Groote Eylandt – Tropical Paradise in the Gulf of Carpentaria
Come with us and inspire your guests with a truly unique location and bespoke program for your next board meeting, executive group event or corporate retreat. If you are after a unique destination and venue, then Groote Eylandt is your ideal choice. The largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia. It is the homeland of, and is owned by, the Warnindhilyagwa who speak the Anindilyakwa language.
Access is by air with direct daily services from Darwin. Same-day services connect Groote Eylandt via Darwin from all Australian capital cities.
Groote Eylandt Lodge
Groote Eylandt Lodge offers a unique, relaxed and friendly tropical atmosphere, reflecting the lifestyle and hospitality of the Groote Eylandt traditional land owners. The centrepiece of Groote Eylandt Lodge’s 25 beachfront hectares is the accommodation wing of 60 well-appointed waterfront rooms in three categories: Gulf View Suites, Bungalows and Spa Bungalows.
The Lodge has all the facilities expected of a 4 star resort including restaurant, conference and gym facilities, a cultural building housing indigenous art, a large in-ground swimming pool and all connected by timber-decked boardwalks and landscaped tropical gardens designed to preserve the natural surroundings.
Property Features
• 34 Waterfront suites & 26 Bungalows
• Seagrass Restaurant & Bar with indoor & outdoor dining
• Resort-style pool with waterfall & timber decking
• Beachside function and observation deck for private events (up to 25 guests)
• Day spa and gymnasium
• Two versatile function rooms (up to 100 guests)
• Business centre services
• Computer kiosk
• Free WiFi in public areas & In-room WiFi (charges apply)
• Free onsite parking
• External laundry / dry cleaning (charges apply)
• 9-hole golf course
Corporate Retreats and Incentive Groups
Get away from the city and its stuffy conference venues and inspire your team, board members, executive group or high performers with a corporate retreat that will actually achieve what you want it to. De-stressing, reconnecting, planning and team-building is so much more effective when your delegates are away from the norm, interested, relaxed and excited.
Let us help you plan a fully customised corporate retreat that alternates between your meeting content and an exhilarating world-class fishing experience that absolutely anyone with no fishing experience will grasp quickly and enjoy immensely. A round of golf or customised nature and Indigenous cultural experiences are also available.
Sample 4 Day Corporate Retreat with Fishing
• Return airfares from Darwin
• Four nights’ accommodation
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
• Two days meeting time with morning & afternoon tea
• One day guided sports fishing
• An introduction to anindilyakwa culture.
• Return airport transfers
• The well-appointed conference suite is ideal for board meetings and small group functions but has the capacity to cater for functions of up to 80 people. Full corporate support and equipment is available on site.
De-stressing, reconnecting, planning and team-building is so much more effective when your delegates are away from the norm, interested, relaxed and excited.
Relax by the pool with a refreshing drink. Bar service is available from 11am every day of the year dependent on the weather.
Relax and take in the lush, tropical surroundings from your own private balcony.
All spaces are connected by timber boardwalks suspended over natural, well-maintained landscaping, shaded by gum trees and other tropical natives.
Conference and Meetings
Host your business program in the lodge’s well-appointed conference suite and combine the itinerary with world-class fishing, authentic Indigenous art and cultural experiences, and exceptional nature activities. You can even include round of golf at the picturesque Alyangula Golf Club, five minutes from the lodge.
Conference packages are very flexible with individual tailoring to meet budgets, interests, time-frames and for team building, sense of adventure.
With same-day connectivity to and from all Australian capitals, you can arrive on a Monday and leave on a Friday, recharged, rejuvenated, reconnected.
The Bara function room is ideal for board meetings, seminars, training sessions and small group events and can cater for functions of up to 100 people. Full event coordination support and equipment is available on site.
Makarda Lounge offers a private space for small to medium size functions and events, or a post fishing chill out space. Catering for up to 60 people cocktail style the lounge offers stunning views of the gulf with natural lighting and air conditioning.
