Australia's Red Centre: Alice Springs to Uluru
The West MacDonnells, Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta and Uluru, plus the Larapinta trail — a fortnight in the desert with 60,000 years of continuous culture in it.
Alice Springs
A town of 25,000 in the middle of a continent, and the place to understand what the Centre actually is before driving into it. The Araluen cultural precinct and the Museum of Central Australia cover the geology and the art; the Royal Flying Doctor Service base explains how anyone lives out here at all.
Simpsons Gap and Standley Chasm
The first of the West MacDonnell gorges, both within an hour west. Simpsons Gap has black-footed rock wallabies on the scree at dawn and dusk; Standley Chasm, on Aboriginal-owned land, glows orange for about fifteen minutes around midday when the sun gets into it.
Ellery Creek, Serpentine and Ormiston
Deeper into the range. Ellery Creek Big Hole is a permanent waterhole and is genuinely cold year-round. Ormiston Gorge is the best of them — a two-hour Pound Walk loop into a natural amphitheatre and back down the gorge, which is the single best short walk in the West MacDonnells.
Redbank Gorge and Mount Sonder
The western end. Mount Sonder is the final peak of the Larapinta Trail and is climbed pre-dawn as a 16-kilometre return walk to catch sunrise from the top — hard, exposed and the best thing in the range. Redbank Gorge below it is a cold swim through a narrow slot.
The Mereenie Loop to Kings Canyon
An unsealed shortcut across Aboriginal land requiring a permit, bought at the Alice or Glen Helen visitor centres, and a high-clearance vehicle. The sealed alternative back through Alice adds four hours. Either way, arrive at Watarrka in the afternoon.
The Kings Canyon rim walk
Six kilometres, three to four hours, starting with a steep climb everyone calls Heart Attack Hill and then running around a rim of sandstone domes 100 metres above the floor, with the Garden of Eden waterhole in the middle. Start at first light; the walk closes at 9am when forecasts exceed 36°C, and that is enforced.
South to Uluru-Kata Tjuta
Three and a half hours down the Luritja and Lasseter highways. Mount Conner appears on the left and is mistaken for Uluru by nearly everyone. Check into Yulara, the resort village 20 kilometres from the rock and the only accommodation in the park area.
Uluru base walk
Ten and a half kilometres around the rock, flat, and the only way to understand that it is not a smooth dome but a surface of caves, waterholes and rock art with specific meanings. Climbing was permanently closed in 2019 at the traditional owners' request. Some sections are sacred and photography is prohibited — the signs mean it.
Kata Tjuta and the Valley of the Winds
Thirty-six domes 50 kilometres west, higher than Uluru at 546 metres, and to many people the better site. The Valley of the Winds circuit is 7.4 kilometres through the gaps between them and also closes at 11am above 36°C. The Walpa Gorge walk is shorter and stays open longer.
Sunrise, the Cultural Centre and Field of Light
Talinguru Nyakunytjaku for sunrise with both Uluru and Kata Tjuta in one view. The Cultural Centre, run by Anangu, is where the Tjukurpa is explained on their terms and is the part most visitors skip and should not. In the evening, Bruce Munro's Field of Light installation of 50,000 stems in the desert.
Back to Alice via the Stuart Highway
Four and a half hours north on sealed road, with the Erldunda roadhouse at the junction as the only real stop. Watch for camels — there are around a million feral ones in central Australia and they do not move for vehicles.
Alice Springs and depart
A last morning for the Todd Mall galleries — Central Australian Aboriginal art sold through community-owned art centres, which is the way to buy it — and the Desert Park on the western edge, which does the ecology and the bird show properly.
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Heat is the constraint and it is not a soft one. From October to March, temperatures routinely pass 40°C and the major walks close by mid-morning when the forecast exceeds 36°C — the Kings Canyon rim and the Valley of the Winds both do, and the closures are enforced by rangers. Carry three litres of water per person for any walk and drink it. May to September is the season: warm days, cold nights that can drop below freezing at Yulara, and everything open. A standard 2WD covers the sealed route; the Mereenie Loop needs high clearance and a permit bought in advance. Fuel is expensive and far apart — fill at every roadhouse. Book Yulara accommodation months ahead, since it is the only option and prices reflect that. Respect the photography restrictions at sacred sites; they are legally enforceable and the reasons are explained at the Cultural Centre. Flies are constant from September; a head net costs a few dollars and is worth every cent.
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The full trail is 223 kilometres and twelve to sixteen days from Alice Springs to Mount Sonder, in twelve sections with water tanks along it. Individual sections make excellent two- and three-day walks with a shuttle drop, and section 12 up Sonder is the classic.
The Stuart Highway runs 1,500 kilometres north from Alice to Darwin, with Devils Marbles, Mataranka's thermal springs and Katherine Gorge on the way, and Kakadu beyond. Adds a week and changes climate zone completely.
Multi-day camping tours from Alice cover Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon at a fraction of the self-drive cost, with swags under the stars. Less flexible, considerably cheaper, and the West MacDonnells get compressed.