.
The trip will involve volunteering at the Garma Festival in East Arnhem Land, near Nhulunbuy, for two weeks followed by a few days exploring around Nhulunbuy and eight or ten days exploring Kakadu NP.
The Garma Festival itself is from 31 July to 3 August, and volunteering is roughly a week before and afterwards to help set up and break down for the event. Your experiences there will be extraordinary. You can check out the website at https://yyf.com.au/garma-festival/about-garma-festival/. Whilst on-site at Garma, we will be provided with accommodation (tent, mattress and sleeping bag) and all food.
Before leaving East Arnhem, we will explore some of the pristine bush, creeks and coastline. We will either stay in remote campsites or camp in Nhulunbuy. There are some restrictions to bush camping that we will have to navigate. Check out the area at https://www.dhimurru.com.au/visiting-recreation-areas.html
After two day’s drive back to Katherine, we will prepare for ten days or so in Kakadu NP. I would like to include a full day visit into Gunbalanya, West Arnhem, from Jabiru to visit some significant Aboriginal cultural sites. Check out https://kakadu.gov.au and https://injalak.com/book-tour/
We will finish the trip around 22 August at Kakadu. Since this is advanced planning, there will be some flexibility.
What we know now: The dates for Garma are set. Applications to volunteer will open in late January. We will each have to apply individually at that time and I will send out reminders. Once we have all applied, I will email the Yothu Yindi Foundation (YYF) to advise them that we are all in a single group and who the partners are. That way, they will be able to consider us as a group and hopefully approve our applications.
There are many permits that we must acquire. I’ll lead that process in good time.
The cultural tour at Gunbalanya is four hours and we must drive in and out from Jabiru on the same day. There is no camping at Gunbalanya. There is a maximum of 10 people per tour group.
Weather: Hot and beautiful.
Equipment: Below are the recommended vehicle requirements. If you are not sure if your vehicle is suitable for a trip, please have a chat with the trip leader.
Good off-road tyres (All Terrain, 60 profile recommended as a minimum), UHF radio (or one borrowed from the club), a well-maintained vehicle with low range (or equivalent), good ground clearance (200mm recommended as a minimum), recovery points, standard recovery gear including dampener, rated snatch strap and shackles, shovel and sand tracks. Drivers must have completed the RRCV club training or equivalent.
Additional Equipment required: Camping gear food and drinking water for a month of camping. Clothing for hot conditions. Lots of hydralite. There’ll be plenty of opportunity for restocking along the way.
Camper trailers are OK and must have off-road capability.
Maps and Reference Material: Refer to the websites above.
Fuel: Extra fuel for the Central Arnhem Road. This is nearly 800 km of gravel, mostly OK but many corrugations and potholes full of bulldust. There may be fuel along the road but don’t bet on it.
Distance: Our start point is Mataranka, 3327 km from Melbourne!.
Duration: A month or so
Convoy limit: 6 vehicles. Only ten of us will be able to do the Gunbalanya tour, so we’ll work out numbers and logistics later.
Meeting arrangements: We will meet at Mataranka visitor centre and depart at 9.00am. We can arrange camping the night before at Elsey NP.
Trip Leader: Graeme Bartle-Smith, 0415 698 198 and graemebs@gmail.com
Club Guest Registration policy: It is club policy in regard to insurance cover that if a member brings any non-members on the trip they must be registered and have paid the required fee as Temporary Members BEFORE the event.
i.e. non- members can no longer register on the day with the trip leader.
Temporary Membership information and ways to register can be found at:
Temporary (Guest) Membership
Also if a non-member wishes to bring their own vehicle, the member inviting the non-member must contact the trip leader for approval to bring the vehicle. Such approval will take into account skills of the driver, suitability of the vehicle and whether or not a place within the convoy limit is available for a non-member's vehicle.
