You will be collected from your hotel in an air-conditioned vehicle and set out into the Outback for an Uluru adventure. The journey from Alice Springs to Uluru takes about five hours.
When you see the massive flat-topped Mt Conner Mesa, a huge structure rising from the desert, you can be forgiven for thinking it is Uluru/Ayers Rock. But Mt Conner Mesa is a gigantic table-top mountain and a different geological formation. Take a cup of billy tea, or soft drink, and a lamington cake, while you marvel at the view.
Nothing can prepare you for your first view of Uluru/Ayers Rock. This massive sandstone monolith is the world's biggest single rock. Uluru/Ayers Rock lies in the very center of Australia. Your tour will enable you to appreciate the immensity and solitude of this vast tract of arid terrain.
On reaching, a circuit tour and a guided walk will reveal the legends and geology of the Rock and the lore, customs and bush tucker of the local Ananga Aboriginal people. It stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high (863 m/2,831 ft above sea level) with most of its bulk below ground. Believed to have been formed by the activities of ancestral beings in Dreamtime, Uluru/Ayers Rock is sacred to the Anangu Aborigines and is a World Heritage Site.
The tour will break for lunch at Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre around noon (payable direct).
Other highlights include:
Mala Walk: Much more than just a tour, this unique cultural experience is a wonderful opportunity to learn about Aboriginal traditions. Hear the creation story of the Mala, or 'hare wallaby people', as local Aborigine guides escort you to painted caves and the sacred Kantju Gorge.
Mutitjulu Waterhole: Walk to this cool waterhole surrounded by vast rock walls, accompanied by your Aboriginal guide. See cave paintings and hear the legends of Kuniya Tjukurpa (Python Dreaming).
Kata Tjuta: Also known as Mount Olga (or colloquially as The Olgas), these are a tumbled mass of large rock domes.
As the evening glow deepens you will have the experience of a lifetime – an Uluru Sunset Buffet Dinner. Uluru is famous for appearing to change colour as the light strikes it at different times of day and year. Sunsets, when it briefly glows red, are a wonderful spectacle. Relish the view, with a glass of sparkling wine or juice in hand, before enjoying a outdoor buffet of cold meats, garden salad and bread.
At the end of the tour, you will be dropped back at your hotel in Alice Springs.