And now for a blog entry about our last trip in Australia,
to a place that is most likely my favorite of all of our travels in the
country….
You’ve seen the image, that iconic one of Australia … a big
red rock. You think to yourself, yea, must be nice to see it … not sure I want
to spend more than one night there – because after all once you’ve seen the
rock, what else is there to do in the middle of all that nothingness.
That’s what I thought originally. But then we decided we wanted to do a camel ride out into the desert and we wanted to see the ‘other’ rock formation (originally called the Olgas and now referred to by its true name: Kata-Tjuta) and the hotel does a deal on 3 nights that makes it almost dumb to stay 2 nights, so we booked 3 nights
That’s what I thought originally. But then we decided we wanted to do a camel ride out into the desert and we wanted to see the ‘other’ rock formation (originally called the Olgas and now referred to by its true name: Kata-Tjuta) and the hotel does a deal on 3 nights that makes it almost dumb to stay 2 nights, so we booked 3 nights
We flew up to Alice Springs since the flights worked better for us than the ones into Uluru. Qantas sort of owns the Alice runs and Virgin Australia does the non-stop to Uluru from Melbourne. We were intrigued by the idea of seeing Alice (locals refer to it as “the Alice”) and we definitely wanted to do the drive to Uluru. We had read about Kings Canyon and decided to spend the first night in the area ‘glamping’, which is basically evocative of camping in that you are out in the bush and have a tent over your head, but the commonalities end there. There is a real floor, a king sized bed, air conditioning, electricity and even doors. We had a large separate bathroom (robes are provided so you can walk the few steps between your sleeping room and the bathroom) with a huge tub, big shower and very nice amenities. It sort of hurt to think of filling that tub out in the middle of the desert – so we took showers.
Glamping - morning light |
We stayed at the Kings Canyon Wilderness Resort (do those
two words really go together?), which includes dinner and breakfast in their
package. Dinner is a grand affair, set out under the stars with tables near a
large open pit fire. The temps drop quite radically in the desert, so a wrap is
definitely necessary and the flames and warmth from the fire are very welcome. We
shared the table with a lovely family from Belgium, and in good European
fashion all of them (parents, two sons in early 20s, and in-laws) were of
course fluent in English and also spoke Flemish and French. I’m not normally one who enjoys sharing a
table on vacation since I relish time with my husband, but this family was so
delightful, well traveled and well educated, it was a pleasure to chat with
them. The food was quite good (and I'm a harsh critic) with a first course of
risotto al funghi, and a couple of choices for the main course, which is good
since I don’t eat meat. The desert is what the chef called a date cake with
caramel sauce, served with a frozen vanilla cream. Really delicious and
enjoyable in spite of the fact we were quite full by the time dessert arrived.
All in all I highly recommend this resort, although we were
less than overwhelmed with the Canyon itself. Most people hike the rim which is
about a 3 hour hike, but since we were eager to get to Uluru, we opted to hike
just into the canyon which is only about an hour. Perhaps the rim hike is the
way to go, since I would not recommend the Canyon hike. It was pretty and the
sight of the red cliffs above us were picturesque, but if you are short on time
you may want to make other choices.
Red cliffs of Kings Canyon |
We got to Uluru in the early afternoon and were eager to
check in and get over to the Park to buy our passes and secure our spot at the
sunset viewing area. Of the four hotel
choices (all owned by the same resort company) we chose Sails in the Desert,
which is the top of their line. We had been told to be prepared to pay for a
five-star resort but stay in a facility that we would think of more like a
motel, but the resort must have sunk some money into the place since it was certainly very nice. Rather on the expensive side,
but they do have a captive audience since your alternative is to drive 4 hours
if you want to stay someplace else. We were thankful that they had phone signal
and wifi, since we had lost signal about
5 minutes outside of Alice and had not seen it since.
Checking the official time for sunset, which they have
posted at the front desk when you check in, we jumped in the car and drove the
15 minutes to the park entrance. The minimum they sell is a 3 day pass, so there’s
yet another reason to spend at least 3 nights in the area.
First sight |
Now think Burning Man, or some other large populous event. Cars
everywhere, many of them camper vans, people sitting on top of their vans,
others with chairs on the dirt by the edge of the parking lot, some with
barbeques set up. It was truly a ‘scene’. All the bus tours have to go to a
different viewing area (thankfully) and I understand that gets jammed as well.
We fortunately found a spot to park that was mostly legitimate, and hurried
over to find a place to watch the show.
And what a show it was. Like a huge glowing mass rising up
out of the flat of the desert, Uluru lights up bright red when the sun hits a
certain angle. The sand is red there naturally, and Uluru is sandstone, thus
when combined with setting light create a stunning combination.
Red light |
The many different colors of Uluru depending on time of day |
The next morning we hiked around the base of Uluru. It is about 6 miles and it took us close to 4 hours because my husband is a photographer and I think he stopped to shoot photos as often as he put one foot in front of the other. Because of its scale, it is hard to capture any single image of Uluru that conveys what it is really like. We of course have a hundred images. The landscape changes depending on which side of the rock you are on, and we even shared the path briefly with a dingo. He appeared very serious and on a mission - and he had no interest in us. Because there were two of us and we are bigger than him, he trotted right by and worked hard to avoid eye contact.
A photo with husband to show scale of the rock |
Up close Uluru is full of crevasses |