In 1933, he began working in the Northern Territory for the Larkin Aircraft Company. Flying as the chief pilot for the company, Garrett ran the first Territory-wide mail route, and provided the air links between Darwin and other townships in the territory. In the mid-1930s, Garrett left the Northern Territory and returned to Melbourne, where he tried being a professional photographer. Garrett's interest in photography began in the 1920s, when he was one of the country's first aerial photographers. In 1934, Garrett married Vera Halliday Lugton, with whom he had four children.