amtraveler

Okay here is the deal. I'm overwhelmed with what tour to take and when. We arrive in Australia in two week and so far I don't have much planned. I have many ideas of what we can do but not sure the best way to do it all. We will be in Sydney for 3 days (I think I have that part covered except for the Blue Mountain day trip tour I'm not sure who to go with), then in Port Douglas for 3 1/2 days (still need to find a Daintree day tour and maybe a Kuranda tour) and then Alice Springs for 2 days before heading back to Sydney. My real concern is the Alice/Uluru tour part. They are all so expensive and I'm thinking we should just rent a car and do it on our own. If we do the Red Centre in a day we could drive back after sunset. I know this is not ideal, but is it possible? I would love any and all suggestions--even on other parts of the trip. Thanks!

ALF

I don't know how much you would be paying for a Blue Mtns tour, but you might want to consider hiring a car and doing that yourself too. If you really want to save money, you can take an Intercity train that drops you off at Katoomba, where you could easily spend the day visiting Echo Point, Three Sisters, the Scenic Railway, etc.
Alternatively, check out the Blue Mountains Explorer Bus, that takes you to most of the best stops in the Blue Mtns. Here is a good reference; http://www.infobluemountains.net.au

I also would not get a Kuranda tour. All you need to do is purchase a one-way ticket on the Skyrail and one-way ticket on the Railway, and you can walk around Kuranda (which is small) yourself. If you need transpo to the Skyrail or Railway, you can do that by shuttle or taxi.

You should do a Daintree tour, and what you want to do depends on who you should go with. Do you want to do a lot of walking or not? Are you interested in viewing a lot of wildlife or not?

You also would save considerable expense by just driving from Alice to Uluru/Kata Tjuta yourself. I would not do that in one day, as it is a long drive. One thing to consider would be adding Watarrka Natnl Park to your trip, on the way (well, sort of) to Uluru. There are free ranger-guided walks along the base of Uluru, as well as commercial guided walks. You can also easily visit Kata Tjuta if you have your own car. Accommodations are all expensive in the adjoining resort village or Yulara, but some of the less-expensive stays can be had in cozy cabins located in the campground.

fuzzylogic

"If we do the Red Centre in a day we could drive back after sunset".

Are you serious?

It is a long way. I've never been stupid enough to drive it myself and hope to get anything out of the visit.

If that's all the time you have - take a tour - there are cheap and cheerful one day ones. You won't get anything like the experience of being there with time to really soak it in. But if that's the way you travel, then that's the way you travel. No point in my saying your itinerary deserves a lot longer. That would be a total waste of breath.

dave_261

FWIW, we did a 1-day self drive from Sydney to the Blue Mountains in January. It was considerably cheaper than the tours, and we were able to follow our own schedule.
To plan our day, we picked up brochures for the day tours, reviewed their itineraries, and picked the attractions that looked best to us.
Highlight of the day was relaxing in Glenbrook National park at the end of the day where there were dozens of kangaroos relaxing in the fields. We just sat and watched them as they ate dinner. We were pretty much alone, as the tour groups had departed on their way back to Sydney.

Another plus was that since we had the car, we were able to stop in Little Italy (directly on the route back to Sydney, about 10 minutes from the city), and didn't have to pay for a cab.

Mucky

I second the rail route method to Blue Mountains, it's hastle free, trains are airconditioned and reasonably priced.

Alan has loads of advice here about Blue Mountains if I were you I would do a search for 'Blue moutains' and 'Alan' I'm sure he won't mind my recomendation !

Good luck
Muck

amtraveler

Thanks everyone for the great advise. I was thinking we could take the trains to BM and do it ourselves but I wasn't sure if we would be missing anything by not doing the day tours. That's the thing--you think you can do all of this siteseeing without the extra charge of a "tour" but you want to choose the right way to do it all. I will take your advise and give it a go by train and on our own.

