Three fun days with five fantastic friends! I must add thanks here to Steve and Greg for use of some of their photos.
Day 1
The next few days were very much anticipated. Back in September last year Neil and I had been tossing around ideas for holidays, the dodgy COVID border closures made planning challenging but we knew the Northern Territory had been doing really well so we thought we might try for a trip there. We also knew our good friends, Gae, Greg, Jo, Steve and Therese had booked a trip to Uluru so we asked them if they’d mind having a couple of gatecrashers along when they were there. And so here we are at Uluru again ( having visited briefly in 2018 for 3 nights, this is a second time for us) We knew we were in for three days of fun, we always have fun when travelling with that crowd!
We checked out of Kings Canyon around 9.30 and headed off down the road out of the Watarrka National Park and on towards Uluru- Kata Tjuta National Park.
The drive down isn’t exciting but we did stop briefly to take a look at Mt Conner. This flat topped bluff rises out of the desert around an hour west of Uluru. From the top of the dune behind the lookout you can also see a wide salt pan stretching away into the distance. At one stage Neil also spotted four wild camels sitting by the side of the road watching us drive by..
Mt Conner and the road to Uluru
We arrived at Sails in the Desert Resort at around 12.30 and were very glad that our room was ready for us. The hotel is within a large complex of about 5 different accommodation options ranging from campground to apartments to the very lovely Sails hotel. There is a town centre with a couple of cafes, a supermarket and gift shops etc. , Our room has a lovely terrace with a fancy day bed, a table and chairs and chaise lounges overlooking the pool area. As the weather is much cooler than our last visit we can actually enjoy the terrace this time! ( our last visit was at the end of February 2018, the weather then was stinking hot during the day so we spent most of our time by the pool!)
We were hungry so headed off to the town square for sandwiches and coffee at one of the cafes. The others arrived at the hotel at around 2pm and it was lovely to see them! We met for “we’re here!” drinks at the bar and later we all boarded the bus to travel to the Sound of Silence Dinner. The location for the dinner is down a corrugated , red dirt track before you reach a secret dune location. Such a great experience – we were served champagne and canapes on a viewing platform at the top of a dune with a fine view of Uluru. Here we watched the sunset before walking down to where tables were set out for our candle-lit dinner. Neil and I had done the dinner in 2018 but it was so much better to enjoy the evening with friends instead of strangers.
We had a great view of Kata-Tjuta from the platform too
The dinner was a buffet with plenty of tasty choices, with a variety of classic Australian options such as kangaroo.
After the main course a local amateur astronomer gave us a short star talk, pointing out some of the features of the night sky. After we’d tucked in to desert and coffee we piled back on to the buses for the trip back to the hotel and bed. A great start to our time with them all.
Day 2
This morning we met in the very crowded restaurant for our full breakfast buffet. There were many tour groups in the resort and they all seemed to be heading for breakfast at the same time as us! The others had booked a rental car for a day so that they could get around to some of the off-site activities, so at 11.30 we all met in the carpark to head into the national park to visit the Cultural centre. It’s an excellent complex with displays describing the dreaming stories of the regions as well as the history of Uluru and how it was “discovered” by white explorers and then how it was eventually passed back to the traditional owners. There were also two galleries with a wonderful selection of Aboriginal artwork. Photographs were not allowed in the centre but I could take a snap of us having our picnic lunch in the picnic shelter near the carpark.
After lunch we drove on to the Kuniya carpark at the southern face of Uluru to start our Segway round tour of the rock. Neil and I had done this tour in 2018 and it was so much fun, so most of the others were keen to give it a go. Therese had alternative plans, she was very keen to take home some authentic aboriginal artwork as a memento of her visit so she waved us on our way and headed back to the galleries to do some shopping. The rest of us geared up with our helmets, kneepads and elbow pads and waited for the guides to give us all the info about safety etc. Most of us had ridden a Segway before but it was still good to run through the training exercises so we felt comfortable before heading out on the 12km trail around the rock. We stopped at several places around the rock where the guide described dreamtime stories about the location or info about the geology of the area etc.
