An Uluru Weekend

[oz_mark]

Junk mail.

Normally It gets thrown away, pretty much unread. This time something caught my eye. A picture of Uluru on its cover, I put it aside to come back to later.
Later, I opened it, and had a look at the offers. Hmm, Uluru is on my bucket list, and this offer doesn’t look too bad. 3 nights, with breakfast and a complimentary Sounds of Silence experience thrown in, what was there not to like.

So, checked a few things and decided to go ahead with the offer. This gave me an answer on where to go for a few days, even if I had not been asking myself the question, now I just had to find a when. The long weekend in June seemed to fit the bill, and I would just need a day off work either side. But should that be the Friday before, or the Tuesday after?

To the websites of Qantas and Virgin I head. It turned out, that, at the time I booked, that flying to Uluru on Qantas, and returning on Virgin Australia was the most cost effective. Furthermore, I should take the Friday off.

At this point, I make two observations:

1. Many of my booking in the last six months have been Qantas one way, and Virgin the other. I wonder if they will ever notice!
2. One should not look at air fares again after making such a decision, as it turned out that it was precisely wrong, and I would have been better off taking the Tuesday off and having a Saturday to Tuesday long weekend.

Never mind, it is now all booked. To Uluru on Friday, then back to Melbourne on Monday.

What to do? How to do it?

With flights and accommodation booked, my mind turns to just what I will do for the three days there. After looking into the options, it seems Uluru, Kata Tjuta and hiring a car provided the best option.

Hiring a car sounded easy, but it was a long weekend, and I was confronted with “Sold Out” responses from everywhere I tried. It looked like expensive tours or shuttle buses were the go.

Time passes, and I regularly check the websites hoping for a car to turn up. The one day, while looking for another weekend, I notice an offer from Avis – book three days, pay for two, and get 500 bonus QFF points to boot. So I click on “Book now”, punch the dates in, and lo and behold it spits out the option of a Corolla. Given my other choice was the shuttle bus, I booked the car.

Now given a straight three day booking came back as “Sold Out”, I spent the next few days expecting some sort of “oops, there are no cars” message from them (It’s happened before. Not with Avis, but another of the majors).

It never came. Holiday booked, dog is booked into the kennels, now to wait for the day to arrive….

 

[oz_mark]

Melbourne – Uluru, via Sydney.

QF408. MEL-SYD. A330-200. VH-EBN.

I’m not noted for flying early, but there is only one flight a day from Sydney to Uluru, and I am in Melbourne. So the day starts off bright and early for a 7am flight. Drive to the airport, park in the Long Term, catch the bus, and make it to the Qantas Club. A coffee, few pancakes and it’s time to board.

Got to our seats and settled in for the flight. The one hour flight doesn’t lend itself to watching a movie, so I flicked through documentaries. These don’t seem to change often, and I had already watched a good proportion of them, but I chose “Operation Mince Meat”, and chose that to watch.

After take-off breakfast was served. This was a Muesli offering, which was sufficient for me.

After arrival at Sydney, we made our way to the Qantas club, to grab a coffee while waiting for the flight to Uluru.

QF776. SYD-AYQ. 737-800. VH-VXM.

Shortly thereafter, we boarded our flight to Uluru. Having managed to snag row 4, plenty of legroom was to be had.

The movie on this flight was ‘Salmon Fishing in Yemen’, which I completely failed to interest myself with. So, sat back and pulled out some reading material (yes, on real paper), and occupied myself that way.
Interestingly, a fellow row 4 passenger (across the aisle), was getting well stuck into cans of beer, which is quite something for a 9.45am departure. Also, noted that he never seemed to actually pay for the drinks. Seems he was on staff travel (his partner was in J), so I guess it’s one of the benefits of staff travel.

Lunch was served, and this consisted of a meat pie. It was described by the FA as a chicken and mushroom pie, but it tasted much more like a beef pie!

As we approached Uluru, the captain advised that those on the left would get views of Uluru and Kata Tjuta as we went passed before turning back for landing. All, well and good, and while I was on the left side, I was in the aisle seat. So any this was it, my first live viewing of Uluru. I must say that the scenery was stunning.

 

[oz_mark]

Airport to Hotel

One of the aspects in doing this trip in June, is that it is actually quite cool, with temperatures in the mid-teens during the day. So getting off the plane didn’t result in the instant melt down that may have occurred in mid-summer. The coolness brings about a number of other benefits. I had been told that there would be lots of insects buzzing around. None to be seen, heard or felt.