Fuzzylogic--I need a helpful kind spirited person not a critic. I realize this is not the ideal schedule. I had read in a well respected travel book that we would be able to do the Red Centre in a day. Now I know it is not like it was presented. It will be challenging but I can't change the air travel. I do think it will be a long day, so I'm trying to make the most out of it and I wanted to get tour suggestions.

prue

One of the real hazards you would face driving after sunset in the Centre is the amount of wildlife on the roads - kangaroos etc. which do untold damage to you and your vehicle if you happen to hit them and it is sometimes very difficult not to. I would certainly re-think that part of your itinerary.

Orlando_Vic

Prue is absolutely right! Don't even consider driving from Uluru to Alice Springs at night.

This is very harsh territory and it is dangerous because of the risk of striking a kangaroo crossing the road. During the daytime, you will see several dead carcases of animals who were hit by motor vehicles. There would be significant damage to your car, should this happen.

pat_woolford

Prue and Orlando are absolutely right. Most rental vehicles are not equipped with bull bars and there are bigger things you could hit than a kangaroo, such as feral pigs and camels. Check your insurance, usually hitting an animal is considered as a single vehicle accident, but there's exceptions.

fuzzylogic

Well amtraveller - my post wasn't meant to be critical - just telling it like it is. If that is all the time you have - get someone else to do the driving. I don't know where you are looking for info about one day trips to Uluru - sure they are all "expensive" but it's a long way.

What sort of prices have you been quoted?

amtraveler

Hi All,

I was out for a few days (work is interfering with my vacation planning--lol) and unable to check the message board but pleasantly surprise to see all the replies. I really appreciate the help. We'll do the BM train and explorer bus instead of the organized tour from Sydney. We'll also give the Kuranda trip a go on our own. I'll check into a Daintree day tour.
As for the Alice/Red Centre dilemma--I'll tell you I actually got the idea of driving back to the Alice after sunset on someone else's post. The writer said they watch the sunset over Ayers Rock and then got in their car and followed other tours buses back to Alice in a caravan like drive. Crazy--I agree but I thought possibly doable?! Anyways we won't chance it.

Fuzzylogic--not a prob.--I was quoted anywhere from $300-$500 per person for a day tour! So with this AU trip already costing me my unborn child (lol)--I didn't think the tour would be feasible. BYW--I'm not even pregnant!

We have a classic dilemma of wanting to do it all with little time and very little money and even less know how! Our flight gets into Alice Springs at 2pm on June 3rd and leaves at 12:30 pm on June 5th. We wanted to check out the Alice (maybe even see Western MacDonnell Ranges) with some shopping around town for a day and then the Red Centre for a day. We have a cheap hotel in Alice Springs so we were hoping that would be the base for day trips. Any further advice is always welcomed! Thanks

lancefan

Sounds like with strict times of arrival departure that a tour would probably not suit that much anyway - unless you did a day tour. I don't think it would be that much fun to drive 500km on a bus seeing the rock then driving 500km back in one day, but you could if you needed to. following the buses back in the dark is not such a bad idea. I used to travel through the scrub in NW NSW at night (in a very small car) and I often would get in behind a truck and let them tow me through.

couple of other options:
perhaps you should do alice on that day you arrive as 2pm arrival may not get you to uluru for sunset anyway. then get up early the next morning and drive to uluru, have a look, do katatjuta as well, sunset at the rock, stay at yalara overnight. get up early, sunrise at the rock (depending on the sunrise time) and hightail it back to alice for your 12.30pm flight. bearing in mind you'll need to be there basically by 11.430 - 11.45am.

the other option would be to head straight to uluru at 2pm, stay overnight do the rock at sunrise rather than sunset, have a look around then head back to alice. that way you could then do mcdonnel ranges that afternoon and shop on the following day before your flight.

amtraveler

Lancefan--that is exactly what I needed to hear!!! Thank you!

I leave in less than a week!!! Can't wait! Anyway other words of wisdom is from anyone is always welcome!

lancefan

Bring some warm clothes - it'll be quite cool at the rock that time of year, particularly nights.

sydney weather still very pleasant, approx 10 degrees at night 19-24 during the day, with a lot of sunshine (although supposed to rain this weekend).

amtraveler

get will do!

amtraveler

I mean "Great--will do!"