Monday April 27 2009

Uluru has long been on my list of places to visit, but until recently it never quite made it to the top. I thought The Rock could wait, but if I’d realised what else was out there – gorges, canyons, a massive meteorite crater (Gosse Bluff), and swimming holes – I would have gone much sooner.

You could see the Red Centre’s major sights (Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon) out the window of a tour bus, but I recommend taking a five-day road trip from Alice Springs to Uluru instead. Conveniently for a self-drive holiday, there’s no backtracking. Just fly to Alice Springs, rent a four-wheel drive and drop it off at the airport on your way out. Oh, and don’t forget your bathers. (Don’t worry: there are no crocodiles this far inland.)

DAY 1 ALICE SPRINGS
Last year, Alice recorded its wettest November in 135 years. The town is still lush, so our first real sighting of the crimson hue that gives the Red Centre its name is on the craggy rockfaces of the East and West Macs – as locals call the MacDonnell Ranges – which rise up behind Alice as if they’d been bulldozed there. It’s a colour that makes the sky seem bluer and the spinifex greener.

At the base of the ranges sits Alice Springs Desert Park. A traipse through its impressive woodland, desert rivers and sand country habitats opens my eyes to the fact that we’ll find much more than red dust and road kill between here and Uluru.

DAY 2 ALICE SPRINGS TO GLEN HELEN GORGE
Today’s 130km trip along Namatjira Drive is broken up with uniquely picturesque stops. First up, Standley Chasm, and a hike through river gums to a tall-walled cleft in the West MacDonnell ranges. Forty kilometres on, we stop at Ellery Creek Big Hole, a waterhole fringed by a white-sand beach and sheer cliffs. Swimming here, I feel chill currents from deep below – a refreshing antidote to the 30ºC-plus heat. Next stop, the Ochre Pits, a low escarpment of pretty red, purple, orange and white-striped rock.

Just a little way down the road is the oasis of Ormiston Gorge. Standing in silence among the ghost gums, it seems I’ve stepped into a landscape painted by local Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira. The day ends at Glen Helen Resort, where rudimentary accommodation is forgiven due to the beauty of Glen Helen Gorge itself, and the hotel restaurant’s excellent kangaroo and crocodile spring rolls.

DAY 3 GLEN HELEN GORGE TO KINGS CANYON
Dawn sees Glen Helen Resort manager Colin O’Brien take us on a four-wheel drive adventure up a dry creek bed to secluded Roma Gorge, where the rockface is scored with ancient Aboriginal petroglyphs. It’s a calming start to an otherwise bone-shaking day, thanks to 93km worth of corrugated dirt on the Mereenie Loop. Nevertheless, it’s a fun drive, and on the day we took it, our progress was halted momentarily when an errant band of brumbies stood nonchalantly on the road.

Once back on bitumen, Kings Canyon looms grandly ahead of us. We get out to stretch our legs and end up climbing this dramatic feature of Watarrka National Park. After a lung-busting ascent, the Kings Canyon Rim Walk is a vertiginous six-kilometre amble through the prehistoric sandstone domes of the Lost City down to a lush, cycad-covered valley known as the Garden of Eden.

DAY 4 KINGS CANYON TO AYERS ROCK RESORT
After yesterday’s excitement, a 3.5-hour drive on sealed roads to the Ayers Rock precinct in Yulara is welcome. Excitement builds in anticipation of seeing the real, rather than the postcard, Uluru. After a premature hurrah when Mt Conner pops up on the horizon, the authentic rock does not disappoint. Neither does Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), whose lumpy curves beckon us to embark on a two-kilometre hike between its domes. Walking in full sun across a crust of hard, lava-like rock makes this an other-worldly experience.

DAY 5 ULURU
The sun is not yet up, but I am setting out on a 9.4km constitutional around our country’s most-recognisable landmark with Discovery Ecotours (www.discoveryecotours.com.au). As the first rays colour its flank, I realise Uluru is bigger and more beautiful than I’d expected. Even if it were the only thing to see in the Red Centre, it would be reason enough to book your flight now.

Local knowledge
 Climate “Everyone thinks the Red Centre is hot, but that’s only three months of the year,” says Domonique Lehmann of Tourism NT. “The rest of the time the weather is gorgeous – or cold!”

When to go “Spring, for the wildflowers,” says Domonique. “Or May. There aren’t many tourists then, so you can always get accommodation.” H&G went in early March, and we had most of the route to ourselves.

 Flora & fauna One of the surprising aspects of the journey is the abundance of plants and wildlife. “I want people to know that there is life in the desert, and that it’s worth preserving,” says Gary Dinham, Curator of Botany at Alice Springs Desert Park.