Alice Springs Day 2: Uluru

On Wednesday, I woke up while it was still dark and ran down the dark streets of Alice Springs towards my pickup spot for my trip to Uluru. The same man that picked me up from the airport when I arrived was also making the pickup rounds for this trip (it’s a small town 🤣).

Along the 5 hour journey through the outback, we stopped at a gas station/store that had a buffet waiting for us. I had noticed many people on the tour that were roughly my age so I sat down with one during breakfast and we began talking. Soon, two others joined us and we all learned how each of us ended up in this general store in the middle of the outback. One person was studying abroad in Brisbane, another had just gotten their PhD and wanted to go on a trip before starting work and the 4th at the table just finished high school in Germany and was exploring before going back to school.

Once back on the road, we stopped for a short gorgeous walk through the desert.

On our ride, we stopped to look at many breathtaking structures.

We learned about the aboriginal significance of these huge rocks and ended our tour at Uluru – the most significant structure of all.

Everyone I’ve met in Australia, when I mentioned going to Alice Springs, said I needed to go to Uluru. I’m very glad I did.

The tour ended with a sunset barbecue.

Then, we had to drive all the way back to Alice. All five hours. I arrived back at my Air BNB at two in the morning. And the following day requires me to get up at 7:00. Oh well! No one said I would be sleeping much out here!

It was a truly interesting day! I rode through the outback, met some great people from Germany, the United States, and Belgium and saw these breathtaking landmarks. Tomorrow I experience more of what Alice Springs has to offer!