We had reached Australia’s heartland – Alice Springs – surrounded by the famous red sand.
Our 3 days outback adventure in Australia waited ahead and would take us to the world famous stone, Ayers Rock.
If you are planning a trip to Ayers Rock by plane, you have to be sure you have enough time. The tours from Alice Springs are normally 3 days and 2 nights, so you will need a night before and a night after the tour.
We had arranged the tour with The Rock Tour and it was definitely a tour we will remember with a lot of laughter. It was one of the best moments of our lives and 3 days very well spent.
The tour cost us 375 AUD per person. (2015) For that amount, you´ll have an incredible tour with a guide who knows everything about Australia´s Red Centre.
Early morning start for our first outback adventure in Australia
We were picked up from our hotel at 5.30 in the morning and drove around for a while to pick up other participants. We were supposed to spend 3 days with the group. In total, we were a group of 17 young people from all over the world – and it was really young people – actually I think I was the oldest one!
Our guide TomTom was a funny guy, a bit quiet, but managed to shake our diverse group together. The first thing he told us to do, was to write our names on the windows by our seats – in that way, we managed to learn the names a bit faster. He also wrote in the corner of the windshield all the places we would explore. A very cool way to follow our tour.
Kings Canyon
We drove the longest part on the first day. All the way to Kings Canyon. It took us approx. 6-7 hours to reach our destination. Kings Canyon is an amazing place, absolutely the favorite for many hikers. Three walks are available in Kings Canyon and we were supposed to take the one for 6 km. But at first, we were challenged to take on the mean “Heart Attack Hill”. A very hard, uneven, large step stair. I was forced to give up halfway. My sister tried to convince me and told me that it would be an amazing view from the top. But I was not able to move my feet one step more.
My sister, a girl from the States and I, walked down the steps and took the short trip to King Gorge Walk instead. It was a one hour walk in the bottom of the canyon. Also an amazing tour. We respectfully stayed on the walking tracks, course part of the gorge is still sacred for the Aboriginals.
From the bottom of the gorge, the canyon sides rose 100 meters up around us.
We had a stop later that day to see the famous rock, Uluru aka Ayers Rock – however, this was not Uluru! This was Fuluru, the fake Uluru.
After a crazy first day we fell asleep in our swags around the fire.
Freezing Night
TomTom woke us up at 6 am after a freezing cold and bad night with howling dingoes around us and little sleep as a result. Next stop was Kata Tjuta -a beautiful rock formation. We had a 2-hour hike in the area. Through Australia’s wilderness, we walked toward the mighty domes, to climb the multiple Kata Tjuta.
After a short stop at an exciting place, Cultural Centre, we headed for the road again towards the majestic and historical, Ayers Rock, also knowns as Uluru. It was totally breathtaking at first sight. I have seen that mighty rock on pictures and talked about its history so many times in school and it was now in front of me. My dream finally came true!
We had a short walk closer to Ayers Rock and got a fantastic guided tour of the caves, where the Aboriginals had lived their lives. Many symbolic paintings told histories and small rocks acted as tables and stoves.
We drove a bit away to have dinner, but a dinner with Uluru in the sunset cannot be recommended enough. If you have the chance – do it!
Getting up close to Uluru
Once again TomTom woke us up at 6 am. We hit the road again, tired and exhausted. TomTom had the great idea to put on some really loud rock music on. We couldn´t do anything but laugh. In total darkness, we reached a parking lot to eat some breakfast. As the sun rose over the horizon and its first beams of light hit Uluru, you were just standing there gobsmacked. We witnessed the magical way the sun lit up the many colors of Uluru. To top it all off, TomTom played the intro song to the Lion’s King. It was amazing and majestic.
We had the possibility to go around Uluru afterward, which we did. A nice 8-10 km walk in Australia´s Red Centre. We enjoyed the tour and had a lot of fun. And of course, we respected the area that was sacred for the Aboriginals. S
An amazing adventure in Australia’s heartland I will remember in a long time was about to end… we were heading back to Alice Springs. It was nice to come back to civilization and a nice warm bath. In the evening we met the other adventurers on The Rock Bar for a greasy burger and some drinks.
Do you have a dream like me, to see the mighty rock, Uluru?
You can also read other posts from our journey around Australia.
- 2 days road trip from Brisbane
- A night at iconic Great Barrier Reef
- By land, sea
and air in Kuranda - Face to face with the Great White Shark