Fitting in Ayers Rock

We just booked b2b Australia/NZ cruise leaving Auckland on Jan.28, 2013, and ending in Sydney on March 4 on the Solstice. We chose this one as it gave us a lot of ports in Australia. Many just included Sydney with NZ. Coming from the East Coast of the US what would be the best way to include Ayers Rock? I don't know if one is permitted to not stay overnight on the ship and meet up with again. There are several sea days and thought that might be an option. Can we do a day trip from Darwin, Adelaide, or Sydney? I know this will be expensive but I doubt we will ever get back here again. We probably could extend our trip and do it at the end but after 35 days we may not want to do that. Would an organized tour be better to deal with time restraints? DIY?

Thanks for all suggestions.

Pearl

We just booked b2b Australia/NZ cruise leaving Auckland on Jan.28, 2013, and ending in Sydney on March 4 on the Solstice. We chose this one as it gave us a lot of ports in Australia. Many just included Sydney with NZ. Coming from the East Coast of the US what would be the best way to include Ayers Rock? I don't know if one is permitted to not stay overnight on the ship and meet up with again. There are several sea days and thought that might be an option. Can we do a day trip from Darwin, Adelaide, or Sydney? I know this will be expensive but I doubt we will ever get back here again. We probably could extend our trip and do it at the end but after 35 days we may not want to do that. Would an organized tour be better to deal with time restraints? DIY?

 

Thanks for all suggestions.

 

Pearl

Hi Pearl,

For seeing Ayers Rock 1 day would not really be enough. It is closest to Darwin so you could possibly fly down from Darwin as it is in the same territory. Also not sure if you are aware but the time of year you are looking at going to Ayers Rock is the hottest time of the year. It would not be unusual for temps to be around or above 40oc. The night will be a lot cooler.

To me it would be best to go to Ayers Rock at the end of your trip and then you are not rushed.

Anyway that is just my opinion. I am sure others will have something else to add.

Chez

Hi,

The rock is closest to Alice Springs. Qantas are the only airline that go from Sydney to Alice Springs. You will need to stay in Alice and take a tour from there, a full day tour is needed. The Olgas are also nearby the rock, and worth a visit. I agree re the weather in summer, extremely hot in Jan to March, but a dry heat not humid. Alice is also accessible by air from Adelaide and Darwin. The fares last week to Alice were $179, but usual fares are around the $250 mark, each way. I only know the fares, as a close friend is moving to Alice Springs next week!

Jen

Coming from the East Coast of the US what would be the best way to include Ayers Rock? I don't know if one is permitted to not stay overnight on the ship and meet up with again. There are several sea days and thought that might be an option. Can we do a day trip from Darwin, Adelaide, or Sydney?

In addition, flights are not that frequent, and you really need to spend at least one night there. So Uluru (Ayers Rock) is really a three-day trip from the coast.

The rock is closest to Alice Springs. Qantas are the only airline that go from Sydney to Alice Springs. You will need to stay in Alice and take a tour from there, a full day tour is needed.

Logistically, the best way to visit Uluru is via a direct flight from Sydney to the Ayers Rock airport. (AYQ is the airport code). You will need a minimum of 24 hours there (but more is better, of course) and I highly recommend that you arrange for a rental car in advance. While tours are available, they are expensive and they limit what you can see and do. (You'll want to visit Kata Tjuta as well as Uluru, I'm sure.) A rental car should give you more flexibility at a reasonable price. Driving is easy around Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), even if you have never driven on the left. A regular sedan is fine for your rental--you don't need a 4WD as all the roads you'll be driving are paved.

Should you want some explanation of Uluru, the park rangers offer a free guided walk each morning or Aboriginal-guided walks can be arranged for a fee. See the following for details:

http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/uluru/visitor-activities/guides.html

I am finding this thread very interesting as we are on the same B2B as Pearl (we must chat on our roll call!) and also want to go to Ayres Rock. I appreciate the comment that the driving on the opposite side of the road is not difficult in that area - sounds like a good plan. Do you think 2 nights are enough and does anyone have suggestions on where to stay? We are wanting to do this excursion at the end of the cruise from Sydney.

Thanks for any assistance with planning!

Jan:)

Keep the responses coming! I do know it is a good distance from most places. I have not yet mentioned this to my husband. I need to time this as we will have been gone a good amount of time. We have never been gone this long before. The most has been about 3.5 weeks.

jmlh, we will need to put our heads together and post on our roll call. Perhaps we can plan this together. I am glad to hear about renting a car. My husband did drive in Britain and Ireland and as long as it is automatic, he is fine. I don't know where in Ontario you live, but your travel distances should be similar to ours from PA.

