Travel to Australia

Day 16 Cairns - Alice Springs - Ayers Rock (475 Km.)

We leave Cairns towards the airport where we take a plane to the Red Center, where sand, rocks and desert are reddish. The final part of the flight allows you to see the West MacDonnell National Park from the air.

(in 210 Km.) Erldunda: After landing at Alice Springs we take the Stuart Highway southbound. In the North territory there is no speed limit and also the roads are very straight, but there are two factors that force you to drive with caution. On the one hand these roads are traveled by the so-called "Road trains", some trucks that can carry up to three trailers and a total length of up to 55 meters. As the train does not reach the north of the country, transport is carried out by road and there are many "road trains" that cross the country from North to South. Obviously advancing them is not an easy task. The other factor that forces you to pay attention is wildlife. Along the road you can see many kangaroos run over and it is because at high speeds it is impossible to avoid them.

Until you reach the Erldunda turnoff there are some attractions along the way such as the Rainbow Valley (ideal for sunset photography) and the Noel Fullerton's Camel Farm in Stuarts Well, a farm where we can take a small tour mounted on a camel or even safaris with longer routes.

(in 255 Km.) Ayers Rock: In Erldunda we take the Lasseter Highway to Ayers Rock. We are moving along this road with the hope of arriving in time to see the sunset at Uluru, the famous rock of central Australia. But about 80 kilometers before arriving we find Mount Conner, a low and flat reddish hill photographed many times by mistake when many people think that it is the still distant rock of Uluru.

Uluru: We arrived just on time to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to watch the sunset from the Sunset Viewing Area. In a few minutes the rock changes his colors as the sun sets. It passes through the intense orange, pink, brown, etc. Some tourists toast with champagne at sunset. During the few minutes that the sunset lasts the hundreds of tourists who watch it remain silent and only the hundreds of shots from the cameras are heard. It is a spectacle that impresses any visitor.

(in 10 Km.) Ayers Rock Resort: We go to this village, also called Yulara. It is a controversial settlement built on the limits of the park for tourism purposes. In it there is a hostel and some high-priced hotels. Some food and souvenir shops complete the complex. Due to the night darkness of the desert this village is an ideal place to contemplate the stars.