During our 2 ½ day excursion in Uluru, we had an experience of a lifetime! We rode camels  at sunset, saw an amazing light exhibit, hiked right under the 2,831 foot giant, Uluru, and stayed in a cluster of hotels far away from any living things other than dingoes, snakes, a ton of flies, occasional kangaroos, and jackrabbits!

We had a blast exploring everything from the aboriginal shows to the swimming pool on the day the thermometer inched past 110 degrees. Really, the only thing bad about the whole cluster of 4 hotels was the food situation. It is truly a “food desert.” There wasn’t much in the way of fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, but we did see kangaroo tail in the refrigerator- much to our horror! I don’t even know who would eat something that exotic! We eventually found a great restaurant at the Sails in the Desert hotel, that served a delicious buffet at breakfast and dinner- they even had fruits and vegetables!

Four “Don’t Miss” Activities.

Camel Ride At Sunset

On our first night in the outback, we signed up for a camel ride. Like most people, I have never ridden a camel, but I was so excited to try it. At the stable, after we went over the rules and everything, I got on a camel by myself with my mom and sister in front of me. The camels do this crazy lunge move to get up which was scary and hilarious and once we were all up, we set off towards Uluru. Our guide was really nice and was telling us about camels in Uluru and taking pictures of us with Uluru in the background. It was really an all around awesome experience and I’ve come to the conclusion that I like riding camels better than horses.

We saw these girls get in the van to the stables and thought they must’ve gotten in the wrong van- they were dressed in matching beach clothes! They didn’t seem to speak any English and clearly didn’t follow any of our guides warnings about selfie sticks. We were all cracking up watching them as they took literally 200 selfies throughout the whole trip. They each had 2 selfie sticks, 2 phones, and 3 regular cameras. Our guide said they definitely broke the record for most selfies ever taken on a camel ride. It was absolutely crazy!! 

Dot Painting Class

Dot painting is a form of art that Uluru aboriginals are known for doing. This was an awesome class and to make it even better, we had an aboriginal teacher, Millie, along with an English translator. Though we couldn’t understand much what she was saying, it was so cool to hear her talk about catching kangaroos with her hand-crafted boomerang. The English teacher translated her instructions on how to make a story in your painting with different native symbols. I’m pretty proud of how mine turned out; although, when I looked at Millie’s it was amazingly detailed and really cool!

Field Of Light

The Field Of Light, an award winning light exhibit, is an experience of a lifetime! The field is a short bus ride from the hotel and they have regular buses coming back when you are finished wandering around the exhibit. The changing-color orbs are all solar powered and are as far as the eye can see! It was hard to photograph exactly how amazing this exhibit was in real life. It was so cool walking through this exhibit, but I was really nervous that a snake would come and bite me in the dark! Luckily, that didn’t happen and we enjoyed the art in peace.

A Hike Under Uluru

On our last day in Uluru, we took an amazing guided hike at the base of the rock with a local park ranger. Our guide was really cool and knowledgable about the area and customs. He showed different plants and taught us a lot of the history of Uluru. We also saw ancient cave drawings and he told us what they meant, showed us where festivals long ago were held, and helped us really understand the aboriginal culture.

Good to know…

• The park pass to go to Uluru and Kata Tjuta are $25 for 3 consecutive days, but the bus ride to the rocks is more expensive.

• Prepare to be in for a hot one. Uluru was really hot in the spring, so bring a bathing suit for your hotel!

• The bus transfer from the airport to the resort is complimentary and they wait outside the airport for you.

• Uluru is known for its black flies. They are seriously annoying so bring some repellent!