A Long Weekend at Uluru

It’s been a while since my last post, and we certainly have a few to catch up on, but our trip over the long weekend was definitely the inspiration I needed to get writing again – this trip has been on my bucket list almost as long as I can remember!

We extended the long weekend by booking the Friday off, and set out for Sydney on Thursday afternoon so we could catch the Friday morning flight. So Friday was an early start and a short drive from the Meriton in Mascot to the airport car park.

The flight was delayed and pretty full, but we still managed to get a row to ourselves and Mark graciously gave me the window seat. The Northern Territory is half an hour behind NSW, so even now I’m not sure how long the flight actually was, but after the take-off and the flight over the Mountains, the towns got fewer and further between and we were flying over vast nothingness. The landscape also got redder and redder, with the exception of the huge white salt lakes which I didn’t even know were there!

I must admit to being a little emotional when I caught the first glimpse of Uluru (to be honest, I was a bit emotional from the moment we booked this trip!).

On landing, we waited a short while for our luggage, and then got the free shuttle to Ayers Rock Resort. We had booked into the Desert Gardens Hotel, which also happens to be the first pickup and drop-off point on all of the tours!

We checked in, then took the free resort shuttle to the town square to get our bearings and pick up some drinks and snacks. Once we realised how close everything was, we decided to walk back to the hotel.

The town centre itself is small, with a supermarket, a restaurant, a tourist info and some souvenir shops. Everything was pricey, but not necessarily as expensive as I had expected.

We enjoyed an ice-cream while walking back to the hotel, as well as the didgeridoo lesson that was taking place in the outdoor amphitheater of the arts centre. We weren’t quite brave enough to join in though!

After an hour or so of rest, we boarded the coach to the Sounds of Silence experience. We started at the Sunset viewing area with sparkling wine (or beer) and canapes made with ingredients from the bush. From the platform we could see both Uluru and Kata-Tjuta (the other major landmark and rock formation just 25km from Uluru) and the sunset was spectacular. It was a real pinch-me moment.

Once the sun had set, we were led down to the dining area, where we were seranaded by the didgeridoo, and then had a buffet dinner of bush tucker, which included kangaroo and crocodile among other things. We were sat in tables of 10 so it was nice to share stories of travelling with our group.

There was a beautiful super moon which meant that we could still see the outline of Uluru long after the sun had set, but which also meant that we could not see the milky way as you can most other nights and really hampered our ability to see the stars during the star talk. But overall it was a fabulous evening with delicious food and plenty to drink.

We had an early start Saturday morning, with the coach collecting us at 5:20am. We were shuttled to the sunrise viewing area of Uluru and secured our spot on the platform to watch this dull looking rock come to life as the sun hit it. It was simply beautiful to watch the transformation.

Once the sun had risen, we hopped back on the bus to be dropped at the base of Uluru, where there were a number of different starting points and walking trails. We chose to do the Mala Walk to Kantju Gorge, and the car park at Mala is where you used to be able to climb Uluru from. You can still see the track and the marks where the chain was.

The walk around Uluru was amazing – it felt like such a special place. There were cave paintings and some sections which are sacred so you aren’t allowed to take photographs. However it was almost ruined by the flies! There were so many, everywhere, and the bus driver suggested that they would only get worse the hotter it gets.  I was glad we had only chosen a short walk, although that did mean we had a bit of a wait for the bus with no shade or respite from the flies.

We made it back to our hotel just in time for breakfast (which finished at 10), so made the most of it to refuel for the day ahead! It was an interesting choice of hot food, with pork buns, beef mince and savoury rice, but there was certainly plenty to eat.

After a quick re-fresh back in our hotel room we got back onto the resort shuttle and went to the camel farm. We arrived just as a tour group were getting ready to leave, so had a bit of a giggle as they mounted the camels and held on for dear life as they stood up! We enjoyed a quick walk around the saddlery and the yard.

The shop sold some souvenirs and camel milk products, and there was a little museum there too, but it was warm and we were running low on cold drinks so didn’t linger and made it onto the next bus back round to the IGA. We had another walk planned on Sunday morning, so purchased some fly nets in readiness, as well as some cold drinks and ice creams, before walking back to the hotel for a much-needed rest.

That night we went to the Outback hotel for dinner which was a fun experience. You choose your (raw) meat, BBQ it, then choose from a buffet of a jacket potato and salads. We both chose the mixed grill which consisted of lamb chop, camel sausage and emu kebab (which was an interesting taste and texture!). There was some good live music and beer but we didn’t stay too late because we had (yet another) early start.

The bus picked us up at 4 something am, and took us to the sunrise viewing platform for Kata-Tjuta. Prior to this trip, I hadn’t realised that there was another rock formation so close to Uluru, and this one consists of 36 domes. There was certainly something very special about sitting in the desert in the dark, looking at the Kata-Tjuta in the moonlight and listening to the sounds of the desert.

Unfortunately it was quite cloudy for the sunrise, so we didn’t get the light hitting the rocks in the same way as we had at Uluru. The bus then took us to the Walpa Gorge carpark, where we then hiked into Walpa Gorge. We saw a wild dog while there, but as there were a few of us, it soon ran off.

It was about an hour hike in total, and it was hard work but rewarding for the beautiful scenery as well as sense of accomplishment at the end. And despite the fact that we looked a bit silly in our fly nets, we were very grateful for them!

We were back at the hotel for 9am so enjoyed a more leisurely breakfast before going back to the room for a freshen up. We then took the bus back to Uluru to visit the Cultural Centre which was very interesting. We learned about the indigenous people and their beliefs, and there was also a lot of information about the National Park and the wildlife that inhabited it.

We went into the café for a drink and an ice-cream, where they had some very unusual flavours! We also wandered through the art gallery but by this point the temperature had got up to 37 degrees and there wasn’t any aircon, so we retreated back to the museum for a sit down while we waited for the next bus back to the resort. We were exhausted after the three early mornings in a row, so took a long nap before our evening excursion.

Once again, we got on the coach to take us to the Fields of Light where we started with canapes and bubbles overlooking Uluru as the sun set. It was still a bit overcast, but this ultimately helped us once the sun had set because it meant that the moon wasn’t as bright.

After a brief talk about the exhibition, named Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku or ‘looking at lots of beautiful lights’, we were led down to the field where there were thousands of lights that changed colour and pattern. It was really beautiful. We also caught a glimpse of the drone show taking place a bit further away, that we had opted not to squeeze into our busy schedule.

We headed back to the bus and once again enjoyed a relatively early night as, although Monday was the public holiday it was also the day we were flying home. We very much appreciated setting our alarms for 8am rather than 4 something!

We packed, went for some breakfast (which has a lot more Aussie/English style food this time) and checked out at 10am ready for our bus transfer at 10:20am. The downside of us all being on one or two shuttle busses to the airport was the check-in queue, with no self service in the little airport. Then once we were through security, there weren’t many empty seats as we sat waiting for our delayed flight back to Sydney. It was a bit windy, so take off was interesting, although the winds had died down a bit by the time we landed at Sydney.

After finding our way to the car again, we picked up some hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts ready for the long drive back to Forbes!

We had a great trip, and took plenty of photos, but I don’t think any of them really do the scenery or the light show justice. It was an expensive trip for just one weekend, but totally worth it for this once in a lifetime opportunity.

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