#Australia #RedCentre #Vacation #Uluru #FieldofLights #KataTjuta 

We just completed/survived our 5 day adventure in the Australia outback. Ok it wasn’t bad at all. The weather was actually pleasant compared to what summer brings.
Highlights: We spent the first 2 days in Yulara to see Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park. The city of Yulara mainly consists of the Ayer’s Rock Resort which has 5 different places to stay with varying accommodations.  
The highlight of this first day in Yulara was the Uluru Field of lights. On this tour you watch sunset over Uluru while enjoying beer, champagne and canapés (I did not enjoy the beetroot and prosciutto canapés). As the sun begins to set the field lights up with 50000 glass spheres. This is an amazing experience and the pictures don’t quite do it justice.  

The second day got us up early to catch the sunrise at Kata Tjuta about 45 minutes away from the resort. From to lookout spot we could see sunrise over Uluru as well as Kata Tjuta. Tip – try to get here at least 30 mins before sunrise to beat the tour. We then went to hike the Valley of the Winds trails to Karu and Karingana lookouts and then hiked the Walpa Gorge. Beautiful scenery at both locations with only a few groups on the trails. The hikes were challenging but views were worth it.  

That afternoon we decided to take a visit to the Uluru Camel farm. If you plan ahead you can take camel rides at sunrise or sunset. This was not something I originally had thought about doing and by the time we got here they were booked. We didn’t let this chance go to waste and instead took a quick ride around the park on Cooper the lead camel.   

The next day was mainly set aside to drive from Ayer’s Rock Resort to Alice Springs traveling the red centre way. Armed with a full tank of gas, water and snacks we set out on the long journey. This is a long drive on 2 roads with little to see and few places to stop. You spend most of the time watching the sides of the road closely to make sure wildlife (kangaroos, camels and cattle) don’t get too close. Apparently that is where the grass and shrubs are the greenest. 
The main reason for traveling to Alice Springs was to visit The Kangaroo Sanctuary (details in previous post), but we had some extra time to get out and see some of the scenery. Big draws to Alice are the Desert Garden and the Telegraph Station. We instead decided to take a short drive to hike some shorter trails on the Larapinta Trail. Highlight of this hike was Simpsons Gap. We had this whole place to ourselves and it was beautiful. You can’t swim at this place and we were told they haven’t had any rain here since Feb. If you hike this around the early morning or later afternoon you may see rock wallabies.