Accommodation and the Township at Ayers Rock - August 2015

Swimming pool at our resort - Desert Gardens

View of "The Rock" from our downstairs room at the Desert Gardens Resort

Ayers Rock from Uluru

Our outside balcony from our room with Ayers Rock in the background

Our large room looking through to the balcony

Enjoying our complimentary "birthday) champagne on the balcony

Desert gardens around our accommodation 

Desert gardens outside our room

More manicured desert gardens within the resort

The swimming pool area - rather deserted as it was very cold weather

Nice manicured lawns in the gardens outside the restaurant

Typical walks between the resorts pubs and shopping area

Outside the restaurant

Up market shopping area in the resort

More garden walks

The Resort reception area

The Desert Gardens Resort

Outside our resort

An overview of the township of Uluru

A little bottle of champagne courtesy of the resort to celebrate my birthday

Our accommodation block marked in green

All the resorts are literally side by side working around in a circle - ranging from up market resorts to middle range accommodation, pubs, caravan park and a town centre that includes a very popular IGA, post office, restaurants, coffee and lunch shops as well as clothing and souvenir shops. 

Fortunately they have a courtesy bus that runs every 15 mins or so during the popular times of the day and you can hop on, hop off at any of the stops so it is not difficult to get around if walking is a problem.  We also took advantage of the Medical Centre which manages to cater for tourists as well as the local population.

We stayed at the Desert Garden Resort and had a very comfortable downstairs room which was an invalid friendly room for anyone with walking problems.  The tours all left from the reception of the resorts so it was not a problem to coordinate the various tours which could be booked through the resort. We chose to book a helicopter ride which we booked at the town centre and they picked us up at the resort. 

We went to a different restaurants for dinner and one night chose the pub where we could cook our own steak. At the hotel drinks could not be served unless you could show your room key. We were able to get a light lunch at the town centre.  If you enjoy walking you can walk through all of the resorts as they are literally running into each other joined by walking paths that will take right around the area.

Room service was available and the resort restaurant catered for breakfast and other meals.  Each of the resorts had their own boutique shops and the town centre catered for the normal souvenir shops.

We were very busy on tours for the most of the time we were there and did not have time for lounging around the pool and of course it was a bit too cool while we were there. I imagine in the warmer months the pool area would be very popular. The Desert Gardens Resort was the only one with a heated pool.

Overall it was a good choice of accommodation. It suited our needs and the staff were friendly and helpful.  The distance to the "Rock" and all the tour services are exactly the same no matter where you choose to stay.

Kings Canyon - August 2015

https://youtu.be/gIuhrmAQk

The Kings Canyon Tour is a very long day so we were up before dawn to get ready for the bus

Sky is lighting up as we set off from Uluru

Our breakfast stop - Kings Canyon Wildeness Lodge - our first sign of civilisation

Sensible succulent gardens for the harsh weather survival

Our breakfast stop ( included in the tour)

At the Kings Canyon Wilderness Lodge

Birds in the water well in the garden at the Kings Canyon Wilderness Lodge

On our way to Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon looming

The two choices of walks at  Kings Canyon.  Climbing up and walking the rim of the canyon is one choice ( 3 1/2 hours) or the Creek Bed Walk which takes about an hour.

One of the warning signs on the walks due to the excessive heat at some times of the year

A map of the walks

On our way towards the Creek Bed Walk

Walking towards the start of the rim walk

A memorial to one of the early pioneers of Kings Canyon that made the Tourist Trail possible

The creek bed is full of large rocks and stones exposed when the creek floods

The beginning of the rim walk which is a vertical walk straight up to the top.  I understand that this is the hardest part of the walk as it levels out at the top of the rim and the trail is virtually level on the walk around the rim. 

This is where the two walks split.  We chose to go on the Creek walk. It was a cold windy day so we needed all our jackets on.

Rest stops along the way

Looking up to the rim

Our guide from APT Kings was on hand to explain all the local fauna

Part of the walk

The creek bed in its natural state

Our guide telling us about the local gum trees

This scenery reminded me a lot of Albert Namatjira's paintings

Some of the white gums have been vandalised and are currently being repaired 

Damaged gums bandaged to protect them from infection

Our APT Kings guide 

I love this photo - I might make a jigsaw puzzle out of this one!

Beautiful colour and natural formations in the rock - similar to Ayers Rock on a smaller scale

Looking up at the rim from the creek bed

Termites nest

Walking towards the lookout

The rim from the lookout

Looking at the top of the rim you can see walkers crossing the bridge as they walk around the rim

Little birds seeking a drink of water from the rap

The end of our tour of Kings Canyon.

It was a huge day but well worthwhile. If you are a lover of nature there is a lot to look at - although nothing in the way of animals when we were there.  The river gums were impressive as was the magnitude of the canyon. 

We chose to do the creek bed walk as opposed to the rim walk which would have taken much longer.

I would have liked to do the rim walk, the hardest part being the initial walk up to the top. After that it levels out to an easy walk. The walk up was steep and looked a bit dangerous. A degree of fitness would be necessary to enjoy this walk.  

The creek bed walk was much easier and we walked it slowly stopping at points of interest. It was a cold day so heat was not an issue for us.

The bus we travelled in was comfortable and we had breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea stops.

It was a good introduction to the red centre for us and we could appreciate the remoteness of the place from the distance we had to travel on the round trip.