Palya! – A long weekend exploring Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park
The world was once a featureless place. None of the places we know existed until creator beings, in the forms of people, plants and animals, traveled widely across the land. Then, in a process of creation and destruction, they formed the landscape as we know it today. Aṉangu land is still inhabited by the spirits of dozens of these ancestral creator beings.
- The Aṉangu
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Uluru, along with Kata Tjuta, are the two major features of the vast Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park located almost in the centre of Australia.
Sacred to the Anangu people, the traditional Aboriginal landowners of the area, Uluru and surrounds remain a deeply spiritual place with indications people have been present in the area for over 10,000 years.
Formed some 250 million years ago, the area was first explored by Europeans in the 1870s and they named Uluru and Kata Tjuta as Ayers Rock and The Olgas respectively.
Uluru is one of Australia’s instantly recognisable national icons – the massive red ‘inselberg’ rock rises some 348 m above the surrounding plains and the track around its base is 9.4 km long.
The impressive formation has long been a popular tourist attraction. For a long time, people have been able to climb Uluru, ignoring the cultural significance of the rock to the indigenous people of the area.
Thankfully from October 2019, this activity will no longer be allowed much to the disdain of a segment of society who either lack sensitivity for or appreciation of the culture of Aboriginals, or simply don’t like being told they cannot do something.
At the end of the day, there are plenty of meaningless mountains to climb…
On our last morning, the ascent was closed due to high winds. Let’s hope they remove the chains soon after closing it permanently…
Visiting Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park
The roughly three-hour flight west from Sydney takes you over the vast centre of Australia – the burnt ochre colours punctuated by occasional bodies of water and gleaming white salt lakes.
Tip! Sit on the left side of the plane (seats 1A/C in Business) coming in to Ayres Rock Airport and the right side (seats 1D/F in Business) leaving. You’ll be rewarded with some gorgeous views from the air of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. This is from Sydney and obviously subject to the flight plan being the usual one.
Upon reaching Ayers Rock airport, it’s advisable to hire a car – activities in this tourism dominated location are horrifically expensive, and most things you can do yourself. Pre-book your car too as they do sell out.
Accommodation is centred around Ayers Rock Resort in the bland and unexciting town of Yulara, situated roughly 10 km from the entry to the national park.
The resort has the Town Centre at its hub with an IGA (good for supplies as there isn’t really anywhere inside the park to refuel yourself), a few shops and a few café-style eateries.
Due to the monopoly on accommodation, everything is horrifically expensive, and not great value. There are eight accommodation options ranging from Ayers Rock Campground (starting at $43 per night for a non-powered site) through to the luxurious Longitude 131° (starting at an eye-watering $3,000 per night, minimum two nights).
Note: Longitude 131° is a member of Luxury Lodges of Australia and is available with Virtuoso benefits when you book your sojourn through me.
Note that many of the accommodation options are affiliated with the Accor group, so if you’re a member of the Le Club AccorHotels loyalty program, benefits may be available to you.
We opted to have a low-key weekend this trip and decided to try out the newly refreshed The Lost Camel Hotel (at $650 for two nights) sitting very middle of the road in terms of options. This was a far better value proposition than the ‘five stars’ (I’d definitely suggest otherwise…) Sails In The Desert which would have been around $1,200 for our stay.
In terms of pre-arranged activities, we just decided to do the Field of Light by artist Bruce Munro. There are a bunch of destination dining experiences, but $99 for BBQs and $265 for buffets didn’t really appeal to me. I considered Tali Wiru, but at $375 per person, common sense kicked in, especially with a Europe trip shortly following…
We had meals around the resort. The pizzas at Gecko’s Cafe in the town square were probably the best, with the dinners we had at Sails and Desert Gardens being rather uninspiring and rather overpriced.
Armed with our hire car and some touristy maps, we opted to just self-guide around the area, taking our time to enjoy being in a place both Travis and I had been wanting to visit for a long time, and one which really does have a magical energy to it.
Our plan (I love a plan…) to maximise our weekend ended up as below:
Day 1: Arrive Ayers Rock Airport early afternoon, collect hire car, visit Cultural Centre, sunset Uluru, evening Field of Light
Day 2: Sunrise at Kata Tjuta. morning Valley of the Winds and Walpa Gorge, afternoon Sunset visit to Uluru
Day 3: Sunrise Uluru, morning Uluru base, return hire car, afternoon flight to Sydney
Day 1
The majestic rock transforms through an incredible colour spectrum from orange to purple as the sun sets
Approaching Uluru is one of those moments in life where you are completely in awe. The striking formation rises from its relatively flat surrounds majestically.
Sunset at Uluru must be one of the most magic moments to experience in Australia.
As the sun descends, the giant rock appears to change colour – from burnt orange, through to a deep purple once the sun just dips below the horizon.
A peaceful hush descends over the various viewing areas as if the people watching this spectacle of nature consciously or subconsciously are sensing the deep spiritual connection some have to this place.
The best vantage point is from the designated sunset viewing area and it is best to get there a little before sunset (we arrive around 30 minutes prior) to get a good spot, unpack some wine and cheese, and enjoy the moments to come.
