Red Centre Questions

Off to Oz next August. Unfortunately, only 4 days have been allocated to see some of the highlights of the vast Northern territory so I need some help to maximize the time.

We get into Alice Springs from Adelaide at around noon and have the rest of the day there. The next day, I was hoping to do one of those long same day trips to Uluru. I've seen one company, Emu Run Tours. Does anyone know of any others that may be better? Here is the info on Emu Run's tour:

"Emu Run collect you from your Alice Springs accommodation at 6am, stopping at Mt Ebenezer for a light breakfast.

We arrive at Ayers Rock about midday and stop at the Visitors Centre (warmer months only). We have lunch and travel to the Olgas. Back to Ayers Rock and visit the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. We do guided walks at Ayers Rock, or you may choose to climb. (The order of this part of the itinerary may change between hotter and cooler months.)

The highlight of this great day of touring is a fabulous BBQ Champagne Dinner at Ayers Rock while watching one of our magnificent Central Australian Sunsets.

We depart for Alice Springs after sunset, arriving back into town approx midnight in cooler months and 1.00am warmer months."

Anyhow, we leave Alice Springs the day after and get into Darwin early afternoon and have the rest of the day to explore it. The next day we plan on doing a same day tour of Kakadu. The following day we fly off to Cairns.

Again, I want to stress that I am fully aware that this isn't enough time to fully appreciate this part of the country, but in my mind, some is better than none.

Another option we have is to fly directly to Uluru (via Alice Springs). This would save us the 10 hours of bus time travelling between Alice and the Rock, however we would miss Alice Springs and some of the outback scenery drive. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Das-FX
Canada

I was just in Alsice Springs and for me it isnt even woth spending a day in. I imagine the tour you found is fine. I did a 3 day with adventure tours. The drive is nice but it is the same the whole way. I would maximize you time spent at the rock and the kata-tjuta, the olgas.

I did a 5 day red centre tour with Wayoutback tours and they were fantastic! I think you can do a 3 or 4 day tour as well. It sounds quite similar to emu tours but they have 4WD and you get to go different routs that most tour buses don't get to go! I would really recommend them they were just amazing! You can either get picked up from Alice or Ayers Rock which is what i did because you get dropped off back in Alice so you wont really miss much if you start from Ayers Rock. Our guide was also a fantastic cook!

The Day trip is a killer. Adventure tours also do a two day trip. Check it out at:
www.adventuretours.com.au/index.php/travel/nt/02_day_red_centre_adventure/.

if you - for example - flew into Alice on day 1 you could leave for the Rock on day 2 and you would be back on the afternoon of day 3 then fly out again on day 4. On limited time tours are the best option. Especially in that area.

Happy Travels