Uluru
Travel Advice for Seniors: Uluru
No trip to Australia is complete without a visit to Ayer’s Rock, or Uluru. The “Red Center” sets in about the middle of the country and is hundreds of millions of years old. The indigenous peoples see Uluru as a living creature that emits energy and s deeply sacred to them. Legend is Uluru rose from the site of a battle between two tribes over a beautiful lizard woman in response to the earth’s grief over the bloodshed.
Do take some time to hear the past and current history of the indigenous peoples and ask particularly to hear their Dream time legends about the spirits who created the world and set rules to live by. Fascinating stuff.
We arrived Alice Springs in the afternoon and made our way to the Desert Gardens hotel. The hotel was utilitarian and breakfast was included.
That evening we went on a fantastic “Sounds of Silence” tour. The tour included a fairly long camel ride and then a buffet dinner under the stars with star identification when it got dark. It was a perfect evening and the Southern Cross and other stars were very bright. The camel ride was novel and well done…a word of caution on the camels: Getting on and off camels is a bit of a chore, listen to the directions the minders give you and be prepared to HOLD ON TIGHT when the camel gets up or you will go flying! Very delicious buffet as well. Highly recommend this tour.
Of course, the main attraction is Uluru. We did the sunrise tour and then traveled out to the Kata Juta Domes in the afternoon. It is worth seeing at different times of day as the colors are so vivid and change dramatically by time of day. It appeared that at one time you could walk on top of the rock, but no more as it is a sacred site to the indigenous people.
Only a day or two is needed at Uluru. The main sight is the rock and there is only so much you can do in the area. But well worth the flight to/from Alice Springs. This is a very important piece of Australian history.
Where we stayed: Desert Gardens Hotel, centrally located. Rooms nice.
How we got there: Flew from Adelaide then private transfer to hotel. This was part of a three-week private tour through Australia. We began in Melbourne and ended in Sydney for New Years’ Eve.
General Accessibility Information: Major tourist sights, hotels and transportation in most major cities is accessible. Further, several hiking trails are accessible. See AllTrails’ wheelchair-friendly trail guide.Call in advance to verify and make specialty arrangements.See our sections on specialty apps and accessible travel for more on accessibility assistance.
