Self Drive or Tour the Red Centre
 

Hi,

I'm having trouble figuring out whether to self drive or take an organized tour. \it's my husband and I traveling in mid-November. My thought is to;

Day 1 - fly into Alice Springs, arrive around lunch time, spend the afternoon wandering around, do the Kangaroo sanctuary at sunset.

Day 2 - take a leisurely drive to Kings Canyon. (which route to take??) wander around

Day 3 - walk the rim of Kings Canyon, drive to Uluru. Do the Sounds of Silence Dinner

Day 4 - sunrise at Uluru, tour of the rock and cultural centre Fly to Cairns

Our travel agent is suggesting - "You would have to start in Ayers Rock and finish in Alice Springs as the coach service between each area works best this way. You would be on a larger bus for the airport transfer in Ayers Rock because the coach picks up everyone coming off each flight but then the tours will be smaller and offer superior touring experiences. The tours in Ayers Rock would be the same as what I mentioned below and then we would have you do the group tour in the morning to Kings Canyon before heading on to Alice Springs. These two could have larger numbers but it totally depends on the number of people booked for that day. The coach would have you arriving into Alice Springs at about 7:30pm and then the flight to Cairns wouldn’t be until around 6pm the following day so you will have time to do some touring around time before departing"

I am wondering if driving around in the coach and having to be on their schedule is worth it. I don't think I would be able to to get to the Kangaroo Sanctuary either...

Your thoughts? How difficult is the drive?

Lesley

Do your own thing - much easier to do things at your own pace and do what you want to do, not what the tour company wants you to do. Can you fit in another day in Alice and Uluru, because there is plenty to see and do. The Desert Park in Alice is excellent and there are interesting art galleries and museums. The gorges east and west of the town are beautiful but you would need to allow a day in each direction to do them justice.
There is only one bitumen road to Kings Canyon and Uluru. You can't get lost. Do not take the Mereenie Loop as it is badly maintained dirt road. There is a good roadhouse at Eridunda with accommodation, food and petrol.
The walk around Kings Canyon rim is fabulous - make sure you do it early in day as the weather will be hot, take plenty to drink and something to eat along the way and make sure you have sunscreen. It took us about three hours allowing time to look, take photos and sit and rest.
The Olgas also deserve time - the Valley of the Winds walk is another three hour walk but well worth it.
Hope you have a great time.

Three days (noon on Day 1 to noon on Day 4) is not nearly enough time to visit Alice Springs, Kings Canyon and Uluru, particularly if you are having to rely on organized tours to get you from place to place.

You only have time to visit two of these places, so you need to priortize what you want to see/do to determine which two to visit. I would also recommend you rent a car to maximize your sightseeing time.

FWIW, I have been to all three of these places and we drove from Uluru to Kings Canyon and then to Alice Springs. Having done that drive, I would probably recommend flying from Alice Springs to Uluru and skipping Kings Canyon. It's a long drive with all the same scenery--red dirt and rocks.

oh my. @longhorn55 I have heard that Kings Canyon is so beautiful... I'd love to hear from someone who has done the Mereenie Loop... Thank you @marg for your reply... I only have so much time. We are extending from two nights to three already. Hoping to get a few more replies.

Kings Canyon is nice, but it's not unique like Uluru is. While we enjoyed doing the Rim Walk at Kings Canyon, I much preferred the hikes we did around Uluru and through Kata Tjuta. Those are hikes in places like no other. That's why I suggest focusing your limited travel time there.

As for driving the Mereenie Loop--it's probably a moot point. I don't think any car rental companies allow their vehicles, even 4WD which is what you have to have for that road, to be driven there.

It's almost like asking someone to pick their favourite child. I'm a vote for Kings Canyon - close to being my favourite place on the planet.

I agree that Uluru is unique but so is the Canyon.

However, the big problem is you really can't do what you're proposing in the time constraints. You're going to struggle to do Uluru alone in under three nights in my opinion.

So sadly, I would have to say perhaps you'll have to take off Kings Canyon. Don't forget that along with Uluru there is also Kata Tjuta which really would be a big shame not to include whilst there.

I spent hours in the cultural centre alone - they have a large book/file of letters from folk who took a bit of 'the rock' with them and apparently had nothing but bad luck ever since - so they posted the bit of rock back - most giving directions to the exact spot they took it from begging them to put it back exactly from whence it came. It's funny and sad all at the same time. The letters are just a classic to read.