Pearl

Do you think 2 nights are enough and does anyone have suggestions on where to stay?

.Qantas and Virgin Australia both fly non-stop daily from Sydney to Uluru, so it's not necessary to detour via Alice Springs.

Thanks for clarifying that. My apologies to the op.:o

Our cruise leaves in March so we are flying round trip Sydney-Ayers Rock Airport. We land in Uluru at 11:45am and our airport transfer is included. We are staying at the cheapest budget hotel with bathroom ($240AU/night!!!!!) and are taking the 'Evening Under the Stars' for $164AU/pp. The next morning we are taking the 'Desert Awakenings 4WD tour' for $153AU/pp before flying out of Ayers Rock airport at 12:30pm.

http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/

It will be a very pricey kamikaze trip but we don't plan on returning so we are up for it. Then we have night in Sydney before boarding our ship. We are staying in a B&B in the Rocks area so can walk to most sites.

Tina

We also wanted to make it to Ayers Rock so after much research on how to make it work, we're doing Ayers Rock at the beginning of our trip. We booked a multi-city airline ticket on Qantas - We are flying from LAX to Ayers Rock via Sydney, spending 2 nights, then flying to Sydney for a couple of days before our cruise.

The hotel options are very limited and VERY expensive, so in our old age, we're going to relive our youth and spend 2 nights in a dorm room with 18 of our new friends.

We were able to get a cheap rental car through Hertz.

If you dont want to share the room with 18 others have a look at the caravan park. I stayed there a few years back with 4 friends. It was a small cabin, but had all we needed, double bed one end, table and kitchen in middle and 2 sets of bunks other end. Had to go use the communinal bathroom/toilet facilities but they were clean and well maintained. Total cost was AUD $150 which we thought was good value for 5 adults.

Ayers rock is about as close to the middle of know where that u can find!! i live in Darwin and work for a rental car company and often get asked can we get down to Ayers rock for the weekend! its roughly about 2000 kilometers from Darwin and where in the same state!

Its about a 4 and a bit hour drive from Alice springs (the closest town) so flying there is going to be ur best option, there are only a handful of planes that arrive there each day. also depending on the time of the year some of the roads can flood, even thou its the dessert they get roads cut from flooding at different times of the year, a few where flooded last week.

and as others hav mentioned it is VERY HOT at that time of the year! the temps will be in the 40's most days

'Evening Under the Stars' for $164AU/pp.

A little off topic but you will LOVE this night. I did this a couple of years back and it remains one of the best things I've ever done. Enjoy!

Ayers rock is about as close to the middle of know where that u can find!! i live in Darwin and work for a rental car company and often get asked can we get down to Ayers rock for the weekend! its roughly about 2000 kilometers from Darwin and where in the same state!

Its about a 4 and a bit hour drive from Alice springs (the closest town) so flying there is going to be ur best option, there are only a handful of planes that arrive there each day. also depending on the time of the year some of the roads can flood, even thou its the dessert they get roads cut from flooding at different times of the year, a few where flooded last week.

and as others hav mentioned it is VERY HOT at that time of the year! the temps will be in the 40's most days

And that is 40 degrees celsius which is 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Uluru is approximately 460 ks from the nearest town - Alice Springs, which is the middle of Australia - there are day trips to Uluru/Olgas for 199 dollars - a long day, 18 hours, with breakfast and lunch and a bbq dinner at sunset - I did the day tour with Emu Run - do it, if just for the day - there is a camping package for 2 nights for only about 300 dollars which would be a fun way - sleeping out under a billion stars

Hot hot hot, yes and floods if cyclones are around and it will be wet season - remember the rock now cannot be climbed - if windy, too hot, or various other reasons and culturally you are asked not to climb anyway

Virgin Blue fly direct to the rock and Qantas to Alice Springs - alternative is to travel to Alice twice weekly on the overnight train The Ghan departing both Adelaide in the south and Darwin in the north

Accommodation is inexpensive in Alice, hostels and motels/hotels/casino whereas Uluru, do take some advantage of their isolation

Iru

This is such a helpful thread. We are on the 15 Feb cruise out of Perth and are still trying to decide whether to do ayers rock pre or post cruise. The original plan was pre cruise but I see there are not flights every day from Perth to Uluru (Ayers Rock). I suppose I am also concerned we miss the cruise if things go wrong so I am now leaning towards post cruise. I have a plan emerging

