This hotel room is in Ayers Rock Resort. It is designated an "apartment," meaning I have a dining room and kitchen and, in the closet, a clothes washer and dryer!. I'm putting that washer to use this evening, though it is smaller than mine at home and I'll have to do a second load in the morning before catching my flight.
Ayers Rock is the name of the resort and of the airport even though that gigantic hunk of rock nearby is now known as Uluru. The resort is a series of hotels and a campground, a little community. If one wanted one wouldn't have to venture out. One could even climb a hill for an overlook to that hunk of rock. But one would be missing the reason why the resort is here.
The resort reinforces that self-contained idea. They provide a shuttle to get around the resort. But they don't provide transportation to Uluru. However, there are several companies that vie for that service -- for a price. The resort is also the only game in the area. If you don't stay at the resort the nearest hotel bed is halfway back to Alice Springs, about three hours by car. I paid much more for this apartment than I usually do for a room because by the time I booked it was this or a campsite, and I knew it was going to be cold. When I booked it I wondered if there was ever a problem that someone paid for a non-refundable flight, then couldn't get any room.
I arrived yesterday afternoon. The plane left Alice Springs early and we made good time (the flight duration is only 55 minutes). But when we got close to the Ayers Rock airport we were told there was no gate available for a while. A later announcement suggested maybe a medical flight had to take off. So we circled for about 20 minutes (making the flight late), allowing repeated views of Uluru from the air.
Once landed and luggage collected resort shuttles whisked us to our hotels. Alas, it seemed the checkin staff wasn't quite prepared for a busload of people appearing all at once (sheesh, aren't they used to this happening a few times a day? Like after each plane lands?).
Once the rush had subsided I went back to the desk to plan my stay. I then went to one of those lookout hills to see Uluru at sunset (which is a Really Big Deal around here). After sunset everyone heads to the restaurants, especially the ones that don't cost huge bucks. Yeah, it is that kind of resort. I'm not sure I want to know what one can get to eat when the buffet costs $50 (US) a person. No doubt crocodile and kangaroo are included.
Uluru isn't the only attraction here, though it is the one with all the fame. Also nearby is Kata Tjuta (catta jootta), which translates to "many heads." It is a huge number of stone domes (Uluru is a single dome) and a few of them are higher than the main attraction. When I saw this in my internet searches I knew I had to spend time here. That meant some choices.
A transport company offers a trip to Kata Tjuta and then a shuttle service to various points around Uluru. Decent price for it too. The catch -- the only trip to Kata Tjuta was at 5:45 am, time to watch the sunrise light up the rocks.
Those who know my usual hours may be surprised to learn this wasn't as much of a hardship as it might sound. I had to reset my internal clock when traveling halfway round the world, so I reset it in a way that would work for this trip. I knew I would have a few early mornings and probably only a couple late nights, so I've been going to bed between 9 and 10 rather than my usual 11 to 12 and getting up around 5 to 6.
Temperature this morning was about 43F. So about 60 of us (only 20 from my bus) tried to keep warm on the viewing platform for 45 minutes. Once the sun was up our driver wanted us back on the bus within 15 minutes. He wanted us to be first to the toilets and then first on the trails in amongst the domes.
I took the more difficult 3 hour hike. In some sections there wasn't much of a trail and the way was steep. It was a strenuous hike. I made it to the second overlook (a particular place on this trail) and back to the bus within the 3 hours. Beautiful views along the way. Here's the view at the second lookout.
We were taken back to the resort. I had time to rest and have lunch. Then I took the 2:00 shuttle to Uluru. I had time to walk to the watering hole and walk along the base trail, covering about a quarter of the way around. Then an hour rest before the shuttle picked up me (and several others) to take us to the official sunset viewing area.
And once the sun had set we (and everyone else) quickly went back to our cars and shuttles to join the evening parade back to the resort.
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