After the tour we drove back at a clip to the hotel because we didn’t have much time…sunset was coming! We grabbed our bottles of essential beverages and various nibbles before heading back into the national park to the best sunset viewing area. This really is the best place to capture the striking colour changes on Uluru as the sun goes down.
After watching the sun go down we made our way back to the hotel for dinner at Ilkari restaurant – and I didn’t take a single photo!
Day 3
Today was a busy day! A very early start saw us all meet at the front of the hotel at 5.30am to catch the bus for our “Sunrise at the Field of Light Tour”. The Field Of Light, a stunning installation, by Bruce Munro, is also called Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku or ‘looking at lots of beautiful lights’ in local Pitjantjatjara. It encompasses more than 50,000 solar-powered stems which light up at sunset and glow throughout the night. It covers an area the size of four ( or five?) football fields with gentle pastel colours that paint such a beautiful picture in this arid landscape. We had seen the lights in the evening in 2018 but were very keen to see it again at sunrise this time around. It was bitterly cold this morning and I was very grateful for the puffer jacket that Jo had brought for me. After a short talk at the top of the dune we were invited to go down into the field and wander amongst the lights. In 2018 , Neil and I had seen them only in pitch black, but this time we hd the added ( and beautful!) aspect of watching the lights of sunrise creep over the landscape.
After wandering through the field I realised I couldn’t feel my fingers, it was SO cold! So it was wonderful to walk back up the dune to the viewing platform to wrap my chilly fingers around a coffee cup and to watch the sun rise this time on Uluru. The phone cameras were all clicking!!
Back at the hotel we made a beeline for the restaurant for breakfast and also organised the rest of our plan for the day, which was to drive 40km out from the hotel and see some more of , what our generation grew up calling, the Olgas. For many years now they have been once again called by their traditional name of Kata Tjuta. Meaning ‘many heads’, Kata Tjuta is sacred to the local Aboriginal Anangu people, who have inhabited the area for more than 22,000 years. We had driven out in 2018 and watrched the sun rise over Kata Tjuta and we had walked the Walpa Gorge walk. The signature trail in the area is called the Valley of the Winds, a Grade 4 ( difficult) walk which had been closed on our last visit due to high temperatures. This time we were all keen to get a closer look at Kata-Tjuta and some of us wanted to try our hand ( or feet!) at the Valley of the Winds.
The others had to return their car after breakfast, but fortunately our Holden Trailblazer had 7 seats so we were all able to pile in for the long drive out.
We stopped at the dune top viewing platform to see this amazing place , that really seems to get second billing to Uluru.
From here we drove straight to the carpark for the Valley of the Winds. The plan was for everyone to set out and to do all they felt comfortable doing of the challenging trail. It was very warm and getting warmer the further we walked. The trail is easy in parts and more like clambering up small cliff faces in others. There were sections where we wandered through fragrant native herb gardens and across small creeks and waterholes that were awash with butterflies. Reaching the Karingana lookout was a highlight, set between the canyon walls with a great view down to the plain below. I am so glad we did the walk!
After such a big morning we were all glad of a bit of R & R back at the resort. Neil and I caught up on some laundry and tried to have a swim in the pool… but it was icy cold! We can’t win with this pool, in February it was like a luke walm bath!
After drinks in the bar we ate dinner again at Ilkari restaurant. The staff really have to work so hard at present to keep some of these restaurants open. Our tour guide this morning had explained that the Ayers Rock Resort normally has about 2000 staff but is functioning presently with only 500 – sometimes that measn we had to wait a while for our drinks… but the came along eventually!
On our last morning we met up again for breakfast and enjoyed our full buffet one more time. Lots of hugs with the gang before we said our final goodbyes – its been such fun!
