Sydney/Ayer's Rock/GBR- 4 days each okay?
 

Hey everyone,
I'm extremely excited to be planning my first trip to Australia in March! I've read a couple of books on Australia and still feel overwhelmed. So much to see and do! I think I've finally narrowed down my trip to Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef and Alice Springs/Ayer's Rock. Considering we only have two weeks, I've thought of allocating about 4 days per destination. My husband and I are very active so we're really looking forward to the GBR and Alice Springs. Sydney seems like a wonderful city and a good central point. Any opinions on whether I've divied up my limited time well? Also, any fun/active "must do's" in these areas are much appreciated. Thanks so much!

How many nights do you plan to spend in Alice and how many at Uluru? Also, how do you plan to travel between the two places? You won't need to spend more than 2 nights at Uluru.

I hadn't really determined that, to be honest. Do you think two days in Uluru and two days in Alice are okay? Are they easy to get to each other? The books I've read recommend renting a car since I don't want to go with a tour group... Thanks for your help.

Hi tata,
In my opinion, I think you've chosen pretty well - a city, the outback and the beautiful reef.

Two nights should do it for you in Uluru. Realistically you need to see a sunrise and a sunset plus visit Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) as well.

You should only need one day and one night in the Alice but the extra day you could spend as a day trip out of Alice to see Stanley Chasm - 30klms west of Alice Springs and perhaps Ormiston Gorge - 135klms west of Alice Springs both in the West MacDonnell Ranges. The Ormiston Pound is a beautiful walk.

Thanks for your tips! I have tentatively booked a hotel at Alice Springs Resort. Should I stay the night at Ayer's rock instead? I'm not sure which would be best. We'd be flying in from Sydney.

thanks!

Did you book the hotel in Alice Springs for all 4 nights? If so, you're going to miss out on Uluru. It's somthing like 450 km from Alice Springs to Uluru, so this would not be a feasible day trip. You'll need to decide what you want to see and do at Uluru (hikes, guided walks, go to the Olgas (Kata Tjuta), sunrise, sunset, Sounds of Silence, etc.) and plan your time there accordingly.

Hi Tata,

I think you've got it about right too. It's how to spend that 4 days in the Centre.

As Longhorn says, you cannot really see Uluru if you stay in Alice Springs. Well, actually you can if you really want to. There are day trips!! Never done one - it's not the way to do it, honest.

Are you flying into Uluru (Yulara) or Alice Springs? Can you do an open jaw?

That would be ideal. And 4 what it's worth the Centre is not a place where hiring your own car pays off.

If you do hire one, where will you go? Answer - the same places the tours go. Because you don't have the knowledge to go anywhere else.

Will you be able to use tracks across private land? NO. And you'll have to do all that driving!!

Much better to take a tour with a guide who will be able to help you see what you couldn't see for yourselves. Because it is a strange and wonderful landscape and you need experienced eyes to see the creatures that live there.

Then there's the flora, and the stories and necessary context provided by local guides.

If it were me, I would try and fly into Uluru late afternoon. See the Rock under your own steam at sunset. Then link up with a tour next day that will take you there in the morning and to the Olgas, and maybe Kings Canyon too, depositing you in Alice at the end of day 2. You then have a whole day to do something where a car is a good idea, like taking a drive along the West Macs to check out some of the glorious swimming holes, and walk a bit.

Or alternatively spend the day in Alice. Plenty to do - Flying Doctor HQ, School of the Air, the old Telegraph Station, which is why the town is there in the first place, and the wonderful Alice Springs Desert Park.

Fly out to Cairns or Sydney.

If the flights fit, of course.

Happy travels.

Thanks for the tips! I'm glad I have not booked my intercity flights yet! I was anticipating flying in from Sydney to Alice Springs and staying there 3 nights. I'm not doing that now that you've all recommended against it. Here's my trip itinerary for late March/early April if you all would be so kind as to critique it:

Sydney - 3 days Sydney + 1 day in the Blue Mountains + 1 day back in Sydney where we'd take a late afternoon flight to Uluru.

Uluru - Stay 2 nights. (Do you recommend any particular tour groups in Uluru?) Leave early that 3rd morning to Alice.

Alice - Stay 1 night. Fly out the next morning to Cairns.

Cairns - Spend 4 days checking out the Great Barrier Reef, snorkeling, etc, etc. (I've heard some back and forth about whether Cairns is the best place to start my GBR adventure. Any suggestions?)

Fly back to Sydney on the last evening. Stay the night there and leave the next morning back to the US.

I appreciate your feedback and suggestions!

I'd recommend looking at the Qantas site re: timing for flights to/from the red center. When we did a similar trip earlier this year, I found we had to work around limited flights. For example, I just took a quick look at a few days in March and noticed that there are no late afternoon flights from Sydney to Ayer's Rock or morning flights from Alice Springs to Cairns. Unless something has changed since June, Qantas is really the only option.

By the way, we had similar itinerary (plus Melbourne) and had a fabulous time. Trip report here in case it's helpful:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35028342

I'm not a fan of organized tours, so my recommendation would be to rent a car at Uluru and do it and Kata Tjuta on your own. (We've done it both ways at Uluru/Kata Tjuta--tour and self-drive--and found the tour to be pretty expensive and limiting.) If you would like some explanation of Uluru, you can visit the Cultural Center and/or go on one of the free ranger-guided walks at 8 am. The following website gives lots of good info about Uluru and Kata Tjuta
http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/uluru/
As for your trip to the GBR, you'll fly into Cairns, but I would suggest staying in Port Douglas which is about 1 hour north of Cairns. It's a quiet town with good restaurants, a wide choice of accomodations and a great beach! Lots of snorkel and dive boats are based here for trips out to the Reef.

Ay yay yay! So many things to know! :) Ms Go - your trip report and pictures were fantastic! It sounded like an amazing trip with your family. I loved reading it- thanks for sharing.

Longhorn - I'm looking into Port Douglas, thanks for the tip. And I will now visit the cultural center and talk to a ranger if I have questions on the history of Uluru.

I've decided to cut my stay in the red centre and do two days in Uluru. I'll either extend my GBR part of the trip or possibly try to fit in Darwin for a couple of days.

I wish I was going to be there for longer... sigh...

Glad you are getting yourself organised, Tata, but don't even think of trying to fit in a couple of days in Darwin.

Absolutely no point to that at all.
You'll lose most of a day going, and most of a day coming back.

And nobody goes to Darwin to see Darwin - it's a great place for a wander if you have time to spare. But that is not how you are travelling is it? You don't have days to spare. So going to Darwin without the time to visit Kakadu is about as mad as it gets.

So stick with plan A. Go to the centre. Longhorn may not be a fan of organised trips, and neither am I. But you need to know when to put that prejudice aside and fit mode of travel to the situation at the time.

Now if you were coming to Australia for a month, or two, or three - everything would be different.

But you are not.

Thanks, Chimani. I actually looked into it last night with my husband and it seemed like we were trying to fit in too much with Darwin. So, Darwin is out. Thanks again!