Welcome Indigenous Experience, Pretty Beach House, NSW

Pretty Beach House is located in the serene and quintessentially Australian bushland setting of Bouddi National Park in New South Wales. The word, ‘Bouddi’ is the local Aboriginal name for the eastern headland of Maitland Bay and has become synonymous with the national park and the surrounding area. It has various meanings in local Aboriginal languages, and is thought to mean ‘heart’ or ‘water breaking over rocks’. Bouddi Peninsula is a very special landscape – around 100 sites significant to the local Aboriginal people have been recorded in the park and nearby areas. There is even Aboriginal artwork dating back almost 2,000 years right on the doorstep of Pretty Beach House.

Onsite, guests of Pretty Beach House can experience an authentic Indigenous welcome ceremony just before dusk, replete with cocktails and canapes. They are greeted and welcomed by a local Indigenous elder, who shares ancient Dreamtime stories incorporating the didgeridoo. A smoking ceremony is then performed using native leaves and plants, to clear and cleanse the area and ward off any bad spirits.