One of the best things about having family that like to move around a bit, is getting to go and visit them. My parents currently live in the Outback - Alice Springs to be precise. Where the closest city is a 1500km drive North to Darwin, or 1500km drive South to Adelaide. Absolute madness to me and after getting there I can see why it's described as the middle of nowhere.
Alice Springs itself wasn't really my kind of place - not much going on and very small. A lot of red rock and sand everywhere (I like my green forests and lakes too much). However, the best thing about Alice Springs, is its proximity to Uluru National Park! Just a four hour drive to get there, how could we not go and visit for the weekend?
When we headed to the national park, we headed for the car parks where you can do some of the smaller walks around the base. You can get access to some of the caves, which were used for different reasons over the years. There's a fair few with artwork inside as well. At the very end of the Mala walk is a small watering hole, and a part of Uluru where you can just look straight up the wall of red rock. I lay back on the bench, stared up at the sky and honestly could have stayed there for the rest of the day. I haven't felt that peaceful in a long time - it felt like you were floating in a trance and the world melted away for a small piece of time.
Thankfully by the time we headed to Kata Tjuta, the rain had basically stopped and we got to go and do the walks up there. There's a couple of different walks around Kata Tjuta which weren't accessible to those that might struggle with rockier paths and hills. My brother and I ditched the parents for a couple of hours and ran around the tracks as fast as we could. The first was a small walk straight through a gorge.
The second walk was definitely more interesting. It was about 5.5km which we smashed out in an hour. There are two different lookout points you can get to, so of course I had to see both. The second lookout point took some serious hill climbing and rock scrambling to get to, but when I tell you my mouth dropped when I got to the top of the hill and looked out at that view - it was worth it.
Alice Springs itself wasn't really my kind of place - not much going on and very small. A lot of red rock and sand everywhere (I like my green forests and lakes too much). However, the best thing about Alice Springs, is its proximity to Uluru National Park! Just a four hour drive to get there, how could we not go and visit for the weekend?
We headed down on the Saturday morning and got to a place called Curtin Springs. About an hours drive from Uluru, but a lot cheaper than staying at the Ayers Rock Resort, and free camping if you've got your own stuff. Since we have no campervan and my mum is beyond the point in life where camping is fun (plus you know the Outback, god knows what I might find crawling in my tent), we stayed in one of the cabins. Was far from five star accommodation, but considering we barely spent any time in it, it was perfect.
We brought all of our food with us for the entire weekend, because you are literally middle of nowhere. If you want to just pop to a shop - doesn't exist. If you ever head that way, 100% keep that in mind.
Ayers Rock or Uluru? That was what confused my brother before we headed over. The answer is both. Uluru is the original name, however it was given the European name Ayers Rock in the 1870's which became the most widely used name until about 30 years ago. The rock was officially named with both names and to this day still has dual names. However Uluru is always the named used within the national park as respect.
You used to be able to climb Uluru and walk along it, but that was closed permanently back in October of 2019. The Anangu had always asked visitors to not climb it, but they allowed it when people did. A lot of people were respectful of their wishes and the number of people climbing it dropped, until eventually the decision was made to officially close the walkway. There are also areas around the rock that are sacred scriptures and therefore photography and videos are not allowed.
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The other walks around led to some of the biggest watering holes around Uluru, which also have waterfalls running in to them when it rains. I got lucky to see Uluru in rain, cloud and sunshine which meant that beautiful red rock and blue sky, the waterfalls and the creepier atmosphere, were all there to enjoy. Naturally I had to walk around the entire base of Uluru, have to tick things off the bucket list. That walk was about 10.6km which I did with my brother and dad. We managed it in about two hours and just managed to miss the rain storm. We ended up hiding in the cafe at the customer centre for a couple of hours because we were not dressed for a rainstorm.
Thankfully by the time we headed to Kata Tjuta, the rain had basically stopped and we got to go and do the walks up there. There's a couple of different walks around Kata Tjuta which weren't accessible to those that might struggle with rockier paths and hills. My brother and I ditched the parents for a couple of hours and ran around the tracks as fast as we could. The first was a small walk straight through a gorge.
The second walk was definitely more interesting. It was about 5.5km which we smashed out in an hour. There are two different lookout points you can get to, so of course I had to see both. The second lookout point took some serious hill climbing and rock scrambling to get to, but when I tell you my mouth dropped when I got to the top of the hill and looked out at that view - it was worth it.
We tried to watch the sunset at Uluru that day as well, but the clouds slightly destroyed it. As we were driving out though, we managed to take a couple of good photos with Kata Tjuta in the background instead.
The last morning before we drove home - sunrise time. My mum and brother are definitely not morning people. Never have been. My dad and I however, up at 4.30am to get to Uluru and watch the sunrise over it. The saying you can sleep when you're dead definitely applies to these once in a lifetime chances. It had been cloudy most days since arriving to Alice Springs, but luck was on our side because that mornings sunrise had not a cloud in the sky. I don't think I've seen anything quiet as beautiful as the sky slowly changing colours, along with Uluru and Kata Tjuta.
I don't even know in the end how to describe Uluru. It was magical, beautiful, adventurous, peaceful. It was a safe space for a few days. It was a place away from phone signals and television. A place to reconnect to the earth and the legends that surround the area. A place to enjoy what is right in front of you. This is one that I'm so glad I've ticked off of the bucket list.
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