Last minute trip to Uluru (the centre of Australia)

What do you do when you have an 11 day gap between your final uni exams ever and a serious case of wanderlust? You do what I do and you book a trip to Uluru two days before you fly off!

I think I’ve brought back a bit of my “say yes to new things” mentality from exchange and asked myself why don’t I make the most of my break and go somewhere I’ve always wanted to go? My thoughts were: “I probably won’t have this free time once I start working and I have notes for my final law exam… I’ll be fine” 😂

So I came home from my first exam on 17 June in a mad rush with an idea in my head that I just needed to go. I looked up flights and tours and nothing seemed to be matching up logistically as I would either be staying an extra night in Alice Springs, doing long stopovers in Adelaide or paying $200 extra for everything. I was about to give up on the trip and then I fixed the travel dates and magically the prices dropped, the tour dates aligned and with only slight hesitation I pushed the “book now” button and before I knew it I had signed myself up for a trip I would come to love and enjoy so much starting on 19 June. Here’s the run down of what I did and how you can explore the outback of Australia and see Uluru on a budget!

Booking flights

There are two airports that can get you to the red centre of the Northern Territory to see Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock).

You can fly into Alice Springs Airport, start your tour or rent a car from there and return to Alice to fly home. Or you can fly into Ayers Rock Airport, start your tour there and leave from Alice (which is where all tours end). Or buy a return ticket leaving from Ayers Rock Airport which requires booking a tour that will take you back out to Uluru on the last day.

Options:

1. Alice to Alice
2. Ayers Rock to Alice
3. Ayers Rock to Ayers Rock

There are three airlines that fly to Ayers Rock: Jetstar, Virgin and Qantas. I used Google Flights to check for the cheapest flights which was a return flight from Sydney to Ayers Rock.

Note that I also booked my flights two days before I left so the fares were definitely a bit more expensive than if you planned way ahead, especially if you can catch the sales that Jetstar have throughout the year. A couple I met on the flight got their fares for $200 return back in Christmas for a June fly day. My fare cost $500 return two days before.

This still worked out to be the cheapest set of flights, flying on Wednesday and returning on Saturday versus flying on the weekend which would have cost $1000 return.

Lesson:

If you know what dates you want to go, keep your eye on deals. Ideally you want to get cheap flights return from Alice or multi-city flights that start you at Ayers Rock and end in Alice. Even when you start in Alice, you will need to book an extra night of accommodation outside of the tour as you will get there in the late afternoon, as flights all operate at the same time, and tours from Alice start at 5am. If you want to explore beforehand then do that, otherwise if you want a quick in and out and time it with the tour as I did, starting in Ayers Rock is the best option.

The distance from Uluru to Alice is a good 6h drive as most things in Australia are far away from each other. All tours (3 day, 2 night) end in Alice because of the itinerary which starts at Uluru and makes its way to Kings Canyon which is closer to Alice so they end there instead of driving back to Uluru. However, most companies will also offer a 4 day, 3 night tour which still ends at Alice and takes you back to Uluru early the next morning with the next tour for an added cost.

Ultimately it is up to you how you organise flights and which tour you can do.

Touring with Wayoutback

After I found my flights, I needed a tour that would take me back to Ayers Rock and I found Wayoutback. You can either book directly on their website for $510 or save $51 by booking through backpackerdeals.

Unfortunately I didn’t see the backpackerdeals website until after I booked through the Wayoutback website but the backpackerdeals sounded legit if you wanted to save the money.

I also opted to rent a sleeping bag for $30 because I was only flying carry on and didn’t have the space. Also the temperature drops to below 0 degrees during June-July so I knew their sleeping bags (rating up to -5 degrees) would keep me warmer than mine. These bags I was told are washed after every trip and you use the same one throughout your own tour.

The Itinerary

Day 1: Uluru

Note that most tours will follow a similar itinerary so you won’t be missing out on anything by choosing one over the other. But from personal experience I really enjoyed going with Wayoutback and a friend had previously gone on the same tour and she recommended it, so here I am recommending it to you!

The tour starts in Alice at 5am and drives you down to Uluru including lunch. But because I flew into Ayers Rock Airport, I got picked up around 2pm (just after my flight flew in at 1:40pm which will be the same flight you’ll be on if you are flying from Sydney). We didn’t get lunch so make sure to pack your own or you can buy some at the first stop.

Aboriginal Cultural Centre

After getting picked up by your tour guide (I had Shannon who is an absolute legend haha), you’ll get taken to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre which explains the history of the Anangu people who live there (how they lived, taught their children, hunted) and Tjukurpa (the creation period) and the cultural significance of Uluru and the surrounding areas. To show respect, we were not allowed to take photos here.

The exhibition highlights different aspects of the Anangu’s stories and one part that struck me was a quote about the importance of understanding why you are at Uluru and what it means spiritually rather than taking a photo and going home with another image that means nothing to you but so much to the people who live there. So I made it a priority to keep the learnings from the Centre with me as I went along the tour.

