Uluru National Park (Ayers Rock) Travel Forum

I'm attending a wedding in Melbourne at the end of May. I have 2 weeks after the wedding to spend in Australia and would love to see the interior. Questions:
1. Do any companies other than QANTAS fly to Alice Springs
2. Are there any other flight options other than Alice Springs to see Uluru
3. How feasible would driving be, in terms of time taken and conditions at this time of year
4. Are there companies who would arrange tours to go from Melbourne up to Uluru and the area and back?
Thank you

About flights;
Qantas (Airlink) is flying to Alice Springs and to Ayers Rock, which is veru close to Uluru. You also could consider an one way drive by car between these two destinations (as we did).
See for more info and pics about this desert adventure:
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/7c27b/1cb166/

happy travels
Jaap

Now is a good a time as any for this trip.
Depending on how long you would like to spend on this trip and how much you wish to see, try :-

http://www.adventuretours.com.au/index.php/tour/vic/10_day_melbourne_to_alice_springs

http://www.ozexperience.com/index.php/travel/passes_national/fish_hook_pass_melbourne_to_alice_springs

http://tours.hotel.com.au/tours/ayers-rock-to-melbourne-flying-experience.asp

There are quite a few more companies doing this.

why don't take the train from adelaide?....it's an opportunity

Hmmm...if you have a month then I'd say drive but since only 2 weeks then you should fly. To go by train would be interesting for the first hour but as soon as you have seen 2 hours of the desert the next 24 hours or more would become rather monotonous. Just check out the internet for bus camping tours to go on when you get there as there are many things to see apart fron a giant rock but you have to travel a little bit. Have a great trip!

I would not recommend you drive there and back in two weeks, just not enough time.
It took us four days/three nights to drive from Alice to Adelaide so add another 8 hours to include Melbourne.
A direct flight Melbourne to Uluru (Connellan Airport) is 3 hours. Once there you could hire a car or book a tour. It is only Qantas that fly there, though there's a number of private airlines that fly to 'the rock'.
The same would go for flying to Alice Springs, but it is a long drive so booking a tour from Alice might be a better plan, there's so many tours going from Alice. Plus the flight to Alice would be cheaper than flying to Uluru.
There are coach tours that go from Melbourne to Alice and around the rock. There are many different operators, taking about 10 days one way. You could do this then just fly back to Melbourne.
Just some ideas.....good luck.

A little bit off the subject but is relevant in a way.

Driving up to just north of Brisbane from Geelong in southern Victoria, some years back, took us three days (each consisting of ten hours of driving). Once at our destination, it took a full day to rest and wind down from the long journey. Admittedley we took the coast road, the usual route is inland via the Newell Hwy, but that is just desert and scrub most of the way .. and we did not fancy that at all.
The journey back took the same amount of time and the same amount of recouperation once we arrived home. So - for a two week vacation, six days were spent travelling, two days were spent recovering. Which left all of six days for fun, leisure, relaxation and other things :-)

It was worth it - but another very long driving trip is postponed for the moment until we have got the extra time required.

Another family did the same trip but instead of driving ten hours stints then resting they drove all the way non-stop. They ended up in hospital with dehydration and exhaustion - one of them in a very serious condition.

So whatever you do .... take your time, rest, relax and enjoy.

Uluru was my absolute favorite trip during my time in Australia. Id recommend flying to Alice Springs (Quantas flys there) and then hopping on a tour. I did a 4 day 3 night tour. It was amazing!! You can definitly see the sights yourself but the tourguides were filled with lots of information and its nice not to have to worry about food/accomodation. I used the tour company adventure tours and they were amazing!!! Oh PS stay in Melankas. Its an awesome hostel/hotel in Alice springs! Have an amazing time!!

And if you have 2 weeks, why fly up to Darwin and do Kakadu as well?