1 day Sydney - this will be our third trip so no major sites to pack in

Fly to Ayers for 2 nights

Back for 1 night Sydney then home

I will be looking to leave luggage at the hotel in Sydney as we will have more than the domestic allowance

Now I need to start working out the best ticket options that do not break the bank as we want to go business class, we have a bucket of Avios to play with but that could be tricky

We are taking our daughter on her first cruise in 2014 and she mentioned Ayers Rock, but strongly doubt we can do it. Cruise begins in Perth, ends in Sydney and will only have 3 days in each City before heading home, with a stop over in Honolulu. I am finding Hotel cost to be really expensive so going to need to research our accomodations.

I travel a lot - Booking.com will give you round the world bookings... 1 star and up - :cool: payable on arrival usually...

Coronation Hotel in middle of Sydney, fab position - opposite the Town Hall... it's a favourite of mine - and a little out of town but less than 100 a night is @ St Peters... Formule 1 - just a bus ride opposite the hotel to the city... in fact Formule 1 is a hotel chain here in Aus - small but clean rooms, modern.... local one where I live is 59 a double... fyi

~~Iru~~

Hello Iru, we plan to stay at least 3 nights Post cruise in 2014. Our cruise leaves from Perth ( Fermantle) and disembarks in Sydney. We want to see Sydney a little before heading right home, followed by a stop in Honolulu ( Waikiki) for 4 nights. Thank you for the site, have placed that in my favorites. We would like to stay close to things so is the Darling Harbor the best location or what do you recommend.

Gay

The most central - to me - is the hotel I mentioned - with Woolworths next door - The Sydney Town Hall opposite - Gloria Jeans/McDonalds etc... only metres away - the rooms I have been in are comfortable - underground in Town Hall Station that is on the City Circle line which encompasses - Central for local and country trains, Town Hall, Wynyard, Circular Quay - for Sydney Harbour Bridge, Manly and all ferries and Sydney Opera House n gardens - then onto Museum station St James and back to Central - a circle of train stations...

Darling Harbour is across the road and down the hill from Town Hall...and accessible too from Wynyard - many of the smaller cruise ships that will fit under the bridge berth there..

~~Iru~~

Which cruise are u on?

I've been to Sydney many times and have stayed both in Darling Harbour and around Circular Quay. While there is nothing wrong with the Darling Harbour area, I think the Circular Quay area is a better location as it puts you right on Sydney Harbour (think the Bridge and the Opera House) and within easy walking distance of the CBD. There are many hotel options near Circular Quay and even a B&B in the Rocks where we stayed on our most recent visit.

We just booked b2b Australia/NZ cruise leaving Auckland on Jan.28, 2013, and ending in Sydney on March 4 on the Solstice. We chose this one as it gave us a lot of ports in Australia. Many just included Sydney with NZ. Coming from the East Coast of the US what would be the best way to include Ayers Rock? I don't know if one is permitted to not stay overnight on the ship and meet up with again. There are several sea days and thought that might be an option. Can we do a day trip from Darwin, Adelaide, or Sydney? I know this will be expensive but I doubt we will ever get back here again. We probably could extend our trip and do it at the end but after 35 days we may not want to do that. Would an organized tour be better to deal with time restraints? DIY?

 

Thanks for all suggestions.

 

Pearl

Pearl --

Though this is one traveler's experience (and open to tons of alternate suggestions, ideas, and options), here is how my wife and I traveled to Uluru:

http://www.thenextjourney.com/2011/12/uluru-sounds-of-silence-an-unforgettable-sunrise/

http://www.thenextjourney.com/2011/12/uluru-2-sacred-walks-sunset-bbq-camels-too/

We did 3 days/2 nights... I cannot recommend visiting this amazing place in less than 48 hours if you can help it. The airfares and accommodations alone will encourage you to make the most of every moment you have here as it is memorable and breathtaking.

Contact with any questions and thanks!

-- Darin

cruisechaos at gmail dot com

Thank you, Darin! Your travelogue was wonderful. You are an excellent writer. I was on the fence whether to spend the money and I know it is a lot or not but you have convinced me that we need to find a way. I am glad you did this independently which is what we would like. The sound and light show sounds wonderful. Many times they are not that great but this one looks fantastic.

Thank you also for including your email as I may have some more questions. Thank you again!

Pearl