Another passage that stood out to me, especially as a law student, was a quote that said how our laws are made by government and written down whereas their laws are passed down through oral stories through generation to generation. And it is this disparity between our two cultures that creates conflict and misunderstanding of one another. If our lawmakers could understand the culture and the way of life for the First Nations people, then perhaps our laws could reflect this and incorporate new meaningful rules that respect Aboriginal culture and make legal aid, education, health etc more accessible for them.

There is also a small cafe there where you can buy hot food if you are hungry after your flight as the next meal will not be until you get to camp after sunset.

Uluru

We made our way to Uluru and did a short walk around the base while Shannon explained how Uluru was formed with the stories used by the Anangu people who describe it as involving a fight between two ancient serpents (you’ll need to go to hear the whole story ;))

Uluru sunset
After the walk around Uluru, you’ll make your way to the first camp and walk up to the viewing zone for the sunset while your tour guide gets dinner ready.

The sunset is absolutely amazing and it’s true that Uluru does change colours over the hour. I spent time there with my new friends taking photos and absorbing the beauty of an Australian outback sunset where the colours were so vivid and bathed everything in a warm golden glow before turning the sky soft pinks and purples and making way for the stars.

Dinner and camp fires

For dinner we had a chicken stirfry which was great! The tour is also based on participation so you’re expected to clean up after yourself. Our tour group worked really well together to make sure everything was clean before we left.

After dinner you have the option of going to the Field of Lights which is a light installation that is as large as several football fields. It costs $42 and I decided it wasn’t worth going to but the people who went seemed to enjoy it. Instead, I opted to do some stargazing and taking pictures of the stars (see my photo post for more details).

We finally set up our swags, which are like solid sleeping bags for your sleeping bags with a mattress inside, a pillow and room to fit you, a blanket (you can find at the camp site) and your sleeping bag. It zips up completely just so your head can be covered but allow you to still look up and see the stars as you fall asleep.

Also the private camp sites are actually quite luxurious for a camp, I say that because there is running water (you can refill your bottle in the kitchen from the tap) and there are hot showers (great for winter)!

Advice:

Bring a beanie to wear at night because I found my body was super warm BUT my head was so cold. And so my first night did not lead to much sleep.

We then played some games before heading to bed early for a 5:30am wake up for sunrise.

Day 2: Sunrise and Valley of the Winds

We started our morning early and made our way to a different sunrise vantage point where we could see Kata Tjuta (where we would be heading later in the day).

We waited in the cold, dancing to the nutbush together, before we witnessed the sun pop over the horizon. It was magical and so peaceful. I would have stayed there forever if I could.

Breakfast back at camp and on our way to Kata Tjuta

We made our way to Kata Tjuta after breakfast to hike to the Valley of the Winds which took roughly 3h return. Kata Tjuta means many heads which makes sense because the rocks look like heads!

Shannon explained the origins of the rocks which formed 900million years ago. Bring water and a fly net as the flies start to come out around midday on your way back to the van. Shannon was also kind enough to bring apples for us at the viewpoint, but if you get hungry easily like I do, bring your own snacks if you can.

Lunch and off to Kings Creek Station for camp

Lunch was burgers before we packed everything up and made our way to our next camp site 3-4h away. Don’t worry there are pit stops along the way for bathroom breaks and at one stop we were able to buy alcohol (you can’t drink in the Kata Tjuta park but we were allowed to at our new camp site). I would recommend the Fucking Good Port which someone on our tour bought and shared hahaha

Dinner and good laughs

Dinner was a kangaroo Bolognese which was great! Then we set up our swags with some team work and laughed our heads off trying to figure out “what is it? It’s a….” Hahaha

Day 3: Hike to Kings Canyon

Day 3 started with another early wake up call and a 1h journey to Kings Canyon for a 3h hike for some amazing views. And at times it felt like we were on Mars.

6h journey to Alice Springs, dinner at the Rock Bar

After the walk we had sandwiches for lunch and then began the long journey to Alice where after a night and day of no reception, we were able to connect with the world again. As part of the 4 day, 3 day tour I got an included stay at The Haven Hostel.

We then met up as a group at the Rock Bar for dinner which later turned into a dance floor with some great tunes which we partied to until 1am before heading back to the hostel to pass out and make our 5am bus back to Ayers Rock Airport (6h journey) for my flight home at 2pm.

And on that note I want to say how grateful I am to have met the people I did on my tour who made my little holiday before exams the best! I honestly went to bed on the second night in my swag thinking about how happy I was to be there and to be enjoying my time so much away from the city and experiencing really wholesome moments.

If you ever feel yourself doubting a decision, saying yes can really make all the difference and in the end you’ll get to experience something you never knew you needed.