Ayers Rock Resort to Alice Springs – July 29, 2025 (Author: J)
Our final day at Ayers Rock Resort was something of a filler day. Our bus to Alice Springs was picking us up at 19:00, which left us with a lot of time to kill after hotel checkout at noon. While the time gap was less than optimal, I was not able to find a better option. Best as I can tell, there are only two companies that offer buses between Uluru and Alice Springs: AAT Kings and Emu Run. The two operators run buses on alternating days. On the day we were traveling, Emu Run was our only option, and their only bus was in the evening.
We started the day with a late breakfast at the buffet in Sails in the Dessert. Though expensive, Ilkari really set the standard for buffet food on this trip, both in terms of variety and quality of the food. We were happy with the splurge (but gave the dinner the edge if we had to choose one meal to eat at Ilkari). After breakfast, we finished packing and wheeled our luggage to reception to be held for the day. It was barely 11 am, so we had a lot of hours left to pass.
Our plan for the day was to take advantage of as many of the free guest activities at the resort as possible. We walked over to Town Square where we found that the painting workshop was full, but the didgeridoo workshop was just getting started. The workshop involved a demonstration of the technique for playing the instrument, a talk about the history, and a few songs. It seemed like the target audience was Australians because the presenter spent a lot of time dispelling misconceptions about the didgeridoo. As an American, I didn’t have any conceptions, mis or otherwise. (I can’t recall anyone every acknowledging the existence of Australia in my 12 years of public school. My son tells me he did a whole unit in his social science class this year, so maybe future groups of US tourists will be better informed).
After learning about the didgeridoo, we got on the shuttle bus and travelled to the Camel Farm. The Camel Farm offers camels rides to paying guests but is also free to visitors who just want to have a look around. In addition to the camels themselves, there is a small museum about camels in Australia and some other farm animals. We petted some cows, admired the camels from a safe distance, and watched a large group of wild cockatoos taking advantage of the easy pickings in the other animals’ feed troughs.
Once we were done with the farm animals, we returned to Town Center for some souvenir shopping. D had expressed some interest in purchasing a painting by one of the Indigenous artists’ whose work was displayed in the Gallery of Central Australia. However, he ultimately settled on the less expensive option of buying a table runner printed with work licensed from one of the artists. I also purchased a pair of socks with kangaroos on them. We vetoed P’s request to purchase a hand painted Australian football because they were too expensive to be used as sports equipment.
After shopping, we walked up to an outlook for our final glimpse of Uluru. Then we returned to Geckos Café for a late lunch. I hadn’t been too impressed with our first meal there, but P really wanted pizza. Fortunately, the food was better the second time around (though the service was lacking). Our final stop before returning to Sails in the Dessert was the grocery store where we purchased some bread, cheese, and snacks for the bus ride.
We spent our last few hours in Uluru lounging about in the lobby. At about 18:40, we went outside to wait for our bus. At 19:00, an Emu Run bus entered the pickup/drop-off area, slowed down, and then drove off. I confess that I panicked. I called Emu Run’s emergency number and got no answer. So, I ran back to the reception desk thinking that I would ask them to call the bus. Then, I realized that I was risking missing the bus, so I ran back out to the bus pickup/drop-off. Another traveler noticed me flapping about and assured me that she was also on the Emu Run transfer. “Buses here are always late,” she said.
15 minutes after our pickup time, a second Emu Run bus entered the drop-off/pickup area and picked us up. I was surprised to see that the bus was full. Apparently, most of the people on the bus had done a day tour to Uluru from Alice Springs. That meant that they travelled 5 hours for a barbeque and hike at Uluru and then turned around and travelled 5 hours back to Alice Springs. I suppose if it’s the only way that someone can see Uluru, then it might be worth it. But it didn’t sound like a fun day to me – especially for the bus driver.
Our driver gave us a briefing on how to use the emergency phone and explained the bus safety features, including the roo bar. About 20 minutes later, we got to see the roo bar in action when we hit an animal on the highway. Then, we continued our journey. The rest of the trip was uneventful. We had a bathroom stop at a closed roadhouse (for which our driver had a key). We otherwise drove straight through to Alice. I have no complaints about the journey, but I slept for most of it.
D apparently had a different experience. After we hit the mystery animal, he spent the rest of the trip worrying that we might break down somewhere in the outback. This was probably his comeuppance for making fun of my little freakout before the busy picked me up, or maybe his penance for not listening to the safety briefing. We arrived in Alice Springs around midnight, checked into our hotel, and went straight to bed.
Overall, I highly recommend visiting Uluru. For us, it is probably a once in a lifetime visit, but it was full of memorable moments – most of them good.
Next up, my favorite day of the trip.
Travel Monkeys 