This 5-day guided walk travels through the heart of Australia on an unforgettable journey that combines some of the best walks and natural wonders that Central Australia has to offer. Walk 4 great walks including Kings Canyon Giles Track and Kings Canyon Rim walk as well as a walk around world-famous Uluru (Ayers Rock) and through the stunning Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). No matter how many photos you may have seen of these famous rock monoliths, when you experience them first hand you will be amazed at their spectacular size and beauty. This walk has been designed to minimise your travelling time in the vast outback. Enjoy a scenic flight from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon on day 2 saving almost 4 hours of driving and fly out of Uluru on day 5 avoiding a 5-hour return journey to Alice Springs. This walk has been specifically designed to travel only 300kms instead of the usual 1000km circuit of the Red Centre.
Carry as little as your water and lunch
Our speciality is providing Pack -Free walking holidays so you can focus on enjoying the amazing landscapes, not the burden of carrying a heavy pack. Our guests won’t be asked to carry their clothes or overnight bags for the entire walk. With Life’s An Adventure, you will carry as little as your water bottle, camera and lunch each day!
1 night stay
Enjoy your first night at the Mercure Alice Springs Resort in Alice Springs. Situated on the banks of the Todd River, Mercure Alice Springs Resort offers modern rooms with free Wi-Fi, all just a 5-minute walk from the town centre. This award-winning resort features a swimming pool, a restaurant, and a seasonal bar.
Set in an ancient rugged landscape
Set against a backdrop of rugged outback scenery, lies King Canyon Resort. Our guests enjoy resort rooms and superb dining in Carmichaels Restaurant, featuring contemporary menus inspired by local Northern Territory produce and complemented with Australian wines. Rooms are comfortable Standard Rooms featuring either two double beds or one queen bed with ensuite.
Desert Gardens Hotel
During our stay at Uluru we spend 2 nights at the superb Voyagers Ayers Rock Resort, staying in the Desert Gardens accommodation within an oasis of native gardens. The resort features the Red Ochre Spa, shops, swimming pools and cafés. Our guests will stay in elegant guest rooms with 1 x Queen or 2 double beds.
From Alice Springs to King Canyon
The Red Centre is a vast area and covers huge distances. Most operators do this area as a circuit covering over 1000km in driving. Our journey has been specifically designed to minimise our travelling time with a direct 1 hour flight from Alice Springs to King Canyon saving almost 4 hours in driving time. See the vast outback from the comfort of your plane as you make your way to King Canyon.
We have also designed our tour to finish in Yulura near Uluru, where you can take advantage of booking direct flights home and again saving a lengthy 5 hour drive back to Alice Springs.
Choose what suits you
We understand when you are travelling with friends and family that your fitness level and abilities may differ from each other. That’s why we offer a flexible walking itinerary offering shorter and more challenging days to suit different levels. With two guides on our walks of 8 or more people, we have the freedom to cater for a range of needs. You also have the option to sit out any day’s walking and enjoy the facilities at your accommodation. You design a schedule that’s right for you!
Make new friends on the trail
Our tours are designed to be personal and intimate. We love the clients we attract on a Life’s An Adventure walking experience. Happy, down to earth people, who are passionate about walking and simply excited to be on holidays. We find our guests often form lifelong friendships on tour as they are travelling with wonderful like-minded people.
Served with Australian wines
On tour you will enjoy fine a la carte dining accompanied with Australian wines. At Kings Canyon Resort dine in Carmichael Restaurant featuring contemporary menus inspired by local Northern Territory produce. At Ayers Rock Resort we dine at both Ikari Restaurant on the first night and Arnguli Grill our final night.
Guest also have the option to upgrade their dining experience on night 3 with a special experience at the award-winning Sounds of Silence (additional costs apply).
Chief Experience Officers
We call our guides CEOs – Chief Experience Officers and it’s their job to ensure your walking tour lives up to to your expectations. Our chief guides have a fun-loving and caring nature as well as being passionate and knowledgable.
All tours are genuinely inclusive. From restaurant meals perfectly matched with Australian wines, to a scenic flight and park fees.
NO Credit Cards Fees!
including Australia's best Adventure Tourism Company
Life’s an Adventure have won 21 Tourism Awards of Excellence including the Qantas Australian Tourism Award for Australia’s Best Adventure Company. Awards are great, but our biggest accolade which we value even more, is that our clients come back and travel with us time and time again.
Cancel for any reason option
FlexiWalk is a new optional Add-On that allows passengers to cancel their tour last minute and not be penalised. Exclusively designed by Life’s An Adventure, this product gives our guests certainty in a time of uncertainty. Click here to find out more details
Optional Sounds of Silence dinner available at Uluru at an additional cost.
