Australia: Darwin, Kakadu, Uluru and the Flinders Ranges

Arrive in Darwin

Darwin International Airport to central Darwin

• Repas du soir
• Nuit : Darwin
• Environ 15 min de route

Après-midi

The afternoon is yours to get over the flight. Walk the shaded clifftop paths of Bicentennial Park, or go down to the Waterfront, where the Recreation Lagoon is netted for safe swimming. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the twelve days ahead: the two flights, the long road days, the crocodile rules and what to wear for a desert sunrise.

Soir

Then we walk to a welcome dinner together, outdoors if the evening is warm, as it usually is in the dry season.

Compris

• Pick-up at Darwin International Airport (DRW)
• Briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner in Darwin

Into Kakadu: Mamukala and Ubirr at sunset

Darwin to Kakadu National Park by the Arnhem Highway, Mamukala and Ubirr, then Jabiru

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Jabiru (Kakadu)
• Environ 4 h de route

Après-midi

After lunch near Jabiru and a rest out of the midday heat at the hotel, we drive about 40 km north to Ubirr, near the East Alligator River, the border with Arnhem Land. In the late afternoon we walk the rock-art galleries with your guide: x-ray fish and turtles, Mimi spirit figures and a painting of a thylacine, an animal gone from the mainland for thousands of years.

Soir

Then a short, steep scramble up to the Nadab lookout for sunset over the floodplain, the best-known view in Kakadu. Back to Jabiru for dinner.

Compris

• Kakadu National Park pass
• Mamukala wetlands and bird hide
• Ubirr rock-art galleries with your guide
• Sunset from the Nadab lookout at Ubirr
• Dinner in Jabiru

Burrungkuy and the Yellow Water cruise

Jabiru to Burrungkuy (Nourlangie), then Cooinda and Yellow Water

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Cooinda (Kakadu)
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is at Cooinda, and the hottest part of the day is free, in the shade or the pool. In the late afternoon we board a boat on Yellow Water Billabong for the cruise of the trip: saltwater crocodiles on the banks, jabiru, sea eagles and lotus lilies in low golden light.

Soir

Dinner at Cooinda.

Compris

• Burrungkuy (Nourlangie) rock art at opening
• Warradjan Cultural Centre
• Yellow Water cruise in the late afternoon
• Dinner at Cooinda

Activités en option

• Scenic flight over Kakadu's escarpment and floodplains (price shown at booking)

Back to Darwin for a free evening

Cooinda to Darwin by the Kakadu and Arnhem highways

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Darwin
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Matin

A slow start: breakfast at Cooinda, and anyone who likes can walk the short boardwalk by the billabong while the birds are busy.

Après-midi

We leave at about 9 am and drive west out of Kakadu, about 300 km and three and a half hours on sealed roads, with a coffee stop near the Mary River and a sit-down lunch on the way. We arrive in Darwin by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is yours.

Soir

It is the trip's one evening in Darwin with nothing planned, on purpose: on Thursdays and Sundays in the dry season the Mindil Beach Sunset Market sets up its food stalls on the beach, and the sun goes down over the Timor Sea. On other nights the Waterfront and the restaurants of Mitchell Street are a short walk from the hotel. Your guide will suggest places to eat and is happy to walk down with anyone who would like company. Pack tonight for the Litchfield swim and the flight south.

Compris

• Drive from Kakadu to Darwin with a coffee stop and a sit-down lunch

Activités en option

• Jumping-crocodile cruise on the Adelaide River on the way into Darwin (price shown at booking)

Litchfield's waterfalls, then fly to Alice Springs

Darwin to Litchfield National Park, then Darwin Airport, a flight to Alice Springs and Simpsons Gap

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Alice Springs
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a picnic in the shade, then about an hour and a half to Darwin Airport for the flight south, about two hours over the outback. If the confirmed flight leaves earlier, we skip Wangi Falls.

Soir

In Alice Springs your guide takes the group, light permitting, to Simpsons Gap in the West MacDonnell Ranges, where black-footed rock-wallabies come out on the boulders at dusk, then to our central hotel.

Compris

• NT Parks pass for Litchfield and the West MacDonnell Ranges
• Magnetic Termite Mounds
• Florence Falls and Buley Rockhole
• Wangi Falls
• Picnic lunch in Litchfield
• Flight from Darwin to Alice Springs
• Simpsons Gap at dusk, when the flight time allows

Activités en option

• The Ghan from Darwin to Alice Springs, one night aboard, in place of the Litchfield morning and the flight, on the days it runs (quoted on request)

Down the highway to Kings Canyon

Alice Springs to Watarrka National Park by the Stuart and Lasseter highways and Luritja Road

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Kings Canyon
• Environ 5 h de route

Matin

We leave at about 8:30 after breakfast, run south on the Stuart Highway to Erldunda for coffee, then turn west on the Lasseter Highway and north on Luritja Road through red dunes and stands of desert oak.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal at Kings Creek Station, a cattle station on the way in, and we reach Watarrka National Park, Luritja country, by mid-afternoon. After a rest at the hotel, the Kings Creek walk, about 2.6 km return on the flat, follows the shaded creek bed to a platform under the canyon walls, which rise more than 100 metres.

