Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - How long in Ayers Rock?

Hi guys apologies if this has been discussed before but I searched on "Ayers Rock" and nothing came up of any relevance.

Anyway, we are visiting Sydney from the UK in November 2009 and my travel partner wants to visit Ayers Rock. How long would we need to spend there to see the important stuff? Would flying out Monday morning and back Wednesday be sufficient? I have heard that there isn't much else to do there...

Also, does anybody fly direct from Ayers Rock to Melbourne on a weekday? Qantas doesnt seem to offer direct flights.

Any tips on the Ayers Rock trip would be appreciated.

Thanks!

koksy

I got some great advice in this thread (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=563308&highlight=rock). I really enjoyed my brief outback trip, to both Ayers Rock and Alice Springs.

I think that should be enough unless you want to do something special or are more interested in the culture or desert.

In March we arrived on 10:25 flight from Melbourne. In the afternoon we did a trip to the Uluru on our own, followed by a sunset dinner (Sounds of Silence). The next morning we did the sunrise tour (sunset with breakfast, a short tour) before departing with the 12:30 flight to Sydney.

The dinner in the desert was quite fine, met some nice people, but it's pretty far away from the rock. The sunrise wasn't as spectacular as expected. I think the rock on our own was better than the organized tour. The schedule didn't leave too much time for sleep but I think we did see quite a bit of the Uluru rock and far too many flies.

I got some great advice in this thread (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=563308&highlight=rock). I really enjoyed my brief outback trip, to both Ayers Rock and Alice Springs.

Thanks Sandiego! Now why didnt that thread come up when I did the search?:confused:

Hi guys apologies if this has been discussed before but I searched on "Ayers Rock" and nothing came up of any relevance.

Anyway, we are visiting Sydney from the UK in November 2009 and my travel partner wants to visit Ayers Rock. How long would we need to spend there to see the important stuff? Would flying out Monday morning and back Wednesday be sufficient? I have heard that there isn't much else to do there...

Also, does anybody fly direct from Ayers Rock to Melbourne on a weekday? Qantas doesnt seem to offer direct flights.

Any tips on the Ayers Rock trip would be appreciated.

Thanks!

koksy

Two nights is ideal. Three nights (given the expense) is too much.

Also, I think Qantas is the only carrier to/from MEL. Please doublecheck.

Lastly, the Sounds of Silence Dinner is well worth the expense. It's not the food which is good (not great) but the entire experience which is so memorable. Try not to miss it.

We visited Uluru a couple of years ago, morning flight from Sydney, view of the rock from the vantage point, helicopter flight over the rock and the Olgas, Harley Davidson tour round it, sunset view, sun rise view, and left the next afternoon for Cairns.

People staying longer were going out of their minds! Choose the activities you want to do, squeeze them in to as shorter time as possible and move on, is my advice. Its an amazing experience and well worth a visit!

Its worth paying extra for a good room in the complex though!

David.

It's worth hiring a car. Hertz and others usually have cheap hires if you drop the car off in Alice Springs. It's an easy drive and you get to see the huge road trains that transit the Bruce Highway.

30-36 hours from arrival to departure is more than enough time.

Qantas is the only airline into Ayers Rock Airport (AYQ). They have flights from SYD, CNS, ASP and PER.

We arrived around 11am. Picked up our rental car, dropped our bags at the Resort (rooms weren't ready anyway). Had a quick lunch and drove out to Kata-Tjuta. Hiked in Valley of the Winds (about 7km) then drove to the Rock to visit the Cultural Center and view the sunset.

The next day we took an all-day Outback tour with Desert Tracks to Cave Hill. It was a great experience, and CH is amazing with all the Aboriginal cave art. Recommend them highly. Afterwards we did the sunset viewing again since it was overcast and unimpressive the previous day.

The last day we viewed the sunrise on Uluru, then walked around the base (about 10km). Caught a 1pm flight to SYD.

Our astronomy tour was cancelled both nights due to clouds. We were glad we rented a car, we didn't feel we missed out on anything by not using a tour. We were able to do a lot in that amount of time but never felt hurried.