Anyway, off the plane, and through to the Avis counter to pick up the car. At this point things came to a bit of a halt, as they can’t find the booking of the person in front of me. Eventually they discover he had booked pick-up for the next day, so after a few minutes, he gets a set of keys and is off. Car pickup formalities go much more smoothly for me. Showing my Avis Preferred card and driver license, get a set of keys in return. They tell me they now about the dent in the front door and to make sure I refill at the resort before returning, and I am on my way to the resort.

Check-In

Arrive at the hotel for the next hold-up. Our arrival managed to coincide with some tour bus arrivals, so there were quite a few check-ins to process. A-club status doesn’t really help out with this. Get to the front of the queue to be told my two rooms were ready. What’s this about two rooms? I’d only booked on.

Pull out my confirmation email, and can only see any reference to one room on it anywhere. The agent taps a few keys, and the two rooms are booked under the one confirmation number. So, get the second room cancelled.

Now, the conditions of the package stated that the Sounds of Silence tour would be booked on the first night, and there are several pieces of correspondence about that. So, I enquire as to when the pick-up for that was. It turned out that they hadn’t made the booking, but would look into it.

So grab the room key (and yes, it is an actual key. None of this new fandangled access card stuff), and head to the room. After dropping the bags off, and check out the room. The room looks adequate, nothing special, but nothing really wrong with it either. In fact, it really is just like a Novotel room.



A few words on the Resort

Voyages resort has been around a number of years, and is now owned by the Indigenous Land Corporation. It consists of a number of hotels at different price points. In November 2011, the resort joined with Accor to provide a number of services.

While the hotels have retained their original names, there is an alignment provided between those names, and the Accor branding:

Sails in the Desert – A member of Pullman Hotels
Desert Gardens – A member of Novotel Hotels
Emu Walk Apartments – A member of Grand Mercure Apartments
Outback Pioneer – A member of All Seasons Hotels
The Lost Camel – A member of Mercure Hotels.

After dropping bags off in the room, we head off to check the resort out, check out the visitors centre, and find a shop to pick-up supplies. I have always found a quick orientation of the resort to be worthwhile in knowing where things are in relation to each other, and to get an idea of just what is around. This proved worthwhile, as the Town Centre was located closer to the other hotels than the Desert Gardens.


One place that caught my eye was a take away noodle place called Ayers Wok. I love that name!



After walking around a bit, we find the local IGA and head in to pick up some bottled water and a few other bits and pieces. Expecting the worst on the pricing front, we were pleasantly surprised that they weren’t too bad. Having collected some water etc, we return to the room, a phone call comes in saying they couldn’t get the tour tonight, and we’d have to wait for Sunday.

 

[oz_mark]

To the Rock

No tour, tonight, so we decide to head out to the rock for a bit of an introductory tour. Much more exploration was planned for the next day, so it was just a quick trip to get the National Park tickets sorted, and have a quick look at the rock. We checked out the culture centre, and drive out to a few of the viewing spots.

After that little sojourn, we return to the resort, as sunset is still a couple of hours away. There wasn’t really time to do the walks, and it was a bit long to hang around for sunset.
On the first night, sunset is viewed from a viewing spot on the resort. At this point one starts to realise it can get quite cool in the middle of the desert, but walking around does keep one a bit warm.
Following the sunset, it’s time for dinner and then time to call it a night.


I found that errant apostrophe I once lost.


Uluru from the resort


Kata Tjuta from the resort

 

[oz_mark]

Saturday - Uluru

An advantage of a hire car is that one is not bound by the pick-up times of tour coaches, so this afforded a bit of time to have a sleep in on Saturday morning. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that forgetting to set the alarm did not have any consequences other than missing sunrise!

Any good day starts with breakfast, so that is the first port of call. Breakfast was pretty much a standard buffet style breakfast, with an egg station that took orders for various types of eggs (Poached, omelettes, benedict and so on).

Following breakfast, it is time to get out to the rock. Much is made of ‘The Climb’ and how the traditional owners prefer that people not do the climb. There are other reasons for not doing the climb as well, and one of those is safety. Given that a number of people have died doing the climb, these days the climb is closed where it is deemed unsafe to climb. This includes it being above 36 degrees (forecast or actual), the wind being above 25 knots at 2,500 feet, more than 20% of the rock surface being wet, rain or thunderstorms in the forecast and so on.
On this day, it was closed due to wind. An interesting feature of Uluru, is that is big enough to have some localised weather around it. Get away from the rock and it can be still, next to the rock you can feel a breeze. Quite what it would be like at 2,500 feet I don’t know.