Lots of comfortable nooks to relax and have a private conversation – all with view of the boardwalks and island surroundings.
Data projector and screen as well as fully connected Devio hub for conferences.
Seagrass Restaurant chefs are on hand to prepare fresh cuisine from morning tea or lunch to formal sit-down dinners.
Lots of morning and afternoon tea options. freshly baked items, savoury quiches, danishes plus hot items.
Seagrass Restaurant and Bar
Seagrass Restaurant serves up modern Australia Cuisine, overlooking the Gulf of Carpentaria. With high ceilings, floor-to ceiling windows and breezy waterfront dining areas on timber balconies with views of the ocean, the restaurant and its comfortable bar area are open seven days for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The restaurant’s chef will also expertly turn the pick of your catch into a fresh seafood feast! The lodge’s Seagrass Restaurant and Bar is highly recommended by the locals as the best place to dine on the island.
Barramundi and Blue Mud Bay
Your site for Barramundi fishing is the exclusive Blue Mud Bay, a large, shallow bay on the eastern coast of Arnhem Land, an hour and a half by boat from the lodge. The name Blue Mud Bay became well known after a landmark High Court decision in 2008 gave Indigenous people exclusive rights to the tidal water overlying their land. Lodge guests are granted privileged access to fish this prime Barramundi habitat.
Groote Eylandt is known for its pristine natural and marine environment, spectacular scenery, Aboriginal art and culture, and some of the best fishing in the world.
Groote Eylandt’s northern archipelago stretches north and east of the island and encompasses some of the archipelago’s main islands, including Chasm and Winchelsea islands.
Its shallow fringing reefs and scattering of islands make it a hot spot for pelagic fishing. In this area we do deep-water jigging, cast to shallow bommies, and trawl lures through underwater canyons and sea mouths.
See ancient rock art at Hanging Rock on the northern tip of the island. Artwork is located sporadically throughout the bush. Intricate and very well-preserved art suddenly appears on second look while exploring the area.
Thanks for the hard work
Inspire your staff or clients with a truly unique location and bespoke program for your next board meeting, executive group event or corporate retreat. If you are after a unique destination and venue, then Groote Eylandt Lodge is your ideal choice. Host your business program in the lodge’s well-appointed conference suite and combine the itinerary with world-class fishing, authentic Indigenous art and cultural experiences, and exceptional nature activities. You can even include round of golf at the picturesque Alyangula Golf Club, five minutes from the lodge.
Traditional Owners
The Warnindilyakwa Aboriginal people are the traditional owners of the Groote Eylandt archipelago region and are referred to by their language name, ‘Anindilyakwa’. 14 clans live in the archipelago area and have occupied Groote Eylandt for some 8000 years. The 3 main Indigenous communities — Angurugu, Milyakburra and Umbakumba —are home to about 1500 people. All 14 clans still strongly embrace their culture and ceremonial traditions.
The Anindilyakwa language is thought to be one of the most ancient in Australia. Uncommonly for Indigenous groups, the traditional Anindilyakwa language is the first language spoken among all 14 clan groups. In 2006, the Groote Eylandt archipelago was officially declared an Indigenous Protected Area, giving ownership and management of the archipelago’s land and sea country to Anindilyakwa clans. The Anindilyakwa people pride themselves on their hospitality and are very welcoming to visitors to Groote Eylandt.
Culture
Culture and traditional ceremonial belief is very important to the Anindilyakwa people. Their ‘Dreaming’ stories and ‘songlines’ explain how the land, rivers, animals and people of the archipelago were first created, the spiritual connections between all those things, and the important ceremonial laws of marriage and kinship. ‘These creation stories account for current relationships between people, animals and land’, said Hugh Bland, an anthropologist who works with the Anindilyakwa people to protect culturally important sites and record cultural information. The stories go back to the creation period—the Dreamtime or ‘Tjukurpa’ as Indigenous people call it—when the land was featureless and uninhabited, and the spirits in the sky or on land created the landscape.
CONTACT