Alistair Baillie

After an amazing few days in Melbourne it was time to leave and continue my travels to Ayers Rock, my flight was nice and early at 0930 from Melbourne and I arranged to get picked up by Sun Bus who provide shared transfers from the city centre hotels to the airport, I will say that having arrived at the airport, it is the most hassle free checkin, bag drop and security I have ever experienced, it took less than 4 minutes to get through security despite it being busy – UK airports can certainly learn from Melbourne’s example!!

This flight was operated by JetStar (part of Qantas) and took 3.5 hours, it was comfortable enough – think easyjet and you pretty much have it covered.

The approach and Landing at Ayers Rock Airport gave some great views of the rock itself and the surrounding area, after touching down it was a few minutes wait for the luggage and then straight out the door and on to one of the free transfer coaches to the hotel.

Fortunately my room was ready when I arrived, so I went straight to it, dumped my luggage and then went to find something for lunch at the hotel restaurant. After some lunch I went a little walk around the hotel and lay at the pool for a bit before heading to bed!

Next morning I was awake ridiculously early at 5am, after watching TV for a bit I got up and went to have breakfast then grabbed my camera and went for a walk around the resort. After a bit of walking I came across one of the lookout places and decided I was coming back at sunset to take some photos. The resort has a small town square with some cafes, a bank, souvenir shops and a small supermarket. There’s also a place that you can book your excursions to either the rock or the helicopter tours if you so choose.

After retreating to the hotel I sat in the bar enjoying a nice coffee and then sat outside on my rooms terrace for most of the afternoon.

Around an hour before sunset (I didn’t realise I was in a different time zone) I headed back to the lookout point I had discovered earlier and got some amazing photos of the sunset as the rock changed colour as the sun set.

I had intended to get up early the next day to watch the sunrise but it turned out it was rather cloudy so I had a long lie, went for breakfast and then a walk. I did some souvenir shopping and had lunch in the town square before ending up watching TV for the rest of the evening, with a short trip to the bar at sunset.

After my short stay at Uluru it was on to Sydney…

I stayed at the Desert Gardens Hotel at Ayers Rock Resort. The resort is the only civilisation nearby and features a selection of hotels, a town square with shops and cafe’s, a bank, a campsite and an airport. Qantas, JetStar and Virgin Australia operate various flights to Ayers Rock Airport from various locations in Australia. Alice Springs is the nearest town, located about 6 hours drive away.