Bus Tours
1–2 hours
Free cancellation
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Recommended by 97% of travellers
97% of reviewers gave this product a bubble rating of 4 or higher.
from
AU$60
per adult
The Darwin History and Wartime Experience
The Darwin History and Wartime Experience
The Darwin History and Wartime Experience
5
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Friday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Sunday
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Full view
About
Join this iconic Darwin tour and discover the city's fascinating history while travelling in a genuine WW2 period army vehicle. Sit back in style and relive wartime Darwin complete with 1940's music and speeches from important figures of the time. Cruise past historic landmarks, wartime relics and visible evidence of the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese and gain fascinating insights into Darwin's pre-war, wartime and post war periods. Tours take approximately an 1 hour 20 minutes. Half day ( 4hr) tours also available Monday and Wednesday afternoons. All tours start and finish outside Tourism Top End (Tourist Information Centre). Some tours include the option to 'hop on/hop off' at the Darwin Military Museum/Defence of Darwin Experience at East Point (entry fees apply).
Tours and Tickets by The Darwin History and Wartime Experience
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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5.0
129 reviews
Excellent
110
Very good
16
Average
1
Poor
0
Terrible
2
Mr Berry
228 contributions
May 2022 • Couples
This tour is a must-do if you enjoy history, and having a guide with a wealth of knowledge and passion. We enjoyed the vehicle, the music and the quirky anecdotes. Darwin is a beautiful city and it was interesting seeing the sites also. Highly recommended indeed. You seldom get to meet people with this level of passion and knowledge in what they do. Our bus didn’t arrive for our original trip, our tour company was awful - we couldn’t book anything as seemingly it was all booked up and were feeling pretty fed up. By 10 AM we saw this wonderful vehicle and made enquiries and after that our day got better and better. It really turned yesterday around and we even ended up having dinner at one of the places he pointed out - Pee Wees which was awesome. Thank you for making our first day in Darwin great !
Written 18 May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for such a nice review. Glad we managed to turn your day around. have a great stay in Darwin
cheers
David
Written 20 May 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Ilona B
Melbourne, Australia50 contributions
Apr 2022 • Family
Fantastic tour! We loved all the interesting facts and riding a round in the truck added an extra unique factor to the tour. It was quite hot but the openness of the truck meant we didn’t feel it so much. Affordable for a family and really a great way to start our time in Darwin!
Written 26 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi - thank you for your review. Glad we could give you a good experience. Hope you had a great stay in Darwin
cheers
David
Written 20 May 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
SimKris
Melbourne, Australia95 contributions
Aug 2019
This is a great way to travel about to see some of Darwin's sites and hear about the history of the areas in and around the city. The tour guide shared interesting facts and stories about Darwin's wartime history as well as its more recent history.
Written 28 August 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Simkris - glad you enjoyed the tour. Spread the word by all means!
cheers
Written 30 August 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Dizzieliz
Brisbane, Australia55 contributions
Aug 2019 • Couples
We took the first tour of the day at 10am and it was really interesting particularly to those of us who aren’t Darwin born. I learned a lot about Darwin’s early history, WW2 bombings and the tour also covered post wartime with Cyclones and more recent news stories ie. the imprisonment and subsequent release of Lindy Chamberlain.
The truck is pretty original ie. expect skinny, hard seats, open sides and the occasional, delicious odour of petrol fumes. It was a little hard to hear the commentary at times especially at the end of the tour when the song, Santa never made it to Darwin played right through the end of the tour....I would suggest turning it down or off so that those in the back can hear the round up by the driver. Also, if you have long legs, avoid the front left seats and those of us on the larger size could find it difficult to fit in the seats at all.
On a beautiful, sunny winter day as we had, I can’t think of a better way to learn history it just needed a little tweaking for those of us a little hard of hearing!
