Exploring Alice Springs and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National park by Motorbike

This small group tour begins with a welcome reception and dinner in Alice Springs. The afternoon will include a safety and road awareness briefing. Packing up and general preparations ready for the ride that commences on day 3.

We have a walking tour of historic Alice Springs including a talk at the Central Desert regional council offices. In the afternoon we have a talk about the contemporary Aboriginal art movement to complement the visit earlier today.

This afternoon there will be depending on participant numbers unto 3 hour in the field tuition on managing your bike when riding on gravel.

This is a day to discover the secrets of the Australian deserts, the plants and animals, and their traditional use by Aboriginal people. These are all impressively presented at the Alice Springs Desert Park. We also plan to visit the Old Telegraph Station next to the springs which gave the town its name. This is a short ride today.

Today is a leisure day before we leave Alice Springs early the following day.

We head south along the Stuart Highway with a diversion to visit the Henbury Meteorite Reserve. The small craters result from the impact of meteorites from outer space. We then follow the Lasseter Highway west to Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park, where we settle into the resort before setting off to watch the sunset over Uluru.

The only way to truly experience Uluru (Ayers Rock) is to visit it. No picture can show the magnificence of the size and colours of the rock (348 m high). Like the Olgas, Uluru is set within the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, and the same pass that you use for the Olgas covers Ayers Rock. Take a wonderful day walking around “The Rock” inside this World Heritage National Park without climbing it out of respect for the traditional owners.

In the afternoon we will also explore the interesting and sculptured Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), a mass of smaller nearby monoliths, full of legends. Enjoy the spectacular scenery and watch the sun set there.

Travel to Watarrka National Park (Kings Canyon), a wonderful area for walking through a colourful and sculptured landscape. This is an area of grand scenic vistas. Breathtaking, 300 m, sheer cliff faces, a geological “lost city” of sandstone domes, and a cycad-fringed waterhole are among the special highlights and are a spectacular climax to the day accompanied by a local guide.

Explore around Kathleen Gorge within the Watarrka National Park. This is one of the most spectacular spots in Central Australia. Discover something about the Aboriginal life and traditions of this region.

Make an excursion to the Finke Gorge National Park, where tall cabbage palms and other rare plants grow along the several water-courses which cut through this park’s dry stony hills. The remarkable scenery includes the picturesque Palm Valley. We travel round to Glen Helen.

Travel via the Mereenie Loop Road to visit Tnorala (Gosse Bluff), where a comet crashed to earth 142 million years ago forming a mammoth crater surrounded by tall rock hills. This area is now a conservation reserve. Travel from here on to Hermannsberg, the site of an old Lutheran Mission, and once the home of great Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira. We have a guide wth us for the day, in the afternoon we return to Alice Springs.

This small group travels today to explore and learn about the West MacDonnell Ranges. This is Namatjira country and true to the famous artist’s colours. Visit many features along this dazzling drive, including Simpson’s Gap, Standley Chasm, the ochre pits and Glen Ormiston.

The West MacDonnells landscapes are internationally famous.

Today this small group tour explores the best features of the East MacDonnell Ranges which, although less famous than the West MacDonnells, are equally as impressive. Excursions include the old gold town of Arltunga, as well as Trephina Gorge and Emily and Jessie Gaps, along with significant relics of Aboriginal heritage.

Tour concludes after breakfast.