Uluru in the summer - planning my first visit

[Max Samuels]

Field of Light installation is a couple of years old.... impossible to have done it 20 years ago! The drinks and nibbles package then time spent wandering under the night sky through the installation is worth doing and won’t blow the budget you mentioned you are on. Enjoy this spectacular part of the world, a one off visit for most.

Maybe Warks got is confused with "Sounds of Silence", which was around 20 years ago, and sounds like the predecessor to "Field of Lights"... which sounds like Sounds but with some fairy lights installed? In either case, one pays a premium to eat average food on the desert sand

 

[Warks]

Yeah it must have been that. All sounds the same to me as I've never been there.

 

[jastel]

Sounds was meant to be peace and quiet and stargazing, while the lights were invented a few years back by some artist for a strictly limited time...which is extended again and again...but it will close or be replaced as the lights are wearing out the tech told me.
Both were going last year.

 

[karen blancfield]

Sounds was meant to be peace and quiet and stargazing, while the lights were invented a few years back by some artist for a strictly limited time...which is extended again and again...but it will close or be replaced as the lights are wearing out the tech told me.
Both were going last year.

It’s still very peaceful and the light installation by artist Bruce Munro doesn’t detract from the opportunity to stargaze. It covers more than 7 football fields with gentle lights. You’ll only see them if you specifically go on a tour so if it’s not your thing, you have plenty of chances to be in dark skies gazing upwards. We thought it was worth seeing and as locals, have made many visits to Uluru. We are glad they weren’t removed as it provides another experience for visitors. Bruce Munro has just opened another light installation in Darwin.

 

[Warks]

The stars should be amazing out there anyway if I know the interior. The best stars I've ever seen were from Lord Howe Island though. No artificial light to cause issues.

 

[RB]

The stars should be amazing out there anyway if I know the interior. The best stars I've ever seen were from Lord Howe Island though. No artificial light to cause issues.

You need to go to Coonabarabran- we watched Halley's comet from our house. Siding Springs Observatory has an Open Day in Oct each year

 

[Franky]

You need to go to Coonabarabran- we watched Halley's comet from our house. Siding Springs Observatory has an Open Day in Oct each year

It may have been more clear to you out in the boonies than those of us who were in the cities, but I thought Halley's Comet was a bigger beat up than the Millennium fraud...

 

[Chicken]

I went my first time in June this year (and I was watching cough hitting the fan in Hong Kong in my room at Ayers Rock Resort).

These are the things I did.

camel sunset tour - it's peaceful and fun. You could substitute with driving to some quite road and watch?

I then did the SEIT Cave Hill tour. I work with indiginous people (and mostly homeless) in Sydney, and they are loud, larger than life, party starters. We met local custodians, and they were so shy, polite, quiet. They explained how they live, some of the tools they use, and some creation stories. Those stories are interesting, from thousands of years ago, but already teaching men and women how to behave, how to look for food and water, sustainable hunting etc. I cannot say too much because it's disrespectful to them, you have to go and learn from the elders, but for us non indiginous to only starting to deal with sexual harrassments in 2019, and just starting to deal with the consequences of bad farm management in the last 10 years, and they dealt with these issues thousands of years ago. People who only want to go there and take photos of everything and climb the rock (which you can't anymore) are completely missing the point. I 100% recommend doing this tour.

I did Segway tour around the rock. More interesting stories. This is expensive, so if you want to cut cost, you need a national park pass in order to go in, and that admission already include a free tour by ranger, here is your cost cutting. I recommend renting a bicycle at the 'toll gate' of the national park (yes, it's like a toll gate of a paid motorway), we noticed that we were going pass the same people (who were walking) again and again and again.

Go to Wintjiri museum inside the resort. They do various talks, all free, and you learn about the wildlife, including some sexy stores of some of the animals

I went to Kings Canyon Resort instead of what most tourists do. That was a tough walk, you may not be able to do this in the middle of 45 C summer.

I went for a 5 days + 1 extra day for flying, and I barely scratched the surface.