The truck is pretty original ie. expect skinny, hard seats, open sides and the occasional, delicious odour of petrol fumes. It was a little hard to hear the commentary at times especially at the end of the tour when the song, Santa never made it to Darwin played right through the end of the tour....I would suggest turning it down or off so that those in the back can hear the round up by the driver. Also, if you have long legs, avoid the front left seats and those of us on the larger size could find it difficult to fit in the seats at all.
On a beautiful, sunny winter day as we had, I can’t think of a better way to learn history it just needed a little tweaking for those of us a little hard of hearing!
Written 16 August 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Dizzielz - thank you for your review. The sound system/Pa is only 3 days old so still trying to tweak it a little. Thank you for your review
cheers
Written 17 August 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Mytraveltopia
Melbourne, Australia17 contributions
What an amazing way to get a quick totally informative history lesson on Darwin and the true events that took place .
Forget about a recording.
Dave and his knowledge of Darwin and what went on over that time is incredible and he does it all off the top of his head on the run .
His passion for what he does is very standout .
Keep up the great work mate.
Forget about a recording.
Dave and his knowledge of Darwin and what went on over that time is incredible and he does it all off the top of his head on the run .
His passion for what he does is very standout .
Keep up the great work mate.
Written 10 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi mytraveltopia
thank you for your review - i will try to keep it up!
cheers
David
Written 12 May 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Henning E
Launceston, Australia18 contributions
Aug 2018 • Family
Very knowledgeable tour guide. While driving through Darwin he explains the war, explains the city and the history. He makes it come alive. Not only for people interested in WWII
Written 3 September 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Henning E
glad to hear you enjoyed the tour. Spread the word! ...and I agree its not only for WW2 buffs - we also talk about the early explorers, cyclone Tracy and Lindy Chamberlain
Written 4 September 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Brigitte O
Ringwood, Australia69 contributions
July 2015 • Couples
We wanted to learn more about how Darwin was affected during WW2 and were taken around Darwin in an authentic 1944 army truck which added to our experience! Our driver, David was a fountain of knowledge and made our1 1/2 hour tour very interesting and enjoyable. We were dropped off at the Military Museum and picked up 1 1/2 hours later to finish off our tour. If you are interested in learning about Darwin's wartime experience, you will enjoy this tour! I thoroughly recommend it!
Written 26 July 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Brigitte O,
terrific to hear you enjoyed our tour - not only do we introduce you to Darwin and its ww2 history but we also talk a little on the early explorers and post war Darwin. Hope you enjoyed it all
cheers
David
Written 4 September 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Jill M
Darwin, Australia10 contributions
June 2015 • Couples
Was wondering how comfortable this would be for my parents, but no problems at all. An excellent way to get to see and hear about war time Darwin. Do get off at the war museum (extra charge) - it's well worth the time. Great, friendly staff.
Written 25 June 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Jill M,
glad to hear you enjoyed the tour. The vehicle may be old ( more than 75yrs) but has been comfortably modified in the passenger area to modern standards.
cheers
David
Written 4 September 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Cockatoo_traveller
Melbourne, Australia23 contributions
Very informative tour, David really knows his stuff and somehow barely takes a break talking about Darwin as he drives around.
Service is also great, he thankfully changed our tour time twice without fuss when we had things pop up.
Service is also great, he thankfully changed our tour time twice without fuss when we had things pop up.
Written 5 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Andrew B
3 contributions
July 2022
Really enjoyed this tour with David, highly recommended, we learnt a lot. The only downside delivery was a little too fast for some of the people on our tour to keep up. We did find the war history of darwin was getting a bit repetative towards the end of our trip, but this tour was great.
Written 23 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BOB M
Brisbane, Australia
What time does this tour depart from Darwin on a Saturday & what is the return time ?
Written 14 July 2015
tour times are 10am, 11:30am and 1pm with a 2:30pm tour also if we get 4 or more people. The first two morning tours include the option to be dropped off at the military museum and be picked up by a later tour
Written 28 July 2015
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