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The magical red rock
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| Duration |
3 days/2 nights departs daily |
Accommodation |
2 nights of camping. Comfort level 1 (see accommodation). |
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Price |
£352 per person - based on 2 people sharing |
Includes |
Transport, accommodation, all meals, excursions and activities as mentioned, English-speaking Australian guide |
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Transport |
Minibus, maximum 24 people |
Excludes |
Entrance fee Yulara National Park, other food and drink, other excursions |
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Day 1: Alice Springs - The Olgas - Ayers Rock You'll set off at 6:30 this morning to begin your Ayers Rock camping tour. You and your fellow travellers will be picked up by minibus and driven into the endless Australian desert. Along the way, your guide will tell you all about what you can expect from the next few days. After an hour or two, it will seem as if you can see Ayers Rock looming in the distance. However, as you get closer you'll notice that this rock is flatter, it's actually Mount Connor. You'll make a pit stop to stretch your legs and afterwards continue driving to a typical Outback farm. When we arrived here, the sun was starting to set in the sky, causing the desert to turn a reddish purple. Those who are interested can go for a camel drive. Camels were brought to Australia from Saudi Arabia to use as pack animals since they seem to thrive in dry conditions. These days, there are so many camels in Australia that you can also come across them in the wild. For AU$20 you can go on a camel ride for about 15 minutes. |
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After your visit to the Outback farm you'll drive on to where you'll spend the night near Ayers Rock. You can drop off your luggage here and have lunch. In the afternoon, your first stop is the Olgas, also known as Kata Tjuta. The largest rock, Mount Olga, is 200m taller than Ayers Rock. From here, you'll take a 1.5 hour hike through the Valley of the Winds. This is an impressive trek through deep red rocks and green valleys, during which you may even see an occasional parakeet. Next, your guide will take you back to Ayers Rock in time for the sunset at Uluru. Uluru is the Aboriginal name for Ayers Rock and means 'meeting point'. While the sun sets, you'll see the rock change from deep red to deep dark brown and eventually to dark purple. In the evening, your guide will prepare a very tasty Aussie 'barbi', where you can share stories with fellow travellers by campfire. Please note that you can also begin this camping tour at Ayers Rock instead of Alice Springs. If you choose to do so, you'll miss the camel farm and about 500km of the Outback. However, this is handy alternative if you don't have a lot of time or if the flight to Alice Springs is full. You'll join the group at the Olgas.
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Day 2: Ayers Rock - Kings Canyon You'll wake up early for an equally spectacular sunrise. Some travellers choose to climb to the top of the rock. It's a steep 1.6km climb, and from the top you'll have an incredible view of the area. Aboriginals consider this mountain to be holy and do not approve of people climbing it, so if you would like respect the Aboriginal culture, you can instead take a 9.4km hike around the foot of the rock, past beautiful caves filled with rock drawings. The well maintained Aboriginal museum in the Visitor's Centre is a real eye-opener. After a visit to the museum and lunch, you'll continue travelling towards Kings Canyon. Along the way, your guide will make several stops. These stops will allow you to take more beautiful pictures of the Outback. Once you reach the camp, several kilometres from the gorge, you'll join the group in searching for wood for the campfire. |
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Day 3: Kings Canyon - Alice Springs - End of tourAs you'll spend the night nearby and depart early in the morning, you'll beat the heat and the arrival of other travellers. You'll walk past the steep walls of the deep Kings Canyon gorge in silence and in decent temperatures. You'll hike for about 4 hours, starting with a climb and then trekking along the ridge before descending past pastel coloured sandstone walls. You'll see unusually shaped rock formations with names like ‘The Amphitheatre’ and ‘The Lost City’. In one particularly green gorge you'll find the Garden of Eden, where you'll be able to go for a swim in this small warm pool surrounded by rock walls in the desert. You'll also see the North and South Walls, rock walls that shoot up about 200m into the sky. After lunch you'll travel back through the sand dunes, straight through the rugged desert and back to Alice Springs where you'll arrive around 19:00. We'll make reservations for you to stay at the same hotel in Alice Springs on your return, so that you can leave some of your belongings behind during our Ayers Rock camping tour. |
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Did you know? 'Alice' was founded in 1871 as a sub-station for the telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin. It is one of the civilised areas in the Outback. The Todd River is named after the head of the postal service at that time, Mr. Charles Todd. The city was named after his wife, Alice. Alice Springs is now a small town with approximately 20,000 inhabitants located in the middle of the flat desert and surrounded by the MacDonnell mountain ranges. The city has a bit of a pioneering atmosphere, probably because it's so far from the large cities in the south or east. The sunshine casts an almost heavenly glow on the white buildings in the red and yellow landscape. The bright rays of sunlight are always beating down on the sand and river that runs straight through the city is always dry. |
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A peek at your accommodation |
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