 

[Ekka]

It's still Ayers' Rock. It was when I went there in November 2002 and it still is, although some use a different name.

"A couple of years old" eh? Try a few decades.

"Impossible to have done it 20 years ago" eh Karen? Not at all close; we went to the field of light dinner in November 2002, and I have the dated menu and pens to prove it; Karen may think they've only just invented it, and they may have installed something new in recent times, but I can assure her that my son and I visited Ayer's Rock (sic) then and Kata Tjuta, plus we definitely had the dinner from Ayer's Rock.

Over to you, Karen- not quite 20 years ago, Karen, but damn close - and it was not impossible; all you had to do was buy a ticket.

 

[Chicken]

Field of Light installation is a couple of years old.... impossible to have done it 20 years ago!

"A couple of years old" eh? Try a few decades.

we went to the field of light dinner in November 2002

Impossible, your memory is not serving you correctly. Fielf of Light started 2016 , like 3.5 years ago. You are thinking of the Sounds of Slience dinner.

 

[karen blancfield]

It's still Ayers' Rock. It was when I went there in November 2002 and it still is, although some use a different name.

"A couple of years old" eh? Try a few decades.

"Impossible to have done it 20 years ago" eh Karen? Not at all close; we went to the field of light dinner in November 2002, and I have the dated menu and pens to prove it; Karen may think they've only just invented it, and they may have installed something new in recent times, but I can assure her that my son and I visited Ayer's Rock (sic) then and Kata Tjuta, plus we definitely had the dinner from Ayer's Rock.

Over to you, Karen- not quite 20 years ago, Karen, but damn close - and it was not impossible; all you had to do was buy a ticket.

Thanks for correcting me about my own neighbourhood You might like to google Field of Lights, the installation by British artist Bruce Munro that was set up in 2017 and will close at the end of this year. I’ve added a screen shot for you. Glad your visit to Uluru was so memorable.

 

[suze2000]

Frankly, some of the attitudes displayed in this thread are appalling. But I want to focus on Uluru.

We went just before Xmas a few years ago. It was HOT. 47C hot. We walked the gorge in the morning, attended a talk from an indigenous elder, slept away the hot part of the day and went out at sunset for the Sounds of Silence dinner, which was lovely. And the next night, at in the hotel restaurant, which was really good, without even taking the location into account. Enjoy your visit, take a walk around the base of the rock and enjoy your trip.

 

[Chicken]

There are some very good food, up there with Sydney Melbourne, including the Silence dinner, and the restaurant back at the Resort made the best skippy I ever had.

Having said that, the cafe is same prices as Sydney, and IGA supermarket is just slightly more expensive than Sydney. People need to remember the cost of road freight to the NT, and extra again to Uluru. Road freight to Uluru is not the same as a line haul going up and down BNE SYD MEL ADL every night.

You can easily buy bread from IGA and eat bread daily, no problem at all.

Rent your car as you leave Uluru, you don't need it within Ayers Rock Resort. Cheapest is to book the car via Ayers Rock Resort with gives you unlimited km. Book yourself and you get something stupid like 100km per day.

You may want to pick up the car at the resort. I made the mistake of booking car for airport pick up. The shuttle bus between airport and resort only operates when a flight is coming into airport, so example, if you book a car for airport pick up at 12:00 and there is no commercial flight landing at 12:00, then you have no way of going from the Resort to the airport, other than paying $75 per person for a taxi / limo transfer. I learnt the hard way.

 

[Franky]

Noticed on Luxury Escapes emails received recently that Uluru is now being promoted every couple of days.

