Ayers Rock from the Helicopter - August 2015

Our little 4 person helicopter at Uluru airport

With Ron and Di before our helicopter ride

Uluru township from the air

Uluru Township

Uluru township - basically a circle of resorts ranging from 5 star to the local pub and camping ground

Typical country at Ayers Rock

Approaching Ayers Rock in the helicopter

Cattle Station country

Rock formations on Ayers Rock from the helicopter

Local accommodation out of Uluru

Employees accommodation outside of Uluru

Ayers Rock's massive size is evident

We drove around the bottom if the rock in another excursion and saw these rock formations close up

Interesting rock formations on this side of the rock

The lower side of the rock that was popular for climbing

Cattle country around the rock

This seems to be the most upright side of the rock

Good rock formations become evident as we get closer

A good view of the rock standing out from all the flat surrounding land

The popular tourist track around Ayers Rock

Flying towards Ayers Rock

Ayers Rock in it's majesty

A popular view of Ayers Rock that reflects different colours as the sun moves through the day

Flying towards The Olgas from Ayers Rock

Miles and miles of not much

Outback settlement

Outback homestead

The four dark dots on the clay pan are wild camels

Flying back to the Uluru Airport

This excursion was probably the highlight of our tour.  Having seen it all from the ground it is amazing to see it all from a different perspective.

We booked our helicopter ride at the Uluru Town Centre a couple of days before so that we could get the time we wanted. The are various different flights to choose from ranging from 15 minutes to Ayers Rock only to more extended tours.  We chose the $310 pp tour that took us over Uluru Township, a circle around Ayers Rock and then over to Circle The Olgas, a low ride over the country side to look for camels and then back to Uluru Airport.  Well worth the money I thought. 

We chose a 12.30pm flight as we had seen the rock for sunrise and again for sunset so we had the whole day covered.

Overall it was a great experience!

Kata Tjuta/mount Olga/The Olgas, NT - August 2015

K

The Olgas - this was a walk between the rocks that I would have liked to have time to do. It is 45 minutes from Uluru and the walk is 2 kms each way which is easily achievable.

(Ayes Rock in the vac ground)

Flying towards the Olgas from Ayes Rock reveals the true shape of The Olgas. From a distance it only appears to be two rocks - in reality it is a series of joined rocks that go a long way underground and is in fact taller than Ayes Rock.

View out of the front window of the helicopter

A very impressive view of The Olgas which takes on a totally different look depending on your approach to the rocks.

Valleys and crevices come into view with many great walking choices.

The Olgas away from the valley and green areas showing interesting rock formations

This is the green side of the Olgas - not evident from a distance

Another impressive view of The Olgas

It is hard to see how this can look so different to the two large rocks from a distance

The two rocks of interest - The Olgas and Ayes Rock - apart from these there are only miles and miles of cattle country with little evidence of wildlife.

A lot of walking opportunities for the trekking enthusiast.

This is more what I expected The Olgas to look like - this is the high part of The Olgas visible from a distance.

I was very appreciative of our helicopter ride out of Uluru which took us from Uluru to circle Ayers Rock and then to circle The Olgas as well as a good view of Uluru and the cattle stations surrounding the rocks.  It cost us $310.00 pp and we travelled in a 4 person helicopter which gave us a good view.

It was well worth the cost as the rocks can be so much more from a different perspective. We did manage to see four wild camels on one of the clay pans and seeing Uluru from the air was a good experience.

This was the last of our touring experiences for this trip as tomorrow we fly out of Uluru to Sydney and back to reality.

Thankfully we had good weather while we were here. It has been cold in the mornings until about 10 o'clock, lovely through the day and cooler again at night. 

We needed our jumpers and coats at times and did not get to wearing shorts or go swimming in the pool, but that is desert weather at this time of the year.

Summary of our Motor Home trip from Gosford NSW through Victoria including the Great Ocean Road. - October 2014

This was our second experience driving a Motor Home in Australia and we enjoyed it even more the second time.  We rented the Motor Home from Ausventure at Erina (Gosford) and chose the same type of vehicle that we had the first time as it is very comfortable for two people.

The weather was a problem early in the trip when we reached the Victorian waterfront when the rain and wind set in.  It was not enough to spoil our trip but we shortened some of our stays and moved on to better areas which is one of the best things about having a Motor Home.  We were not locked in to any place and could stay longer if we wished as well.  We chose a quiet time to travel when there were no school holidays which made it easier to find caravan parks with good sites available.

I used the Wikicamps Australia App on my iPhone to find selections of available parks to stay and found it very useful.  We could check out the parks before we got there, choose which park was the best for us and then I could ring ahead and book our site.  The app also provides reports from our guests which gave us an indication of what it was like.  The prices and maps were also included on the app which were very helpful to find our way there.

 We travelled Gosford to Goulburn, Bateman's Bay, Moruya, Mallacoota, Lakes Entrance, Phillip Island, Angelsea, Apollo Bay, Port Campbell, Port Fairy, The Grampians, Ararat, Ballarat, Bendigo, Echuca/Moama, Shepparton, Benalla, Wagga Wagga, Cowra, Bathurst, Katoomba and then back to Gosford.

It was a great trip - 21 days in all.

We only had one mishap with the vehicle - suffering a broken side mirror and scratches down the side of the van from a low overhanging branch on the side of a narrow road,  (Something to watch for when travelling in a vehicle with extra height).  That aside we had a fantastic time.  The Great Ocean Road was spectacular and we were lucky enough to have good weather there.

Every place we visited had its own special attraction and we saw as much as we could in the time we had.  I have arranged my photos in the order that we travelled so you can look at each place in the right order by clicking on "older post" when you get to the bottom of each posting.  Alternatively you can select the places you are interested in by clicking on the name of the town from the menu on the top right hand side of the page.

We highly recommend this mode of travel and we estimated that the cost would have been equivalent if not cheaper than staying in motels.  It gave us much more freedom of choice and the ability to change our mind along the way, Breakfast, morning tea and lunches were not a problem from the Motor home kitchen and once camped for the night the Camp Kitchens were available if you did not want to use your own kitchen.  It was much cheaper than eating out at restaurants and coffee shops.
Also it is nice to be able to sit outside in a deck chair with wine and nibbles when the touring has finished for the day.