Soir

We watch the George Gill Range turn red at sunset, then eat together.

Compris

• Drive from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon with stops at Erldunda and Kings Creek Station
• Sit-down lunch at Kings Creek Station
• Kings Creek walk with your guide
• Sunset over the George Gill Range
• Dinner at Kings Canyon

The Kings Canyon rim, then Uluru at sunset

Kings Canyon Rim Walk, then Watarrka to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park via Curtin Springs

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Ayers Rock Resort (Yulara)
• Environ 4 h de route

Matin

A light breakfast before dawn, then we are at the trailhead at first light for the Kings Canyon Rim Walk, a 6 km loop of three to four hours. It starts with a steep climb up rough rock steps, the hardest part of the trip, then levels out across the top: through the Lost City, a maze of weathered sandstone domes, down wooden stairs to the Garden of Eden, a permanent waterhole shaded by cycads, and along the south rim with the sheer wall below you. On days forecast at 36 C or more the walk closes at 9 am, one more reason we start early. If you would rather not climb, walk Kings Creek again in the early light.

Après-midi

Late in the morning we drive about 305 km south and west, past the flat-topped mesa of Mount Conner, with lunch at Curtin Springs. In the park we start at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre, where Anangu explain Tjukurpa, the law that shapes this country, then watch the sun set on Uluru.

Compris

• Kings Canyon Rim Walk at first light with your guide (6 km loop, 3 to 4 hours)
• Lunch at Curtin Springs
• Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park pass
• Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre
• Sunset at Uluru

Uluru at dawn and the Field of Light

Sunrise and the base walk at Uluru, a free afternoon in Yulara, the Field of Light

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Ayers Rock Resort (Yulara)
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

We watch sunrise from Talinguru Nyakunytjaku, the dune viewing area on the east side of Uluru, then walk while the air is cool.

Soir

The full base walk is about 10.6 km on flat, sandy paths, around three and a half hours, past caves, rock art, waterholes and the folds and gullies you never see from the sunset area. Uluru rises about 348 m above the plain, and up close it is a landscape of its own. Some places along the base are sacred sites: signs ask you not to photograph them, and we ask the same. If you would rather walk less, your guide leads the Mala walk to Kantju Gorge, then the short Kuniya walk to Mutitjulu Waterhole, the rock's permanent water. Lunch is together in Yulara, then the afternoon is free. In the evening we share a dinner to close the outback half of the trip, then walk among the more than 50,000 solar-powered lights of Bruce Munro's Field of Light under the desert stars.

Compris

• Sunrise at Uluru from Talinguru Nyakunytjaku
• The Uluru base walk with your guide, or the Mala and Kuniya walks
• Lunch in Yulara
• Dinner in Yulara
• Field of Light

Activités en option

• Sounds of Silence dinner among the dunes, in place of the group dinner
• Camel ride at sunrise or sunset
• Helicopter flight over Uluru and Kata Tjuta
• (prices shown at booking)

Kata Tjuta at sunrise, then fly to Adelaide

Kata Tjuta at sunrise and the Valley of the Winds, then Ayers Rock Airport and a flight to Adelaide

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Adelaide
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

An early start for sunrise at Kata Tjuta, about 50 km west of Yulara, so pack a warm layer. From the dune viewing area you watch first light reach its 36 domes of conglomerate rock; the tallest, Mount Olga, stands about 546 m above the plain, some 200 m higher than Uluru. Kata Tjuta means many heads in the Pitjantjatjara language. Then we walk while it is cool: the Valley of the Winds trail to Karingana Lookout, about 5.4 km return over loose stones, looks down into a valley ringed by domes. On very hot days the trail beyond Karu Lookout closes early. For a gentler walk, Walpa Gorge is about 2.6 km return up a stream bed between two of the highest domes.

