This was published 8 years ago
Uluru, Central Australia: Six of the best things to do
By Andrew Bain
DESERT AWAKENINGS
Uluru wakes in spectacular fashion, and even as dawn is just a sliver of light on the horizon, the five-hour Desert Awakenings tour is already heading out through the desert. Atop one of the tallest dunes in the area, with a grandstand view of sunrise, a breakfast of egg and bacon rolls, damper and fresh coffee warms the morning. With Uluru and Kata Tjuta in sight, the shared geology of the famed rocks is explained. From here, the tour travels to Uluru for a wander into Mutitjulu Waterhole, where the creation story of Kuniya (the woma python woman) and Liru (the venomous snake man), a tale literally carved in stone, is recounted; $173 adults, $134 children.
See www.ayersrockresort.com.au.
CYCLE AROUND THE ROCK
To walk around the base of Uluru – a loop of about 11 kilometres – is a commitment of hours and sweat, but it's now possible to speed things up a little by cycling around it. From the car park of the cultural centre, Outback Cycling hires a range of bikes – from city-style cruisers to kids' bikes – that can be pedalled on the hard-packed walking trail, far from any motorised traffic. In a couple of leisurely hours you can have lapped the great red rock, making stops at various gorges and features along the way.
Bike hire is in $40 three-hour blocks, with a final hire time of 2pm.
See www.outbackcycling.com/uluru.
SUNSET VIEWING
Driving out to watch the day's last light over the loaf of rock that's both at, and in, the heart of the nation is an activity as classically Uluru as washing red dust from your shins. West of Uluru, a pair of large car parks – one for tour buses, the other for private vehicles – peer across at the rock and, as the sun falls, the colours intensify, with the rust-red sands and rock flaring as orange as flames. In the car parks, there'll be picnics, champagne and people standing on the roofs of 4WDs, or lining the barrier fence. It's another Red Centre day seen off in style. Park entry, $25 for three days.
See www.parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/.
CAMEL RIDES
There might be little water around Uluru, but that doesn't stop the so-called "ships of the desert" from sailing. A variety of camel treks are on offer, beginning with dawn rides to watch the sun creep over the horizon, and ending with sunset from the saddle of a camel. As you clomp over the sands, there's desert interpretation from your cameleer, and a slowly moving view of Uluru. Sunrise and sunset trips include breakfast or bush foods back at the camel farm, or you can take an hour-long ride to make the ultimate arrival at the Sounds of Silence dinner. Sunrise and sunset rides $129, ride and dinner $295.
See www.ulurucameltours.com.au.
SOUNDS OF SILENCE
The implied silence may be broken by the chatter of dozens of diners (and perhaps the distant hum of a generator), but there's something special about dinner under the stars of a desert sky. The evening begins with pre-dinner drinks and canapes – the likes of capsicum mousse and crocodile on cucumber – on a dune as you watch the sunset illuminate the distant Uluru.
Descending into a hollow between the dunes, there's a buffet dinner of bush ingredients – kangaroo, barramundi, quandong, lemon myrtle – while a didgeridoo plays from the darkness and an astronomer provides a whistlestop tour of the heavens; $195 adults, $96 children.
See www.ayersrockresort.com.au.
OUTBACK SKY JOURNEYS
For a more thorough excursion through the night sky, this after-dark tour takes you just a few steps from the village square to a pair of telescopes. You might get to trace the dark figure of the emu etched into the Milky Way, discover the humbling size of our sun compared to Betelgeuse, or peer into the likes of the Butterfly Nebula and Swan Nebula.
Depending on the position of the planets, the 75-minute tour might also have you zooming in on the crescent shape of Venus, the moons of Jupiter, or the rings of Saturn. Tours are $42 per person. A one-hour tour runs earlier in the evening for families.
See www.ayersrockresort.com.au.
The writer was a guest of Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia.
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