uluru road trip photo diary

A couple of weeks ago I went on a crazy road trip in the Northern Territory's outback. We flew to Ayers Rock and drove everywhere we could for three days. It was one of the driest and really cool desert experience I've had so far (after the West Coast desert road in the US). 

Day 1: After nearly 4 hours flight, we picked up the car at the (very tiny and lost) airport. We drove around 50km one way to Kata Tjuta National Park (photo 1). For $25 each, you get a park road entry for three days, which was really convenient. It was too warm to do the walk and the Valley of the Winds was closed. Mostly, people do walks in the morning as the temperature is below 30 degrees celsius. If over 36C, no tracks will be opened. At the end of the day, we went to our hotel and bought food before everything closed. Around 6:30PM we drove 30km one way to Uluru National Park to see the sunset. Unfortunately for our first day, the sky was too cloudy so we decided to go back the following day. 

Day 2: Probably the most tiring day so far. We drove 300km one way to the King's Canyon. Although stunning, my mind wasn't as blown as it was when I first saw the Grand Canyon, AZ. Nothing compared to the Grand Canyon for sure, but we fancied a little walk since we arrived a little bit before 10AM and the weather was cool yet humid. We chose the longest track, nearly 3 hours of walk return (photo 2). It was a great exercise and the environment was awesome. We drove back to our hotel and tried to be early for the sunset this time. We were lucky for a few minutes only (photo 3) before the clouds darkened the rock again. 

Day 3: Last day and we pretty much saw everything. What we did is that we woke up at 4:30AM to be ready for the sunrise at Uluru. Different spot this time, the lighting on the rock was fairly different. Fairly cloudy at first, it became really sunny and gorgeous. We then headed back to the airport and gave the car back. Everything was great, and I'm really glad I've been traveling around this wonderful country again. Little disappointment: flight delayed and car more expensive than expected (it was such a great though i.e. Nissan Pulsar).

PS: believe it or not, the above photos were taken with my iPhone, and not my Canon EOS 550D.