So, what is there left to do, but some of the walking tracks. So, we set off on those, and decide to walk around Uluru. This is posted as a 10 km walk that takes a bit over three hours. It is a pretty straightforward walk, being largely flat all the way around.

As we complete the journey around the rock, we notice that there are people now on the rock. Guessing that the wind must have died down, the climb was now open. When we arrive back at the base of the climb, there are a whole bunch of people that had also just completed the walk around the rock.

I guess the climb, if you are going to do it, is something you really need to start off fresh, rather than having just walked 10km around the rock. Anyway, I decide to go up to the start of the chain, just to see the view. It was probably a wise choice, as I don’t think I could have gone much further – it really is quite a steep climb up. And then you have to get down again.



It was time to go back to the resort for a bit of rest, before coming out again for the sunset. So, back we go.

The previous day it was discovered that the only take away alcohol available was at the Outback Pioneer Hotel. This was located in a separate area to the rest of the resort, so now was an opportunity to check that out. Calling it a bottle shop was probably a bit over the top, it turned out you just buy at the bar. There were some limitations on how much you could buy, probably due to some liquor licensing rule I imagine.

The prices though were quite something else. $38 for a six pack of beer? Bottles of wine that started at $40? I considered the options briefly and decided that if I was going to be paying bar prices for alcohol, I was going to be sitting in a bar doing it. So, I left empty handed.

Anyway, it was time to head back to the sunset viewing. Drove back out, and got breathe tested on the way. Maybe it was a good thing that the bottle shop was so expensive!
We arrived at the Car Sunset location maybe 45 minutes before sunset, and the car park was already 75% full. It was a good thing we hadn’t left that any longer. We found a good viewing spot, and waited till sunset came.

After watching the sunset it was time to leave again. You’d never believe it, on the way out, the same police pull me over for another breathe test. It really was a good thing that the bottle shop was so expensive!

 

[oz_mark]

Some Sunset Photos

 

[oz_mark]

Sunday – Kata Tjuta
Sunday was Kata Tjuta day. Again the day started with breakfast before heading out to Kata Tjuta. It’s a bit more of a drive out there and the first thing you notice as you approach is that it is a completely different looking rock to Uluru. Uluru is a sedimentary rock, while Kata Tjuta is conglomerate formation.

That should be enough of the Geology lesson (a bit of a flashback to my past!), and back to the sightseeing. The walks at Kata Tjuta are more strenuous than those at Uluru, as there are more rocks to get over and around. We start off with the Valley of the Winds, and walk to Karu Lookout. From there it is onward to Karingana Lookout.

From Karingana Lookout there are basically two options. Head back, which is the shorter but more difficult option. Or continue on, and head around the full circuit. Further, but easier (it is mostly flat around the back). We opt to go back from where we came.

Following this walk, we continue on to the Walpa Gorge Walk, which is basically a there and back walk as well.





Following the tour of Kata Tjuta, we head back to the resort to get ready for the Sounds of Silence tour.

Sunday – Sounds of Silence

Sounds of Silence is one of the tours run by the resort, and was included in my package. It is an open air meal, with Uluru as a backdrop.

We head to the pickup area at reception to find what looked like half of the hotel already in reception. There were various tour groups (I saw various badges including Captains Choice and Scenic Tours). Four AAT Kings coaches arrive, with people already assigned to particular coaches.

After a short drive, we arrive at the location and offered a glass of sparkling wine (I don’t actually know what the wine was, so will just go with sparkling). I noted that only two coaches arrived, and asked the staff about this. It turns out that there are three different locations, and other coaches would be at those other locations.
Canapes come out, and these are made from ingredients such as crocodile, kangaroo and salmon. During this time, we got to watch another sunset over Uluru.

After drinks and canapés we head off to the dining area, where we join our assigned table, and start chatting with our table mates. Drinks were served, and since this was a free flowing affair, I made the most of it. Of course, in these type of meals, drink choices are limited to what they provide, but the wine was quite drinkable. The first course consisted of pumpkin soup. Following this we were invited to get our main course, which was a barbecue buffet.

At the end of the meal, it was a short coach trip back to the hotel, where we had a few more drinks in the bar.

 

[oz_mark]

Uluru – Melbourne via Sydney

Monday has now dawned, and the end of the long weekend nears. Checkout is at 10 am, but this leaves a 3 ½ hour wait for the flight, so we take one last drive out to Uluru to go to a few viewing platforms that we hadn’t been to. Then it was back to fill up the car (at $2.10 per litre), then to the airport.

DJ1630. AYQ-SYD. B737-800. VH-YFH.

