Welcome to the Spreadsheet Traveller. My first post is about a trip I’ve just completed – Alice Springs and Uluru. A four day whirlwind adventure. Here goes!

We completed this trip in August 2022 and this was the perfect time of year to visit this area. There are less flies, less heat and less crowds.

Day one – Travel Day

We started off flying into Alice Springs and picking up our campervan. We went with Britz [insert joke about Brits abroad] and the camper was exactly what we needed. The lady at the rental shop gave us a few helpful tips about Alice Springs which gave us a heads up on van safety and personal safety as Alice Springs has a few quirks (to put it politely). 

We decided to drive the 5hrs down to Uluru straight up and honestly the drive was a dream. Straight flat roads the whole way, thank god for cruise control! 

Top Tip: Be sure to fill up halfway at the Shell gas station (as you take the road to the right toward Uluru) as you will be running low on petrol by the time you get there and there’s no other stations in between.

We didn’t get to the campsite (BOOK in advanced! It was fully booked when we were there) until about 8pm and we were both so tired we were relieved to not have anything booked for that night. We cooked up some dinner and pretty much went straight to sleep.

Day Two – Uluru

We woke up at 6am to drive to the Sunrise Viewing Point at the National Park (about 30mins to the car park) and got there for sunrise. This is definitely worth getting up for. Other people didn’t seem to hang around either, so once the sun has risen, you’ll have the place to yourselves. 

After this, we cooked up some breakfast in the camper – we just loved that we could do this and have everything there available all the time. 

After breakfast we drove round to the Uluru Base Walk car park. This is a common spot for tourists so I’d recommend going early as coaches of people will turn up. As we were there early for the sunrise, it was empty. We walked undisturbed round the rock and saw cave paintings and the beautiful rock formations. 

As we had to get back for our helicopter ride, we only did about a quarter of the walk around the Rock. It’s about a 10km walk and it’s completely flat so it’s super easy. The heat makes it a bit harder but I really wish we had had the time to hire some bikes and cycle round.

When we got back to the carpark we found that our helicopter ride had been delayed and we probably could have walked the entire distance, so with a bit of extra time, we drove round to the other side to the Kuniya Carpark and walked a short distance to a waterhole. You’re not allowed to swim as it’s a sacred site but it was completely beautiful and had lots of trees and plants which I hadn’t expected.

At 4pm we got picked up at the campsite and headed over to the airport to do a 40 minute helicopter tour. AND OH MY GOD was it worth it. It’s a big expense for sure, but if you can fit it into your budget, holey moley it is impressive – even just being in a helicopter is cool. 

We flew around Kata Tjuta which is another sacred Aboriginal site and honestly, I prefer it to Uluru as there was more to see, then we flew around Uluru as well. It’s quick but the pilot was so knowledgeable and we learnt a lot about the area and why the ground looks the way it does etc. I would highly recommend this trip.

The evening we chilled out. There is the option to do the Field of Lights and an evening dinner with a view but these were out of our price range.

Day Three – Kata Tjuta and drive to Alice Springs

We hadn’t initially planned to do the Kata Tjuta hike but after we flew around it the day before, we just couldn’t leave without stopping by. We woke up early again and got on the road. It’s about a 45 minute drive from the Ayers Rock campground. 

The guidebooks and local signs suggest that the hike takes about 3-4 hours but we took 2hrs and 15 mins and we have a reasonable level of fitness. We weren’t walking particularly fast and we stopped to take lots of pictures. 

The hike is quite up and down but there’s only a short distance (probably a couple of hundred metres) where it burns the thigh muscles! (Grade 4, but only for a short section)

The views are incredible and actually hiking through the rock formations is just unbelievable. Unlike Uluru where you walk around it, you’re right in the middle of it here and the colours are just amazing. Make sure to fit this into your schedule.

We were hoping to do the 850m Walpa Gorge walk at this site as well but we needed to get on the road to check in to our campsite by 6pm. If you can afford an extra day – do it! Then you don’t have to rush as much.

By midday we were on the road back to Alice Springs and checked in at the Wanngardi Caravan Site. This was a great campsite with honestly shockingly clean toilet and shower facilities.

Day Four – West MacDonnell Ranges and Star Gazing

We did the standard tourist route here. We started out at Simpson’s Gap which is a beautiful spot to take some photos. The river bed is pretty much all dried up but there’s still a few pools of water. 

Then we headed up to Standley Chasm. This is Aborigini owned and operated and we paid a small entrance fee of $12 each to enter. There is a cafe with excellent scones as well as other meals. The path is really well kept to the chasm and we took some super cute pictures. I would highly recommend visiting this spot as it’s absolutely incredible – we even saw a brown snake which is particularly deadly but don’t worry it was off the beaten path. 

After this we headed to the Ellery Creek Big Hole for the afternoon. We took a picnic blanket and some lunch and chilled out in the sun trap. A lot of people came and went quickly here but I’d recommend taking a few hours to chill and enjoy the view. 

A few other blogs I’ve read that people were getting in to get their insta-worthy photos. DO NOT LET THEM FOOL YOU. This water is painfully cold. It actually hurt the bones in my feet and that was as far as I went in. Dom jumped in but once he managed to breathe again, instantly jumped out. 

After a chilled afternoon, we drove back to our campsite for some dinner before our final excursion – an astronomy tour.

The astronomy guide was incredibly knowledgeable on all things star related. You can actually stay at this location as well which we hadn’t realised before. We learnt about star navigation and the zodiac signs before viewing Saturn through the telescope. We could actually see the rings of Saturn and three of its moons. It was only $40 each and I think this was well worth the price.

Day Five – Back to Sydney

As I’m writing this, we’re waiting in the airport and our flight has been delayed back to Sydney. It seems Alice Springs wants to keep us here a little longer and honestly I don’t really mind too much. We paid $29 each to go in the Qantas lounge so we’re sorted for a few hours. 

Final Top Tip – There is so much more to do here than we had time for. We would have loved to do Kings Canyon, the Alice Springs Reptile Centre, a camel ride, the Kangaroo Sanctuary amongst other things. Next time I think we would take a week to explore the area.

Click the link below to access my Alice Springs / Uluru Spreadsheet.

Read about my next Australian Adventure plan in Darwin here.