Untamed Escapes camping tour · Desert Gardens Hotel, Yulara
This seven-day Untamed Escapes camping trip starts at Yulara at 2pm and ends in Adelaide around 6:30pm, with Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon first, a night underground in Coober Pedy and two days in the Flinders Ranges. It suits travellers who fly into Uluru and want to finish with the long road south.
Plenty of travellers fly into Uluru, and this tour picks them up there. You meet your guide at the Desert Gardens Hotel in Yulara at 2pm and go straight to the Cultural Centre and an Uluru sunset. Day two walks Walpa Gorge at Kata Tjuta and does a guided Uluru Base Walk, with the option of the Field of Light in the evening. Day three heads to Kings Canyon, where you hike the Rim Walk that day or early the next, depending on conditions.
Day four is the big one: south across the Northern Territory border to Coober Pedy. One guest puts it at about 12 hours on the road. You check in to a 5-share underground dorm at Radeka Downunder and have free time to explore the town and find dinner. In the morning the group tours Old Timers Mine, learns about the opal rush and tries noodling for opal fragments before heading south to camp at Warren Gorge. The Flinders Ranges follow, with the Jeff Morgan Gallery in Hawker, the Arkaroo Rock Walk and a night at Wilpena Pound, then the Clare Valley, a wine tasting and the Whispering Wall in the Barossa on the last day.
It is a real camping trip. Five nights are in swags at campgrounds with basic toilets and showers, you help with meals and packing up, and walks run 3 to 12 km on some days. Bring a sleeping bag and pillow. Six breakfasts and three dinners, all activities and every park fee are included. Guests rate it 4.7 from 14 reviews. The tour needs four people to run (if it doesn't, your money moves to another date or comes back in full), and free cancellation runs up to 7 days before.
Meet at 2pm at the Desert Gardens Hotel, visit the Cultural Centre and watch the Uluru sunset. Day two walks Walpa Gorge, then the guided Uluru Base Walk, with dinner on your own or the Field of Light.
On to Watarrka National Park and the Rim Walk, today or early tomorrow depending on conditions, and a swag night at Kings Creek Station.
A long day across the outback into South Australia. Check in to the 5-share underground dorm at Radeka Downunder, then free time to explore and find dinner.
The morning at Old Timers Mine, learning the town's opal history and noodling for fragments, then south to camp at Warren Gorge, home of yellow-footed rock wallabies.
Hawker and the Jeff Morgan Gallery, the Arkaroo Rock Walk and its Adnyamathanha rock art, then camp at Wilpena Pound, with a talk on Yura culture when timing allows.
Orroroo, Burra and the silo art, a wine tasting in the Clare Valley, the Whispering Wall in the Barossa, and Adelaide around 6:30pm.
★★★★★What a FABULOUS Outback experience! Shout-out to our tour guide (Leah & Siahn) excellent work during the whole trip!!! They're very knowledgeable, energetic, friendly and thoughtful, made the trip fun and alive! [...] Definitely worth and recommended!
★★★★★If you want to experience the Outback then this tour is for you! Our guide Steve was amazing and he had a lot of knowledge about the areas and the history of them. This tour is full of hikes where we saw the most amazing locations. We slept mostly under the stars to get the true outback feeling.
★★★★★well planned, amazing walks & activities & a really good guide (elliott!!) who taught us a lot about aboriginal culture & different stories about the history of the landscapes
★★★★★The trip was excellent ! My partner and I spent 7 days with amazing people visiting amazing things. We are super happy for having that experience! I recommend 100%!
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On the evening of day four, after the drive south from Kings Canyon. You sleep underground at Radeka Downunder and visit Old Timers Mine the next morning. Radeka Downunder is a motel and backpacker inn on the main street of Coober Pedy. Its South Australian Tourism Commission listing puts its underground rooms between about 3.5 m and 6.5 m below the surface.
It starts at the Desert Gardens Hotel at Ayers Rock Resort in Yulara at 2pm on day one and ends in Adelaide around 6:30pm on day seven.
The listing says the tour needs four people to run. If a departure is cancelled for low numbers, your money moves to a future date, or you get a full refund if that does not suit.
Not in the base price. On day two you can choose your own dinner or upgrade to the Field of Light experience. The Field of Light sunrise tour is a separate option at Uluru.
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Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon first, then a night underground in Coober Pedy and the Flinders Ranges on the way to Adelaide.
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