I’m heading to Australia next September (yeah, I know… I like to plan ahead) and obviously want to include Uluru in the trip. My friend seems to think Alice Springs is worth checking out, so I was wondering if the train ride between the two is any fun (has good views, interesting stops, etc.). I’m not interested in driving between the two places (not at all, not even a little, I hate driving).
So, I could either just skip Alice Springs, fly from there to Uluru (although I don’t love the idea of adding a flight), do the train, or find some other interesting mode of transport.
Doesn’t look like there is a train from Alice Springs to Uluru. Australia Rail Map. There certainly wasn’t one when I was there in 2002.
Alice Springs is a dull little town, and not worth spending a whole lot of time. There’s lots of tour buses that go to Uluru from there. The Ghan seems like an awesome train, but I love trains. Unfortunately, I flew from Adelaide to Alice Springs.
Uluru is world class spectacular. I don’t think they let you climb it anymore as it upsets the aborigines.
No train. No plane. The only way to get from Alice Springs to Uluru (about 400km) (if you don’t want to drive) is on one of the millions of bus-tours filled with tourists.
And unless you like deserts, and I mean REAL deserts, it’s an extremely boring trip. Ain’t nothing between the Alice and the hulking great rock sticking up outta the ground. And yes, Darryl Lict is correct. You’re not allowed to climb the rock any more due to its spiritual significance to our indigenous people.
My apologies over the flight issue. But I would check that it allows you to fly in and out in a day rather than be part of a package which would include accommodation at Yulara. Otherwise, still means you’d be based at Alice Springs, which is a fairly mundane town in itself.
If you’re only here for 12 days, I’d actually skip central Australia altogether.
I guess you’re flying into Sydney: I’d spend a few days exploring that city perhaps with a day trip out to the Blue Mountains (west). Then I’d fly down to Melbourne to do the same there. From Melb, I’d scoot straight up to Cairns (Far North Queensland) to experience the Great Barrier Reef and the delights of a tropical environment.
Seriously, (and depending upon your budget) you’re going to be run off your feet just doing those three. Are you just a regular tourist, or are there particular things that ‘tickle your fancy’ that might impact your itinerary?
I flew in to Alice Springs, spent the night and then drove to Uluru (with a stopover at the King’s Canyon Resort). It’s a dusty tourist center with a couple of things to see that you could do in half a day. I don’t think you’ll miss anything by skipping Alice and flying directly to Uluru…unless (as noted above) you like long drives through featureless desert.
(missed the edit window) If you do decide to drive from Alice to The Rock, make sure to check out the giant echidna and frill-necked lizard at the Erldunda travel stop!
No apology necessary - You can fly in, but if you stay there you’ll be at the very pricey hotels in Yulara (I can deal with that for a night or two, I’m getting to Australia using miles).
Interesting - I don’t think I can skip Uluru. I know I’d regret it, but based on your comments I’m definitely thinking I’ll skip Alice Springs and just do a quick Yulara thing.
I’m flying both into and out of Sydney and was thinking the Blue Mountains look really good. The Reef is definitely one of primary goals for the trip and I’m debating betwen between doing a 3 day live aboard boat trip or maybe something around the Whitsunday Islands.
I’d love to go to Melbourne but was thinking of skipping just because of time constraints. I’ve heard great things about Kakadu - any thoughts about trying to do Darwin compared to melbourne?
Budget isn’t too much of a problem, I’ll be travelling by myself and should be able to use some miles for intra-australia flights and some points for hotels (not everything, but some). ‘Tickle my fancy’ is definitely nature stuff plus a few nice meals. I’m usually a big museum guy, but I’m not sure that would be my focus for this trip.
Darwin itself is like a big country town, whereas Melbourne is a city of about 5million people. If it’s nature you’re after, then head to Darwin and you can use that as your ‘base’ to go east to Kakadu, and with a bit of luck maybe a tour of (some) parts of the Kimberley region (west).
It’s interesting that you can still climb Uluru. When I was there in 2002 they discouraged it, but many, if not most people still did it. They claimed that in two or three years they were going to ban it altogether, so I figured it was my last chance to ever do it, so I went ahead and climbed it despite the concerns of the indigenous peoples.
It’s really spectacular and it’s unfortunate that it causes such grief to the native people. It’s interesting that they couch it in terms of concerns over death and injury to hikers. I was under the impression that it was a holy place and that only one spiritual leader a year had previously climbed it. Once westerners showed up, they pretty much abused the place, much to the dismay of the locals.
It is, however, a fairly sketchy hike. It gets windy as all fuck and I’d put it in the same category of difficulty as Half Dome in Yosemite.
We did our honeymoon in Australia 15 years ago, and our itinerary over 3 weeks was Sydney, Cairns, Tasmania, Melbourne, home. Fantastic trip, but damn near killed us. I’d say 3 destinations in 12 days is plenty.
We did a 3 day liveaboard trip out of Cairns, and without exaggeration, it was probably the most memorable experience of my life. We got lucky with the weather, and dove a few sites the Captain said they usually aren’t able to go to. You have to be a dedicated diver (4 dives/day for 3 days isn’t for pikers), but I’d strongly recommend a liveaboard instead of day boats off land.
If you are set on the Alice and Uluru, add Chamber’s Pillar and Rainbow Valley (4WD only access) to your potential visit list. Just don’t expect the Flying Doctors to fly over when you do.
