Situated in what is known as the Red Centre of Australia is the iconic Uluru and neighbouring Kata Tjuta rocks. Uluru is remote, being 440km South-West of Alice Springs. It stands 348m high in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
Our Visit
The 6 hour, 440km journey from Alice Springs to Yulara consisted of two right turns and one left turn. The first right turn being in Alice Springs to get onto the Stuart Highway, the second right was at Erldunda Roadhouse (called the “centre of the centre“, the geographical centre of Australia) onto the Lasseter Highway and the left turn was off the Lasseter Highway into the Yulara resort. Once you had looked at the desert for a while there wasn’t anything different to see along the way.
We stayed in the nearby resort village of Yulara at Emu Walk apartments. Yulara has a small town square with coffee shop, restaurant, souvenir shops and a small IGA mini supermarket. All tours picked us up from in front of the Desert Sands hotel lobby next door to Emu Walk.
Tours
The first tour we did was Uluru Sunset. From a great vantage point it was easy to take pictures every 5 minutes or so as the light changed and the colour of Uluru became a deeper red. The tour concluded with a sit down BBQ and afterwards, with lights extinguished, a guide of the stars in the night sky. It was interesting to see the constellation Orion upside down compared to our view of it in the northern hemisphere!
The second tour was out to Kings Canyon where we declined the strenuous 3 hour hike around the canyon rim and instead went on a guided walk along the creek bed. It was interesting to have various flora pointed out to us, such as the Ghost Gum trees, desert tomatoes as well as being shown an aboriginal rock carving indicating the presence of a water hole.
Uluru changes colours as the sun rises and sets and so is well worthwhile visiting at different times throughout the day
Two rights and one left from Alice Springs to Uluru
AAT Kings driver, Miguel
The third tour was Field of Light and Uluru Sunrise. Field of Light is an art installation by international artist Bruce Monroe of 50,000 solar lights in the desert with Uluru in the background. Although interesting, I felt it rather incongruous in the desert landscape and much preferred the view of sunrise gradually lighting up both Uluru and Kata Tjuta, 40km away.
Photo Gallery
Here is a selection of my photographs from Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon.
Both Uluru and Kata Tjuta have great cultural significance for the Anangu traditional landowners
Location
Uluru is located in the centre of Australia within the Northern Territory. The area is known as the Red Centre due to the red sand of the desert. However, recent years of higher than average rainfall has caused the desert to bloom with plant life so that the overall views are now quite green rather than predominantly red.