So I think it's better to give one place your all rather than two places half a look.

Good to see someone spending at least an extra day in this area.

Having a rental car would allow you to choose your own itinerary but the drive is long and not very interesting. If tours or buses allow you to reach all these places at reasonable times I'd let someone else deal with the stress of driving. The travel agents suggestion looks good to me although I'd want to check the timings of the coaches.

The itinerary would then be

Day 1 Arrive Uluru
Day 2 Uluru, Kata Tjuta
Day 3 Kings Canyon, travel to Alice Springs
Day 4 Alice Springs, leave 6pm to Cairns

At Uluru you should have enough time for the base walk, visit the cultural centre and see a sunset and sunrise. Nearby Kata Tjuta is worth the short trip, particularly the Valley of the Winds walk as Marg suggested.

Kings Canyon was probably my favourite spot in the area. In November expect high temps, so plan to do the walk early in the day. This is perhaps a problem with a tour group as it requires either spending the night before at Kings Canyon or a very early start from Uluru.

With nearly a full day in Alice Springs I would visit the Desert Park in the morning - check the times for the flying birds exhibition. There are several museums, galleries and souvenir shops worth checking out in the afternoon.

So glad to see you mention the Cultural Centre, Stormbird. I think it's an absolute treasure trove of interesting artefacts & information. Like you, I can easily spend an hour or more there.

Strongly suggest visitors make it your first port of call. It will do a lot to inform & enrich your experience of the area enormously.

I love your replies... Are we getting sucked in with some of the tours? Have any of you done the sounds of silence dinner? Is it worth it? $200 each??

or the Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs??

My travel agent has organized this...
Day 1 arrive in Ayers rock
Do the tour of Kata Tjuta
Sounds of Silence Dinner

Day 2 Tour of Uluru at Sunrise
Cultural Centre
Afternoon coach to Kings Canyon

OOps - I pressed the wrong key - so to continue
Sleep at Kings Canyon

Day 3 - early morning rim walk at Kings Canyon
Noon take the coach for 7 hours to Alice Springs
Arrive at Alice Springs around 7pm (too late for tour of kangaroo sanctuary)
Stay overnight there

Day 4 - Spend the morning in Alice Springs -
Afternoon flight to Cairns

I could never do a trip like that- it's terribly rushed - but each to their own.

I have to agree with Stormbird--this itinerary is much too rushed with too little time at any of the sites and too much time on a tour bus going to Kings Canyon and Alice Springs.

Also,I'd say you are getting sucked in on the tours--and I know because we got sucked into doing tours on our first visit to Uluru when we couldn't get a rental car. (We made sure to pre-book a rental car for our second visit there.)

If you do these tours, you are going to be paying a lot for things that you can do on your own if you have a rental car. For example, you can drive yourself to Kata Tjuta on Day 1 and do the Walpa Gorge Walk or the Valley of the Winds walk on your own. You can also drive yourself to the designated sunrise/sunset viewing areas at Uluru. And we opted not to do the Sounds of Silence dinner. The "do-it-yourself" BBQ dinner at the Outback Pioneer Hotel is more Australian and more fun and costs a lot less.

I think your proposals are too rushed.

I've been to Uluru twice. The first time I did a bunch of tours and a Kings Canyon trip but this was ages ago when I was young (it happened) and the dollar was better than 1.50 Aussies. Today, the costs of day trips in the Red Centre are prohibitive even with the recently favorable US-AUD exchange rate beating 1.35.

Any itinerary with "7 hour bus ride to ___" usually gets a two-word response. The first word rhymes with duck, the second is "that."

And the Sounds of Silence dinner isn't going to be "worth it" at that price unless your Russian oligarch style yacht will be docked in Cairns for your trip home to North America or wherever you're going.

Stormbird and Longhorn55 I so appreciate your input. Now I'm thinking to fly in and out of Ayers Rock. 2 nights at Uluru and one night at Kings Canyon... Rent a car while we are there and skip Alice Springs this time...

Better??

<<Rent a car while we are there>>

Check this carefully - default car rentals do not have unlimited mileage. We had a 100km/day limit on a two-night rental, which was fine because we came in at 198.