An Epic Journey Through Australia's Northern Territory
- Danielle Dybiec
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Uluru is a huge sandstone monolith in Australia's Northern Territory, the "Red Centre" of Australia. Fun fact: A freestanding mountain like this is also known as an inselberg when it's not part of a larger mountain range. Whatever you call it, Uluru is undeniably impressive (taller than the Eiffel Tower!) and a home to sacred sites and stories; the indigenous Anangu believe it was created by ancestral beings and is a resting place for ancient spirits. To best experience Uluru, I'll help you craft a respectful itinerary that makes the most of this entire magical region.
Article below by Alexandra Carlton from 2/28/2025 can found here.
Experience Indigenous history and culture on an epic journey through the Outback. Virtuoso on-site tour connections craft bespoke journeys across Australia. The Tailor has created a new custom itinerary to complement the route below; work with your Virtuoso travel advisor to book the experience.
For those who have yet to see it firsthand, Australia’s 500-million-year-old Red Centre can be hard to comprehend. First, the colors: iron-red sand, straw-yellow grasses, and the shifting gold-to-purple face of Uluru as light moves overhead. Then, the expanse: This swath of the Northern Territory – including Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Kings Canyon, and the town of Alice Springs – is roughly the same size as Texas. Beyond physical features, descriptions become less tangible.
“There’s definitely a sense of a living spirit, right there in the land – a sense of magic,” says Louise Lanyon, general manager of the Red Centre luxury tented camp Longitude 131°.
In the heart of the Outback, Uluru rises 1,100 feet above the desert. Together with Kata Tjuta, 35 miles to the west, it forms a sacred site that’s integral to Anangu (Traditional Owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park) and their Tjukurpa (creation) stories. A UNESCO World Heritage area, the national park introduces travelers to the world’s oldest living culture through their ancestral land.
To really appreciate this living history, slow down and spend several days in one spot, allowing time for the rhythms of the Northern Territory’s desert and wetlands to emerge – the scurry of sand goannas, the scent of water lilies in a billabong, and the crack of lightning across Kata Tjuta’s rock formations. The land “up north” is ever-changing, and it inevitably changes everyone who visits.
Northern Territory | 8-Day Itinerary
Days 1-3: Uluru and the Red Centre
Days 4-5: Darwin via Alice Springs
Days 1-3: Uluru and the Red Centre
After a three-hour flight from Sydney or Melbourne, check into one of the 16 tented pavilions at Longitude 131° to get a first – and lasting – impression of Uluru. Located at the edge of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Longitude is the only camp with direct views of Uluru and Kata Tjuta, a collection of domed sandstone boulders (its name means “many heads” in the local Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara languages). After the sun sets over the park, the Southern Cross and Milky Way streak the night sky – during clear weather, they’re visible from the private plunge pools outside each tent.
Uluru is central to everything here. In the daylight, guided walks around its base offer new perspectives on the monolith. A six-mile trek takes three to four hours (much of it on boardwalks) and cuts through surprisingly diverse terrain, from forest to exposed desert. Wildlife largely keeps to itself, although dingoes or camels occasionally make an appearance. Keep your eyes peeled for small movements in the sand: a thorny devil lizard or sand goanna (a much larger desert lizard). Along the route, guides shed light on traditional Anangu Tjukurpa knowledge.
To gain some perspective (and height), on day three, join a charter plane excursion that circles Uluru and other landmarks, such as the Northern Territory’s largest saltwater lake, the swirling, blue-and-violet Amadeus, and the dramatic red sandstone gorges of Kings Canyon, around 170 miles north. Back at Longitude 131°, the spa offers bush-medicine body treatments with unbroken views of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Book a massage employing irmangka-irmangka (scented emu bush) balm or a full-body exfoliation with wattleseed. Later, slip into the plunge pool to sip a margarita made with local lemon myrtle and saltbush and watch the colors fade over Uluru.
Days 4-5: Darwin via Alice Springs
Another 300 miles northeast along the Red Centre Way, on the traditional land of the Arrernte people, Alice Springs (population 30,000) is the region’s cultural heart. There, the Araluen Cultural Precinct hosts theater performances, gallery exhibits, museum collections, and a research center preserving records of the Aboriginal Australian experience. At the Araluen Arts Centre, check out permanent and traveling exhibitions such as the national Archibald Prize in portraiture.
The next day, board a two-hour flight to the Northern Territory’s capital, Darwin. About as Australian as it gets, the town of fewer than 150,000 residents likes its beers cold, its humor spicy, and its dress code relaxed (shorts and T-shirts). Stop by Aboriginal Bush Traders for Northern Territory keepsakes, including Indigenous fashion, natural skincare, books, and artwork. For a true taste of Darwin today, book a table for dinner at Ella by Minoli, a Sri Lankan restaurant with its heart in the Top End tropics. Order the banana leaf barramundi curry and a passion-fruit martini. After dinner (from late-April to late-October), browse the Mindil Beach Sunset Market’s Aboriginal art, bush products, and leather goods.
Days 6-8: Mary River Wetlands and Kakadu National Park
On a 30-minute charter flight east from Darwin, scan the horizon for brumbies (wild Australian horses) galloping across the floodplains. In the wetlands of the Northern Territory’s Top End, the desert wildlife gives way to wandering magpie geese, whistling ducks, water lilies, and buffalo herds. Australian beef cattle also graze the land on stations that can span up to 3 million acres. By comparison, Swim Creek Station extends for merely 119,000 acres along the Mary River wetlands and Kakadu National Park. The working buffalo and cattle station is home to a 12-suite safari-tent lodge, Bamurru Plains.
Days at the lodge are spent exploring wildlife via four-wheel drive or boat. A tree walk – 20 feet aboveground – puts bird-watchers right in the canopy to look for 250 native species, among them long-legged jabirus and electric-blue sacred kingfishers that call the wetlands home. The Bininj and Mungguy people, traditional custodians of Kakadu National Park, have lived in the region for 65,000 years; learn about their history and traditions on an Aboriginal-led Guluyambi cultural cruise on the East Alligator River (be on the lookout for its namesake reptiles). The experience ends on the Arnhem Land side of the river, where Aboriginal guides share stories and teach bush survival skills.
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