Ngaran Ngaran Culture Awareness

The Yuin Retreat is a 2 night, 1 day (40 hour) experience that starts on the evening of Day 1 and concludes mid-morning on Day 3. This tour includes two nights’ accommodation, meals as indicated and a team of guides offering insights, knowledge and dreamtime stories for the duration of the experience.

Ngaran Ngaran Culture Awareness (NNCA) was established in 2011 and is an Aboriginal owned and operated Cultural service provider running Aboriginal tourism experiences in the Narooma/Tilba region on the South Coast of New South Wales on Yuin Country

Your lead guide is Dwayne ‘Naja’ Bannon-Harrison with over 17 years of experience along with 9 generations of cultural teachings passed down. Dwayne and the family team at NNCA invite all walks of life onto Yuin country.

Yuin Country 

Many parts of the Narooma, Bega Valley and Bermagui region have held sacred significance for the Yuin Aboriginal community for tens of thousands of years yet the stories are not widely known. The traditional custodians of Yuin country Ngaran Ngaran Culture Awareness an Aboriginal owned and operated initiative invite you to come, walk and listen to a sacred dreaming of Djirringanj country heartland of the Yuin people. This experience will enlighten you to a traditional way of knowing and you will experience first hand ceremony and dreaming stories that have been passed down to connect to country. 

Key experiences

• Participate in and witness traditional Aboriginal wellness sessions, dance, yidaki (didgeridoo), and yarning circles 
• Meet, talk with and learn from knowledgeable Aboriginal guides – the traditional custodians and community from the Yuin nation with generational traditional interpretation  
• Walk and experience several significant sites on Yuin Country.    
• Learn about the Yuin people’s creation story and the Aboriginal Dreaming, history and culture             
• Partake in a traditional sound healing workshop, cooking demonstration and cultural interpretation of the oldest food and healing techniques in the world. 
• Be part of a life-shifting unearthing traditional Aboriginal immersive experience

Itinerary Features

Day one: 7pm

Traditional Welcome - The immersive experience begins with a welcome to Yuin country. This will include language, song and smoking ceremony followed by dinner, a tour briefing and traditional yarning circle.

Day two: 6.30am

Sunrise ceremony – The day begins with greeting one of the Yuin people’s elements in a traditional ceremony with spectacular ocean scenery. This is followed by a local 'Indigenous Twist' breakfast bundle.

On country experiences

Option one (1) Gulaga National Park guided walk day tour – Starting at the historic Tilba Tilba you will begin your journey onto the sacred Gulaga Mountain. This involves a two hour ascent of walking and taking in all the surrounds of Gulaga National Park complemented by the tour guides knowledge and protocol sharing. This truly gives you the opportunity to look,listen and see what Gulaga has to offer and its importance to the Yuin people, from cultural knowledge handed down from generation to generation. This is the core aspect of the experience and takes most of the day, it is suitable for the more eager bushwalker, spiritual seeker or moderately fit visitor. A packed lunch with Indigenous twist will be provided.

Option two (2) Djirringanj dreaming experience drive and walk day tour- –This on country journey involves heading out seeing significant areas for the Yuin people following the Djirringanj Dreaming trail. Travelling via vehicle to several sites with some short moderate walks (1-2 km) to immerse and learn about traditional knowledge. This experience is suitable for the visitor who would like to take a more relaxed and bespoke day out learning on country. A packed lunch with Indigenous twist will be provided.      

Note: Upon booking you can choose your preferred on country experience. You also can choose either experience and be neutral to a surprise of which journey you take on the day. If you are booked on a shared experience (non private) and the majority of the group chooses one experience and your preference is the other experience, we will contact you. You can choose to upgrade to a private tour to ensure your preferred on country experience or we can offer to reschedule to an alternative date for the shared experience. Of course, you can also choose to keep your original date and the majority group choice of experience will apply. Please refer to note below for other itinerary or on country experience considerations to take into account.  

Cultural wellness evening - Arrival back to your accommodation is between 5-6pm afternoon, where a local cheese and fruit platter awaits you. Following that you will be taken through a first peoples wellness session, then it's onto our second food journey for dinner.    

Indigenous Twist Food Journey dining experience (Two nights)- Be taken on a unique high quality dining experience in our amazing nature eating space. Mirritya Mundya Indigenous Twist have worked with some of the best chefs in the country, so sit back and be ready for a remarkable immersion into the tradition of the oldest food culture in the world. 

Traditional Reflection Yarning Circle – Reflecting with each other on the days experience around the fire immersed in Mother Earth's elements with a nice warm Indigenous tea, is truly a grounding and connected way of finishing your special day on country. This time and space will leave you exhaustively content. 

Day three: 8 am

Farewell beach ceremony - A morning cultural wellness session concludes the formal part of the tour. This is followed by a farewell brunch.

Note: This itinerary order and activities may change due to daylight saving and weather conditions. This is to enhance the visitor experience by responding and delivering our features to suit each group and time.

Also please be mindful that due to weather, safety, situational or access restrictions to the Gulaga National Park (option one), we may have to undertake the other tour map of the Djirringanj Dreaming (option two) trail as the alternate on country experience on Day two.