Sarvowinner

While the price is very high, there is some justification due to remoteness, logistics etc. All the staff must be housed by Voyager.

As a comparison, the Serena lodges in the Serengeti charge USD 490 per night in high season. Their labour costs would be 10% compared to Australia. I would say the standards are of a similar quality. The buffet dinner we had the Ngorongong crater was extremely mediocre.

Drop down to a lower budget facility but I would never describe Uluru as boring. The experience is very special. I didn't climb the rock due to cultural considerations but thoroughly enjoyed my walk around the base and watching sunset and sunrise.

I would rather drop down in accommodation standards and spend the money on the Sounds of Silence desert dinner.

Kaneda - get real!

Bokhara

Kaneda ... "silly ignorant people" make insulting & uninformed remarks about other people's culture, religious beliefs and sacred places.

mlgb

Kaneda has posted "Like hundreds of thousands of English people (as opposed to British people) each year I didn't like what was happening to my country so left and now live in rural France."

Enough said.

margo_oz

We stayed at the Pioneer Hotel some years back, for aunt's 80th birthday, and it was fine. Pretty basic, cement block walls, but clean, good bedding, aircon. Stay and pay for Sails if you can afford it - otherwise go a bit down market. It's worth the trip.

kaneda

Bokhara. If people are gullible enough to believe in things like religions and superstitions which are all without any evidence or truths, should we humour them? If someone is convinced that they are have a six foot invisible rabbit as a friend, am I offending them when I say that they do not?

Ignorance and superstition have only survived into the 21st century because people are afraid of facing reality.

kaneda

mlgb. Ex-PM Tony B-liar divided Britain up into it's former 4 countries with all countries but England (which he hates) getting their own parliament. I come from England.

Maybe 600,000 immigrants enter Britain every year and almost all get British passports without any kind of checks. Many have little or no interest in Britain and are solely there as economic migrants. Some actively hate the country with 1 in 4 muslims supporting terrorists (official survey). I have no intention of being lumped in with them.

I have spent 34 years travelling the world so am not bothered what country I live in now.

pat_woolford

don't leap to ridiculous conclusions, kaneda, I had utterly nothing to do with having yours or anyone else's posts censored. In fact, I did see your post accusing me of being a tree hugger, but it and ensuing posts were deleted by Fodors before I had a chance to reply. As this probably will be.

And don't accuse me of being PC - to me a good definition is "political correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority rapidly promoted by an unscrupulous media, which holds forth the proposition that is is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end".

You insulted the Mutitjulu Aboriginal people who, who God knows, have enough trouble on their own doorstep right now and that's why I objected to your post. Political correctness or "tree hugging" doesn't come into it.

LizzyF

Kaneda we could equally say to you that you all got the politicians that you deserved in England. It was Enoch Powell who told you all way back when what was going to happen but you went along your merry way and now you have what you obviously wanted. I note that you now live in rural France - a country who has far more Islamic followers than does the UK but you don't seem to mind them for some reason - perhaps it is not Muslims that you fear but change itself - it is a pity that travel did not broaden your mind but obviously had the effect of making you bitter and twisted.
As far as religions, faiths, Harvey the Rabbit or any other beliefs that people may wish to have I personally do not see the difference between those beliefs or that of yours in believing in the persecution of the "English" people by outsiders. Everyone is allowed to believe in what they want to - and that includes all races, faiths and white rabbits.

ALF

Mutijulu? I thought it was Anangu.

(Not-so-transparent attempt to reurn the thread to Uluru/Kata Tjuta)

ms_go

We stayed at Sails just a few days ago, but only because I found an off-season rate of A$285 for a triple room. At regular rates, we would have stayed elsewhere. It is not 5* luxury, but the accommodations were generally fine. The room was spacious, beds comfortable, bath pretty nice, and we had a private terrace.

The real issue was service. As noted above, they have to bring in staff. While most of the staff members (almost all in their early 20s) were pleasant and seemed to be trying hard, many did not seem to be well trained, and our impression was that they were significantly understaffed in most areas. But, this is not unique to Sails.

That aside, we did enjoy our two-day visit to the area and don't regret the time/expense associated with visiting there. More on this when we post our trip report later in the week (still in Melbourne, traveling home tomorrow).

pat_woolford

You're right Alf, Anangu or Pitjantjatjara are the people from the area - Mutitjulu is the name of the nearby Aboriginal community which I referred to.

ALF

Ah - thanks