Check-in started off ok, but the check-in agent decided to weigh our carryon baggage. One bag came in at 7.9 kilograms, and the other at 9.5 kg. After being told they would need to be checked, we shuffled some of the contents around to get one under 7 kg, and then checked in the other.

The boarding passes were given, and noted we were in 4A and 4B. This didn’t seem to ring a bell. All my seating selections had indicated an E190 was going to be operating the sector, and the seat numbers seemed wrong. Not that it mattered much. Of more concern was that this was an (expensive) saver fare, and I had vowed that given that DJ were charging $400 for this saver fare, they weren’t getting another cent out of me. So, perused the options at the airport and waited for the plane to arrive.

It seems that the airport is a bit of a hive of activity in the early afternoon, when all the flights seem to come and go. I watched a couple of Qantas flights land, before the Virgin flight arrived. On taxi, I noticed that for an E190, it looked quite rotund. At this point, I realised that it was actually a 737-800.

Realising that I had checked in my reading material, and there is no IFE on FJ flights, I went to find a book in the airport shop. Following this, it was time to board, and we were on our way back to Sydney. Within seconds of the seat belt light going off, the seat in front reclined straight back. Never mind, the Aisle seat is free, so I moved there. Of course, that just meant the passenger in row 3 middle seat also moved to the aisle and reclined.

Aside from the recliners, it was a rather uneventful flight, where Virgin failed to get another cent out of me J

On arrival, I went to collect the luggage prior to going to The Lounge.


DJ882. SYD-MEL. E190. VH-ZPG

As the flights back to Melbourne were booked separately, I put something of a buffer in the connections, and was originally scheduled to depart at 9pm. In the Lounge I asked for an earlier flight and got moved to the 7pm service, after confirming I was ok with being on an Embraer.

After a few drinks in The Lounge, the flight is called, and our last leg of the journey home is underway.

This was a Flexi Fare, so a meal package was to be had.



Wrap Up
There’s not much else to say, but it was an enjoyable weekend, and I got to tick off one more item in my bucket list. It was quite a worthwhile experience.

 

[Shane B]

Thank you, a good read and nice photos.

 

[2impulsiv]

Great TR, thanks for posting.

 

[Fifa]

Thanks for the trip report oz_mark.
I really enjoyed reading of your experience as we are renting a motorhome in Alice Springs in October and driving to Uluru and on to Adelaide.

 

[Flashback]

Love the sunset photos, reminds me I need to get out there one day! Thanks for the TR.

 

[Sprucegoose]

We did the same sort of thing when virgin commenced flight to Alice they were $48 each way!!!

A good experience all up and a good report. Thankyou.

 

[LadyC]

Thanks for the TR - love your photos. Uluru is just amazing and the scenery is just spectacular.

 

[smit0847]

Great trip report on a destination few people seem to go to!

It is really little wonder to me that Australian tourism is suffering with prices like these - $38 for a 6-pack of beer? You could get a nights accommodation for that in South-East Asia! (although I think alcohol prices may have more to do with restrictions on alcohol to the indigenous community)

 

[Skyring]

Thanks for that! Brought back a few memories: Be a Guest Travel Writer: Uluru relaxation

 

[TonyHancock]

Thanks for sharing, great report!

It's a journey I need to make one day.

 

[Skyring]

Qantas insisted on 500 words max, which cut down my rather sprawling style a little! They also edited it here and there, it was originally a teeny bit more subtle. But it was a fantastic trip, and yes it was very much a spiritual journey. Many of oz_mark's observations matched mine. I was expecting a more isolated experience, but the range and prices in the the supermarket were quite reasonable, and there were plenty of choices for eating and drinking. The NT booze laws make takeaway grog difficult in the extreme, but that's fine.

Seeing the Rock from the air was a thrill. Gives one a different perspective and shows it as a big chunk of sedimentary rock tipped on end. Like an iceberg, most of the slab is below the surface, apparently.

Surprisingly few Aussies around. Apparently any Australian who shows up for more than a day or so is recruited into the local workforce! There were many Asian tourists during my summer stay, and they had all apparently read the same guidebook, because every one of them bought a veil to ward off the flies. I found that they weren't too bad - a bit of roll on repellent and the Great Australian Salute worked just fine.

I enjoyed the desert experience. It was so far outside my everyday existence that although it was stark and hostile, it was also beautiful. Rolling through the Mojave last year was quite different, though just as harsh.

I think it's one of those pilgrimages every Australian should aim for. Like London, Anzac Cove and Canberra.

 

[muppet]

Great TR.
Thanks for posting it mate.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Thanks Mark, a trip report, I knew you had it in you one day to write one.