FLIGHTS: Book your flights to arrive in Alice Springs any time during the day.
ITINERARY: Fly to Alice Springs. Make your way to your accommodation at the Mercure Alice Springs Resort. Today is at leisure to explore Alice Springs on your own. You may like to visit the many indigenous Art galleries in the city centre or take a short taxi-ride out to the impressive Araluen Arts Centre or Desert Park wildlife park . The Olive Pink Botanic Garden in Alice Springs is also an easy walk or for great views try Billy Goat Hill or ANZAC Hill.
Tonight meet the group at 7.30pm for a welcome dinner at the Mercure Alice Springs Resort with the chance to meet your guide, who will entertain you with stories of the adventures that lie ahead on your 5 day Red Centre experience.
TRAIL NOTES: 12kms. Grade moderate to hard. Some flat sections.
TRANSFERS: Early morning 1 hour flight from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon
ITINERARY: This morning enjoy breakfast before we transfer to Alice Springs airport for an early morning flight over the stunning desert ranges and gorges to Kings Canyon saving us almost 4 hours in driving. Today we walk a section of the Giles Track named after Ernest Giles the 19th-century explorer, the first European to visit this area. The track is one of the hidden gems of the area. We enter a labyrinth of amazing beehive rock formations that remind one of the Bungle Bungles in Western Australia. Domes of layered rock stand up to 15 metres high and the Giles Track weaves its way through these through stunning gullies. After our walk, we make our way to our accommodation at the superb Kings Canyon Resort. Enjoy drinks at their Sunset Viewing Platform as the nearby cliffs glow red and the stars emerge in a brilliant, vast sky. In the evening we enjoy a superb dinner served with wine at Carmichaels Restaurant and share our newly acquired knowledge and experiences of the Red Centre.
TRAIL NOTES: Kings Canyon Rim Walk. 6kms. 4 hours. Moderate to Hard Grade. Or optional shorter walk walk to Kings Creek. 2.6kms. 1 hour walk. Easy
TRANSFERS: Afternoon 3 hours drive from Kings Canyon to Ayers Rock Resort
TERRAIN: This walk climbs steeply to the canyon rim. The path is rocky with many steps. There are unfenced cliff edges on the entirety of the walk. On the canyon rim the track is rocky and uneven underfoot and undulating. The final descent back to the car park is steep with some formed steps.
FLEXIBLE WALKING: A shorter Kings Canyon walking option is also available today to Kings Creek for those not wanting to do the Rim walk.
WALK ITINERARY: After an early breakfast, we lace up our hiking boots and head off to make our way to the rim of the dramatic Kings Canyon. This 6km loop walk starts with its most challenging difficult section, a steep climb from the canyon floor to the rim. But, once up on the rim you will find yourself amongst an amazing landscape of weather-sculpted sandstone pagodas known as the Lost City. From here the track winds around the rim of the canyon above sheer and colourful cliffs that will take your breath away with their grandeur. The walk also passes through the picturesque Garden of Eden, a sacred waterhole filled with lush greenery. The track continues to the southern rim before descending again to the car park. From here we travel to Uluru. Enroute you will stop for a view of the impressive, but less famous, Mount Conner, known locally as ‘Fool-u-ru‘ as its towering silhouette, rising out of the desert horizon, is the first thing you see as you travel west towards its more famous neighbours, Uluru and Kata Tjuta. No brochure or photo can prepare you for the grandeur of the world’s most iconic monolith as it comes into view.
Your next two nights are spent at the beautiful Ayers Rock Resort in the Desert Gardens guest rooms. This resort features a wonderful swimming pool and a diversity of modern dining and bar options. Tonight enjoy a superb dining at Ikari Restaurant showcasing the finest Australian produce with notes of bush tucker flavours throughout perfectly matched with Australian wines.
TRAIL NOTES: Valley of the Winds Walk, 7.4km circuit, 3.5 hours. Moderate to Difficult Grade.
TERRAIN: The Valley of the Winds Walk starts on a well-formed, smooth dirt track. There are some short climbs and descents in and out of each valley. Further within the walk, you will encounter sections of loose rock, sand, and uneven ground underfoot. The Walpa Gorge Walk is mostly flat with some uneven, rocky sections.
FLEXIBLE WALKING: For those after an easier day, skip the morning Valley of the Winds walk and join the group to visit the Cultural Centre. Alternatively, our guests have the freedom to do the Walpa Gorge 2.6km morning walk and skip the afternoon walk and relax at the resort. 1 hour walk.