 

[karen blancfield]

So my free Amex flight expires soon and I looked up where I could fly with it. Surprised to see AYQ as an option (Uluru the rock formerly known as Ayers, which was formerly known as Uluru). Got me thinking about a trip out there. Too hot for Mrs Warks so I asked Thing 2 (F19) if she wanted to come. Of course! With uni over for the year and not having to pay for it. Booked her ticket with points (expensive on points but that's what they are for) and booked my free flight. Planning on the cheapest trip I can manage having just returned from nearly a month in the US which has drained the budget a little - gotta love a 65 cent dollar. So it's a camping trip which should be a dream in 35-40 degree heat... Most expensive campground I've seen at $40 a night for an unpowered site but they have a deal to stay 3 nights and pay for 2 which brings it down a bit. Also I managed to get ahead of the increase in price for the National Park. Going up from $25 for a 3 day pass to $38 (I think) from the end of the month. But I booked it online for next month and paid the lower price.

So I'm going to try and minimise the cost of this one while making it enjoyable. Hired a car through the airline which was about 30% cheaper than the online sales too, not sure why. Usually about the same or more when I travel to capital cities. We'll be self-catering too. I will take some food but there's apparently an IGA in the village resort which is surprisingly reasonable they say.

With the frenzy of people wanting to climb the Rock now gone it should be a bit quieter, not to mention the hot weather putting people off. Should be fun!

Have you been to Uluru yet? Just thinking how hot it is currently .......hope you don’t strike a run of 40+ days.

 

[stm1sydney]

Noticed on Luxury Escapes emails received recently that Uluru is now being promoted every couple of days.

The resort will be really struggling for occupancy since the Rock closed to climbers. And it is off-season of course.

 

[karen blancfield]

The resort will be really struggling for occupancy since the Rock closed to climbers. And it is off-season of course.

Prices still very high at the top resort next week. Not much fun visiting in our current temperatures.....the closing of the climb is old news now after all the hype and predictions of doom.

 

[suze2000]

I almost booked a trip for MrSuze and I that would have coincided with the redneck crush to "exercise our right" to climb "Ayres Rock". I'm really glad we decided to put it off for six months or so. We want to see the field of light and also do all the things we couldn't do last time because of the extreme heat.

 

[Warks]

Sorry not to get back to you but life gets in the way and there have been bigger events in Australia than my trip to Uluru! Someone's trip to Hawaii maybe...

Anyway it was hot, damn hot, as expected but we got out early and back to the campsite by the middle of the day each time spending the entire afternoon in the pool. Or next to it. Camping at this time of year is so NOT recommended. So hot at night and nowhere to go apart from the pool during the day. Pool closes at about 730pm. Would have stayed in it all night I think. Flies were not bad. Had nets but didn't use them. Occasional sticky fly but I've been out bush when the flies were going in one orifice and coming out another so this was no hardship.

We walked around Uluru and did all the side tracks. All the way round we were looking for where the track up was. It was only when we reached the end (the start) that we saw it (it was dark when we started). Crikey! How steep is it? Looks like hands and knees to get up. I wouldn't have done it at this time of year even if it were still open, it was so hot. Was hitting 40C by 930 each day and peaking at 46C. Even lying around in the pool the wind was so hot and drying you had to dunk your head every ten minutes. But back to the walk. The view everyone knows is just one end of the rock. Everyone lines up in the evening at the big sunset car park to take photos and this is what you know. But the rock is hardly ever that red colour it's famous for. It's a sort of cocoa powder brown most of the day. It's fun to see how many different shades you can get but the classic red was only on sunset. Got a lovely yellowy shot when the dust storm came up one morning though.

We were about halfway around admiring all the amazing honeycombed rock formations when a group on Segways passed us in the other direction. The looks on their faces! We both burst out laughing after they left. I dunno what it is but there's something funny about a string of people trying to ride those things. They kind of looked embarrassed really, especially after their guide said something like "okay let's Seg away..."

Gotta go have dinner. Will finish this rambling diatribe in another post, hopefully tonight.

 

[Chicken]

Camping at this time of year is so NOT recommended

So did you camp? Or you got a room at Ayers Rock Resort? How did you sleep?

We were about halfway around admiring all the amazing honeycombed rock formations when a group on Segways passed us in the other direction. The looks on their faces! We both burst out laughing after they left. I dunno what it is but there's something funny about a string of people trying to ride those things.

That's what I did. Now I really want to see the faces you saw ...