Experiencing the Red Centre: Uluru / Ayers Rock
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"I have always wanted to visit Ayer's Rock. We must go before its too late..." But other locations took precedence, so by the time we had the place in our sights it was now officially known as "Uluru".
So we booked a road trip to the Red Centre - fly into Adelaide, drive north to "Alice" then southwest to Yulara, the gateway to Uluru, then back south taking in a variety of locations and wine regions on the way. BUT...
"In a week's time we go into a full lockdown." National travel was difficult; international travel had ceased. All those bookings had been paid for. But to our surprise, everybody from the airlines to accommodation to rental cars gave us our money back. Eventually.
Then the dark days cleared and travel was again possible. This time we decided to fly direct to Yulara, see the sights of Uluru then fly on to Melbourne. This time we were successful.
Paul and Colma, May 2024
Our Itinerary
Getting into and out of Yulara Airport is not as easy as some locations, especially if you had ideas of flying to/from anywhere other than Sydney or Melbourne. Adelaide meant going through Perth or Brisbane - really? So we flew to Sydney, over-ighted at the airport then flew on to Yulara. We had 4 nights there (3 would probably have been enough) then on to Melbourne for a week.
| Day: with link to Photo Diary | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Sunday 5 May 2024 | Drive to Queenstown Airport for flight to Sydney on Air New Zealand. Arrive 1635. Taxi to Ibis Budget Airport Hotel for overnight stay. |
| Day 2 | Monday 6 May 20243 | Short walk to Terminal 2 for flight to AYQ (Ayers Rock Airport) on Qantas. Nice flight and good in-flight entertainment available on smart phone app. Departure was 0930 and we were scheduled to arrive at 1235 but the flight was delayed by an hour so we arrived just before the Brisbane flight. Picked up our Hertz rental car and headed for our hotel. Evening we experienced the Wintjiri Wiru light show with drones and sounds. |
| Day 3 | Tuesday 7 May 2024 | Breakfast early so we could start the walk around Uluru in the cool of the morning. Lunch at hotel. Dinner under the stars and then walk through the Field of Lights exhibit. |
| Day 4 | Wednesday 8 May 2024 | Up early to drive to the Uluru sunrise viewing platform, but not early enough to get ahead of all the tour buses. Drove around the base of Uluru (anti-clockwise) stopping to walk into the Mutitjulu Waterhole before returning to the hotel for breakfast. Later in day parked in good place for Uluru sunset viewing. |
| Day 5 | Thursday 9 May 2024 | Up early to be picked up by bus for the sunrise camel trek. Met camels close up! We then drove to Kata Juta to visit the Valley of the Winds and Walpa Gorge. |
| Day 6 | Friday 10 May 2024 | Leisurely breakfast at hotel,then ckeck out and drive to airport. Park rental car, ckeck in for flight and go through security. Discover rental car keys so back through security (they though it a huge joke). Flight to Melbourne on Jetstar (unfortunately - no in-flight entertainment but we got two bonuses - they parked us in an emergency exit row and because we had been bumped from a Qantas flight that qualified us for a free snack box and drink for lunch!). |
Last updated: 1 July 2024