My name is Eddy Valenbreder, National Training Manager of Cornucopia. I was lucky enough to be one of the two winners of the December 2016 ‘Ultimate Outback Experience’ by Cornucopia. The prize to this competition was a 3-day tour to Ayers Rock and surroundings. Enjoy my blog about this awesome and exciting getaway!
Day 1 – Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre + Uluru
Waking up from a nice sleep in the beautiful Hilton hotel in Alice Springs the tour guide picked us up from our hotel at 5 AM. This is when we met the rest of the group and we were on our way to Ayers Rock. Our first stop when we arrived in the Kata Tjuta National Park was the Cultural Centre. As I had very limited knowledge of the aboriginal history this was the perfect start of the tour.
After the Cultural Centre we went straight to Uluru / Ayer’s Rock. It was breathtaking and I sure have never seen a rock that big before in my life. We did several small hikes around interesting sights of ‘The Rock’ and the guide gave us a rich background of the Uluru history / spiritual significance.
We had dinner at ‘The Rock’ at sunset which gave us an amazing view of Uluru and how magical the place actually is. After everyone filled their stomach and their camera rolls it was time to go to our campsite where we literally slept under the stars!
Day 2 – Uluru sunrise + The Valley of Winds
We woke up early in the morning to pack up our camp and we drove back to the base of Uluru where we, after seeing the sunset yesterday, enjoyed the sunrise. I can definitely say that this was the most beautiful place I ever had breakfast, unfortunately the million flies that wanted my food thought the same.
We said our final goodbye to Uluru and we drove off to ‘The Valley of Winds’. We did a 3 hour hike where we learned more about the rich aboriginal history of this place.
We drove off to our campsite close to Kings Canyon where we could enjoy a nice and refreshing outside pool before we had a nice dinner and bonfire for the evening. I actually learned how to make bread on a bonfire so you could say this was also a cooking tour.
Day 3 – Kings Canyon
Early in the morning we drove off to Kings Canyon to make sure we could enjoy the sunrise while on top of the canyon. After all the amazing landscapes and views of the past days this was the place that I found the most breathtaking. We did a 3 hour hike around the canyon and each view was more beautiful than the other.
We drove back to Alice Springs where we met up with the group in the evening for some drinks to recap our awesome tour before I went back to the Hilton for a nice and, much needed, comfy bed.
I would like to thank Cornucopia for this amazing tour. I have never been to the Australian Outback but this sure was the best Outback experience I could imagine!
