4-day family holiday in and around Uluru

By Paige Richardson 

Too far, too expensive and the kids might not ‘get’ its cultural significance are the reasons why so many families are yet to make the pilgrimage to Australia’s most iconic rock. While it may be far, its location is part of what makes it so special; while it can sometimes be expensive to get there, you’ll be floored by the range of free and cheap activities for families once you do; and while it’s profoundly spiritual, children are perhaps the most accepting (and by far the most riveted) audience to any creation story.

Convinced yet? Let this four-day itinerary be your guide.

Day 1: Getting to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

While driving to Uluru is entirely possible, to pull off this itinerary you’ll need some wings. You can fly direct to Yulara – the township just outside Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park – from most capital cities in Australia with a flight time between two and four hours. Not your typical domestic jaunt, no, but worth it; alighting here – and seeing Uluru from the air – is an experience in itself. After landing on the red-dirt airstrip, hire a car or take the complimentary airport transfer for guests of Ayers Rock Resort. 

Save your second sighting of the red rock monolith for sunset from one of the park’s five viewing areas. Pack a picnic (and your camera), find your place on the dunes and watch as a kaleidoscope of sunset colours are thrown over Uluru and the hue of the desert landscape intensifies. Or, make your first night effortless and book the sunset tour with SEIT Outback Australia.

Day 2: Exploring Uluru

Start your day in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park at the Cultural Centre to learn more about the significance of Uluru to its traditional owners, Anangu. Displays, exhibits and talks focus on Tjukurpa (Aboriginal law, moral systems and culture), and on the natural and human history of the park. Entry to the centre is free with your national park pass – all visitors to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park require a pass, which should be booked in advance.

From here it’s only five minutes by car to Mala carpark, the meeting point for the free ranger-guided Mala Walk. This 2km (1.5mi) walk is one of two shorter trails suitable for families (the other is the Kuniya Walk to Mutitjulu Waterhole). It travels along parts of Uluru’s base, through the caves where Anangu’s ancestors – the Mala (rufous hare-wallaby) people – first camped, and past traditional rock art before arriving at Kantju Gorge. For a breezier alternative, slap on a helmet and jump on a Segway or hire a bike and cycle the full 11km (7km) loop.

Day 3: Uluru camel tours and crafts

Now acquainted with the local Anangu, get to know the other Red Centre locals; namely Bruce the blue tongue lizard, Wolverine the bearded dragon and Max the mulga snake at Ayers Rock Resort’s Red Desert Reptile Show. Learn about the desert’s 73 different reptile species before your own up-close encounter with the critters. 

Next, join Maruku Arts for an enlightening Cave Art Tour. Led by a local Anangu guide, wander the Kuniya Walk and make your way into a cave adorned with rock art. Speaking in the local Pitjantjatjara language, your guide will share the Creation Time stories depicted on the walls as an English translator communicates each beautiful tale.

Day 4: Field of Light and Kata Tjuta

Artist Bruce Munro’s solar-powered installation of 50,000 spindles of light twinkle and sway in the shadow of Uluru like a field of flowers in bloom at its base. See Field of Light at dawn on the sunrise tour as the first light glows on the horizon, then contemplate its creation over a cup of freshly-brewed billy tea. Before you leave, take a look behind you for a view of your next destination: Kata Tjuta. 

It’s not as famous as Uluru, but nearby Kata Tjuta’s ‘many heads’ are just as impressive. The 36 domes rise up to 546 metres above the desert plain and were formed by the same geological events – beginning around 550 million years ago – that first exposed Uluru. Walk among the giant sandstone boulders on the shorter 2.6km (1.6mi) return, Walpa Gorge walk with SEIT Outback Australia.