lavici

would the ride thru the outback be worth the trip from adelaide to alice springs by the ghan train? will i be able to catch a bus or a bus tour at the train station on to uluru? is it easy to move around uluru7 olgas etc without a car? thanks...janine

marg

Re Uluru - all accommodation is situated at Yulara which is about 10 km from Uluru or Kata Juta. Hiring a car would be my recommendation as you can sightsee at your leisure. Otherwise you could get a coach tour out of Alice Springs. If you have time, Kings Canyon is well worth visiting.
Yulara and Uluru are about 400 km from Alice Springs.

afterall

You have a choice - hire a car (not economic for one) or join a tour.

Personally I wouldn't go for car hire even if there are two of you. Why? Will you know what you are looking at? NO. Will you spot that lizard or be able to identify that bird? NO.

So take a tour. There aren't any I know of that pick up from the airport, but if you arrive early you could be in town by taxi in time to join a tour that leaves at midday.

www.waywardbus.com.au


And yes, I think the Ghan is worth doing.

lavici

hi my wonderful aussie fiends... i think i better catch a bus because i am traveling solo ˇyay! and besides i don't want to look at the lizard, the bird, the walla walla and also try to keep myself on the aussie side of the road...
(LOL)
afterall i was planning: melbourne to adelaide by 'the overlander' and either/or take 'the ghan' up to alice springs take a look at uluru etc or the 'indian pacific' to sydney. bokhara tells me to stop in broken hill if i travel the ip adelaide-sydney on a wednesday. it all depends on when i get my visa stamped and returned so i'll either do the ghan-uluru before or after my 7-10thmay conference in sydney. i'm assuming that may in uluru won't be too cold as it's up north.i'll check the timetables to see at what time does the train arrive in time for a tour and 400 kms is about 3.5 hours? i guess the tour includes sleeping accomodations?

you guys think also that maybe buying a pass for all the railways a $509 is worth it if i plan to do all that train traveling around the ozzie southeast circle/ triangle. trains are sooo agatha christie for me... then i could take a plane from alice springs to sydney or melbourne before finally returning home:'( janine

lavici

afterall is this the tour?
http://www.waywardbus.com.au/two-night-ayers-rock-tour/ sounds pretty cool... jj

afterall

Yes it is.

But I'm confused about what you really want to do, and how much time you have to do in it.

lavici

well,afterall my time thankfully for this trip is pretty flexible, so i was thinking of going:

a) hobart-sydney and from sydney after my conference, directly to uluru by air the plane arrives @ 11.20 am ( if it's may it won't be too hot i guess?) and join the tour from there with wayward, then go back with them to alice springs and take the ghan down to adelaide for 3 days and overlander to melbourne for 4 or 5 days.

b) or vice versa: hobart- melbourne (4 or 5 days)-adelaide on the overlander,( 2 or 3 days)- catch the ghan up to alice springs go with wayward to yulara and back and fly to sydney.
what do you think? i'd buy the explorer pass from GSR and pay AUD $609 for all my up and down train traveling... jjj

afterall

Both sound good. Really nothing to choose between them except maybe whether cheap seats are available on the days you want to fly.

The only other thing I can think of is the weather. And nobody can tell for certain how that will be.

But I think I'd go for (b). Be in the south at the end of summer; be in Uluru as close to winter as you can.

Sydney is beautiful anytime of year.
It only gets cold really in July. Having said that, you could be unlucky and strike a rainy patch. Who knows?

Can't help on the good and bad of train passes as have never used one.

simpsonc510

Can't comment on the passes or your itineraries, although both sound nice...

I've traveled the Ghan (Adelaide to Alice), the Indian Pacific (Syd to Perth) as well as the Overlander (Mel to Adelaide, I think it was). All were very pleasant, IMO. I'd ride them again in a heartbeat.. but I ENJOY train travel.

therenaissanceman

We took the Ghan train from Adelaide to Alice Springs a few years ago. It is not cheap, and, in my opinion, not worth the price. There is nothing to see except the bleak outback, the sleeping accommodations are small and the bathroom is tiny. The food was good, however. You can probably fly at the same price and get there faster.
I like train travel too, but when there is something to see.

afterall

But renaissanceman - the point sometimes is just to do it because it's there. Now who said that? Can't remember.

It's an adventure. That's all. Some people like the buzz and it appeals more that making what is techinally the "best use of their time".

Lavici. I'm really not sure about the rail pass. But if you want to do the Ghan and don't mind having just a seat, then it would be worth your while to join the YHA - you get backpacker discount and it's worth having.

lavici

hi guys... sorry i've been "out" now i'm back. yes to b)as in uluru closest to the winter time as possible- i've read about the flies and uuugghh i'm really soooo totally grossed out by the idea am i being to silly? so if i overcome my grossing out by he flies, i will sleep under the stars in a wag?
and yes, i found the cheap seats on qantas to fly to or fro, and i found out that the rail pass for foreigners like moi is $AUD 609 for all that train traveling during 6 months, if i get a yha it's $509. it's more expensive than the plane, but i read somewhere that because of the emptiness and the vastness of space in OZ the ghan has been considered the 2nd best train ride in the world. but you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so,
reanissance man, i know what you mean but just enjoy like simpsonc510 riding a train, it's soooo totally exotic to me, soooo relaxing, and specially through the outback because of the nothingness becoming something. it's the vastness of the desert space... i would say that i imagine it as being almost zen-like
i'm not expecting beautiful swiss scenery at all, just something different, and i do have the time. thank you all, promise when i come back north of the equator in caracas after all i'll write my journal and let you know afterall ... janine

afterall

Well there you go - save $100 if you are a YHA member. Cost of membership is less than the difference = money saved.

lavici - I've been to the centre twice (January and July) and have never been bothered by flies.

Fly prevalance depends to some extent, I think, on climate - so every year is different and maybe I just got lucky.

And:

"i will sleep under the stars in a wag?"

Don't understand the question mark, but if that's the plan, then it's a great one. Do it .. sleep under the stars in a swag. You'll never forget it.

lavici

my question mark was for the wag's spelling, which i wasn't sure and see? my intuition proved correct. so i will sleep under the stars in yulara inside a swag
and later in the year i will do so in my own 'ulurus' up here,the oldest geological formations in S.A. called tepuis(table in yanomami) which are in the same mystical/sacred frequency as yulara to our own native tribes; they're the best guides to climb up, it takes 6 days to reach the top @ 2.700mts and back. roraima tepui's top is called 'the valley of crystals' because of all the quartz cristals covering the ground:
http://www.geocities.com/rutagransabana/024.jpg
and, our auyantepui is the home of the angel fall the highest @926mts on the planet & called by our tribes churún merú.
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/fotos/tur...as_t/salto.jpg
many thanks and i hope you like our own ulurus janine