We also visited the small Cultural Centre which does a good job of explaining the Aboriginal history of and connection to the Uluru and Kata Tjuta area.
Once back at the resort, we met our transfer to the Field of Light. This is a pretty spectacular light installation by renowned artist Bruce Munro consisting of over 50,000 fibre optic lit stems crowned with hand-blown frosted-glass spheres. Amazing!
You have quite a few options when visiting, we opted for just the ‘walking around the lights’ experience, but you can visit and have various inclusions (from canapés to a full meal).
Day 2
Exploring two icons of the Red Centre
We woke up at 5:45 am (Travis is begging me for a break where it doesn’t involve and early morning activity) to get ready to head out to Kata Tjuta for sunrise.
It’s around a 30 minute drive to the viewing area, but on arrival you’ll be rewarded with stunning views across the barren landscape where Uluru stands as and illuminated silhouette on the horizon and the domes of Kata Tjuta (or The Olgas) slowly light up as the sun rises.
From the viewing area, it’s another 20 minute drive to the starting point for the Valley of the Winds walk. There are a few options here which you can decide on depending on your level of interest and/or physical ability.
We opted to not do the full loop and just stop at the second lookout. This was still roughly a two hour hike. Time of year may dictate your trip too – the trail is closed from 11:00 a.m. as temperatures here can be well in excess of 40 degrees.
Any option will leave you with a different perspective of the beautiful formation – where Uluru is a single monolith of sandstone, Kata Tjuta is composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of varying rock types including granite and basalt, cemented by a matrix of sandstone.
The highest dome, Mount Olga, is actually much higher than Uluru and stands at over 540 m above the surrounding plains. Ayers Rock maxes out just shy of 350 m.
After the Valley of the Winds, we headed to Walpa Gorge which is a very short return walk between two of the many domes.
Overall, I was pretty underwhelmed by Kata Tjuta up close. I’m not sure if I’ve just seen a lot of amazing things lately, but the majesty of them from a distance didn’t translate once we were immersed amongst them. This is the opposite at Uluru I feel – amazing from a distance, but more impressive up close.
The colour of the earth in the Red Centre amazed me all weekend.
From Kata Tjuta we headed back to Uluru, stopping at the Culture Centre for a snack before heading to our first up close visit to the rock.
We opted to do the short Mala walk this afternoon which is a short walk taking you past some of the caves and sacred areas along the edge of the rock. There are guided tours at 10:00 a.m., however, when we saw these the next day, we were glad we didn’t do one as there were dozens of people following one or two guides.
Whilst at the Cultural Centre, we saw an advertisement for a cultural show – The Waru Show - run by the local Anangu people through the Mani-Mani Indigenous Cultural Theatre as an alternative to the Ayers Rock Resort options.
The Waru Show is a performance show about fire, giving visitors a unique insight into the traditional lifestyle and culture of the Anangu people of Central Australia.
It’s a very interactive show (we were asked to participate in many of the dances and fire rituals) and whilst it is all quite amateur, this does add to its charm and you do put the lack of refinement aside as you understand that there is not much opportunity in the area for employment or income for the locals.
Day 3
Nope, we didn’t climb the rock (of course), but we did enjoy making our way around the base (by bicycle)
We had every intention of waking up early to see Uluru at sunrise, but Travis’ need for a sleep in prevailed and we started out for the rock around 7:30 a.m.
We decided that we’d circle the base of the rock by bike (we certainly had no intention of climbing up and we were glad to see it was closed due to winds when we arrived). Bikes are available at $50 per person for three hours at the Cultural Centre.
Considering we walked over 19 km the day before, cycling was a good idea…!
We loved cycling around the base. You follow the exact same path as people who walk however you just do it in probably half (or less) of the time. We spend about two hours cycling and stopping at interesting spots along the path – I loved the water hole especially.
The rock is truly amazing up close – it’s hard to fathom it is one gigantic piece of sandstone. The colour palette is incredible too – I loved the contrast of the red of the rock and the dirt ground against the pale green vegetation and crisp blue sky.
There are many areas where you can see evidence of where the Aboriginals used to inhabit this location. In many of the caves, rock art adorns the walls and ceilings as a reminder of a rich culture that has existed continuously some 40,000 years.
It is also important to be mindful that you are in a sacred place. Many areas are marked with signs asking that visitors do not take photos or videos of particularly parts of the rock because of ancient laws and customs of the Anangu people. As with climbing the rock, some people choose to ignore this request…
We returned our bikes and headed back to the resort area for a snack before our flight home and managed to squeeze in a demonstration of tools and weapons by an awesome Aboriginal guy originally from the Darwin area before leaving.
Hint – don’t arrive at the airport too early – it’s small with barely any facilities. We ended up stuck here for while as our flight was delayed.
Thankfully Virgin Australia came through with the treasured at gate upgrade to Business Class for the three hour flight!
Sojourn Summary
Uluru is definitely one of those unique must-visit locations that you should try and see once in your life. The rock itself is super impressive, as is the culture and the stories that you will hear and experience if you engage a little with the locals. It’s a perfect long weekend destination. Like most things in Australia though, just be prepared to pay for it…