ITINERARY: After breakfast, we head out on our day’s walk. Today you visit Kata Tjuta meaning ‘many heads’. The enormous domes, 36 in total, rise out of the rolling sand dunes and desert plains to the west of Uluru. Weathered over millions of years, the tallest, Mt Olga, is actually higher than Uluru! Today‘s walk takes you through the heart of these domed monoliths along the Valley of the Winds walk, which winds its way into the shady depths of narrow passages beneath the imposing heads of Kata Tjuta. The Valley of the Winds also features unparalleled views of the spectacular desert landscape from two lookout points along the track.
After experiencing the remote beauty of Kata Tjuta you have free time this afternoon at the Cultural Centre, to deepen your understanding of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Here you can learn about Anangu culture and the park’s natural environment through the exhibits. There are also Aboriginal art galleries and several community-owned shops and facilities.
You return to your accommodation today for a relaxing dinner experience at Arnguli Restaurant enjoying a wonderful menu, that incorporates signature dishes enlivened by indigenous flavours and complemented by Australian fine wines.
OPTIONAL DINING EXPERIENCE: Alternatively our guests have the option of upgrading their dining experience tonight at the amazing ‘Sounds of Silence’ dinner at an additional cost of $130. This unique and award-winning dinner extravaganza begins with canapes and chilled sparkling wine overlooking the National Park and includes didgeridoo performances and an interactive chef’s station where you will be served your choice of meal from a bush tucker inspired menu. Then settle back and listen to a presentation decoding the southern night sky and constellations. This is a 4 hour experience. Please note this experience is on request at time of booking.
OPTIONAL ULURU SUNSET: Alternatively our guests have the option of being taken to see sunset at Uluru instead of the Sounds of Silence dinner.
TRAIL NOTES: Uluru Base Walk, 10km circuit, 3.5 hours. Easy Grade.
TERRAIN: The walk is on a well-formed, smooth and flat, wide dirt track.
ITINERARY: Today you get up close and personal with the Rock and follow in the footsteps of the ancestral beings that shaped the landscape. The Uluru Base Walk is the best way to connect with the rock and learn its stories. The walk is about 10 km and that takes you around the whole circumference. The sheer scale of Uluru, when up close and personal, is really quite extraordinary. As you walk you will pass through acacia woodlands and grassed claypans and encounter bloodwoods, native grasses and waterholes. This is a beautiful and intimate way to end your Red Centre experience.
After the walk, we transfer you to the Ayers Rock (Yulara) airport for your return flight home (2 minute transfer) at the end of a grand journey to the heart of Australia. Book flights from 1.30pm onwards.
NOTE: This walk can be added to our Larapinta walk to create a 10-day walking experience. Click here to view.
We run regular weekly departures during the months of June to August. We will also consider opening up a new departure date if we have enough demand. Email us at walks@lifesanadventure.com.au
PRIVATE GROUPS:
Date of your choice is available for groups of 10 -12 people. Subject to availability.
Please contact us for more details on (02) 9975 4553 or email: groups@lifesanadventure.com.au
Super Earlybird Prices
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Save up to $500 per person |
NEXT SEASON’S DEPARTURES Normal Price……. $5299 FIRST TIME PASSENGERS: TRAVELLED WITH Super Earlybird prices available when you book and pay in full at time of booking. Offer extended till 30 November 2023. See departures dates for specific dates. Normal Price requires $300 deposit only, with final payments due 8 weeks prior. Past passengers $100 extra savings also available on normal price fares. Based on twin share – see details about Single Supplement extras. See full ticket conditions below under Discount information. |
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The following extras can be purchased with your tour: FLEXI-WALK ADD-ON SOLO TRAVELLERS SOLO TRAVELLERS SOUNDS OF SILENCE UPGRADE TRAVEL INSURANCE |
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Private Group Prices
From
$
4799
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Departure of your choice |
PRIVATE GROUPS Departure date of your choice PRICES Departure date of your choice is subjective to availability. A minimum group size of 10 required. Prices are equal to Past Travellers’ discounted rates. Additional Past Traveller’s’ discount not available for groups. Based on twin share – see details about Single Supplement and upgrade extras. |
Click here for full conditions on our FlexiWalk Option.
We strongly advise our clients travelling within Australia to take out Travel Insurance.We have partnered with Cover-More to provide travel insurance to our guests. To get a quote or purchase travel insurance directly with them CLICK HERE
If a tour activity has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances a credit for this missed activity can be applied to any future bookings. Click here.
Before you book please read our Booking Terms and Conditions. Click here.