日本語 Uluru
See Uluru
Few visitors to Uluru (Ayers Rock) return unchanged. It is immense in size – 9.3 kilometres in circumference – yet more than two thirds of the rock is actually hidden beneath the ground. The rock and the surrounding land has huge spiritual significance for the Anangu Aboriginal people – you can learn about this by taking a cultural tour with an Aboriginal guide. Or how about a campfire dinner, savouring barramundi, emu or kangaroo underneath an incomparable starlit sky? Encounter the landscape on a camel’s back, from a light plane, or on a Harley Davidson! Or just absorb the rock’s sheer beauty as it outshines even the brilliant sunset at Australia’s spiritual heart.
Play golf in Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy in South Australia offers something different for golfers– a course without a single blade of grass, and greens of oiled sand. Coober Pedy, the “opal capital of the world”, is so hot that 80% of residents live underground. You can escape the heat in a cave hotel – cool!
Ride ‘The Ghan’
Australia’s long-distance trains make phenomenal outback viewing platforms. Since only 2004, the legendary Ghan train has run from Adelaide right through to Darwin via Alice Springs. At 2979 kilometres, it’s the longest north-south train track in the world.
Visit an Outback pub
Outback pubs, built to quench legendary thirsts, are full of great stories. Friendly locals and shimmering landscapes make the Outback a fantastic place to explore, and a magical place to unwind and take it easy in the evenings. The Daly Waters Pub is an old pub oozing the history of early explorers and drovers – it’s near (well, 270km south of) Katherine in the Northern Territory, in a town with a population of about 23.
Look for gold
There are many old goldfields in Australia. Back in the goldrush of the 1890s, one of the richest was Kalgoorlie in Western Australia’s ‘Goldfields’ region. An authentic frontier town, Kalgoorlie is still a gold mining town today, and you can ‘pan’ for pieces of gold in the town before enjoying cold beers in one of the town’s historic pubs and hotels.