Après-midi

Back in Yulara for a shower and check-out, then Ayers Rock Airport, ten minutes away, for the afternoon flight to Adelaide, direct or with one connection depending on the season's schedule. A driver meets us in Adelaide for the short run to our central hotel.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Sunrise at Kata Tjuta
• Valley of the Winds walk to Karingana Lookout, or the Walpa Gorge walk
• Flight from Ayers Rock (AYQ) to Adelaide (ADL)
• Transfer to our hotel in Adelaide

North through the Clare Valley to Wilpena Pound

Adelaide to the Clare Valley, Hawker and Wilpena Pound in Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Wilpena Pound (Ikara-Flinders Ranges)
• Environ 5 h de route

Matin

A slower morning, then we leave Adelaide at about 8:30 for the second long road day, about 430 km and five hours. There is no shorter sealed road to Wilpena and no scheduled flight, so we break the drive with stops. The first hour and a half runs north through wheat country to coffee in Auburn, at the south end of the Clare Valley, known for its Riesling.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in the valley. In the afternoon the land dries out and the ranges rise ahead; we stretch our legs in Hawker, an old railway town, then drive the last hour into Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, co-managed with the Adnyamathanha people, whose name for Wilpena Pound is Ikara, the meeting place. We arrive by about 4 pm, with time to settle in for two nights.

Soir

Before dinner, your guide walks with anyone who likes to the edge of the resort grounds, where western grey kangaroos and emus come out to graze in the last light.

Compris

• Drive from Adelaide to Wilpena Pound via the Clare Valley and Hawker
• Sit-down lunch in the Clare Valley
• Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park entry
• Dusk wildlife walk at Wilpena with your guide
• Dinner at Wilpena

Inside Wilpena Pound and Brachina Gorge

Walk into Wilpena Pound to Hills Homestead and Wangarra Lookout, then Brachina Gorge and Stokes Hill

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Wilpena Pound (Ikara-Flinders Ranges)
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

We start after breakfast while it is cool, following Wilpena Creek under river red gums, about 3.9 km each way, to Hills Homestead, where a farming family tried and failed to make a living inside the pound in the early 1900s. From there a short, stony climb leads to the Wangarra lookouts, with views across the floor of the pound to the ranges.

Après-midi

Lunch is back at Wilpena, and the early afternoon is free. Later we drive about 30 km north to Brachina Gorge, where the geological trail passes rocks laid down over hundreds of millions of years, and yellow-footed rock-wallabies, rare elsewhere, often sit on the ledges in late light.

Soir

We finish at Stokes Hill lookout for sunset over the eastern wall of the pound, then dinner at Wilpena.

Compris

• Guided walk into Wilpena Pound to Hills Homestead and Wangarra Lookout
• Lunch at Wilpena
• Brachina Gorge and its geological trail
• Sunset at Stokes Hill lookout
• Dinner at Wilpena

Activités en option

• Scenic flight over Wilpena Pound (price shown at booking)

Arkaroo Rock, Burra and the Barossa

Wilpena to Arkaroo Rock, then Hawker, Orroroo and Burra to the Barossa Valley

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Barossa Valley
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Matin

We leave Wilpena after breakfast and stop almost at once at Arkaroo Rock, about 15 km south, for a walk of about 3 km on a loop path to a rock shelter whose walls carry Adnyamathanha paintings in red and yellow ochre and charcoal; your guide tells the story the site holds of how Wilpena Pound was made. Then the last long road day, about 390 km and four and a half hours in all, half an hour over our usual limit because there is no shorter road south.

Après-midi

We break it with coffee in Orroroo and lunch in Burra, a copper-mining town of the 1840s with stone miners' cottages and a main street that has hardly changed. By mid-afternoon we are in the Barossa Valley, among the vineyards around Tanunda, for a tasting at a family cellar door.

Soir

A free hour at the hotel, then a farewell dinner together, built on Barossa produce, where your guide closes the trip.

Compris

• Arkaroo Rock walk and rock art with your guide
• Lunch in Burra
• Cellar-door tasting in the Barossa Valley
• Farewell dinner in the Barossa

Adelaide and home

Barossa Valley to Adelaide, the Central Market and Adelaide Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

A last unhurried breakfast among the vines. We leave at about 9 am for Adelaide, about an hour's drive south.

Après-midi

On Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday the group stops at the Adelaide Central Market, more than 150 years old and one of the largest covered produce markets in the southern hemisphere, for an hour among its stalls of South Australian cheese, fruit and bakery goods, a good place to pick up lunch for the plane. From Sunday to Wednesday, when the market is closed or only partly open, your guide walks the group through the city's North Terrace instead, past the Art Gallery of South Australia and the state library. Then your guide sees you to Adelaide Airport (ADL), about 20 minutes from the city, or drops you at a central hotel if you are staying on. Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm. If you would like longer in South Australia, ask about the Kangaroo Island and Great Ocean Road trip, which starts in Adelaide.

Compris

• Adelaide Central Market (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday), or a walk along North Terrace
• Drop-off at Adelaide Airport (ADL) or a central Adelaide hotel