Outback Adventure
Outback Adventure
Outback Adventure
15 Days Starting in Adelaide, South Australia and ending in Darwin, Northern Territory
Visiting: Adelaide, Clare Valley, Hawker, Flinders Ranges, Wilpena Creek, Wangara Hill, Pichi Richi Pass, Quorn, Port Augusta, Woomera, Coober Pedy, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon, MacDonnell Ranges, Alice Springs, Wycliffe Well, Karlu Karlu, Tennant Creek, Daly Waters Historic Pub, Mataranka, Elsey Homestead, Katherine, Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge, Kakadu National Park, Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu, Arnhem Land, Ubirr, Darwin, Litchfield National Park, Florence Falls, Wangi Falls, Darwin Harbour
Tour operator:
Tour code:
NAAD24
Age range:
16-
Trip Styles:
Interests:
From:
$6745NB: Prices correct on 01-Jun-2024 but subject to change.
Tour Overview
How do you condense South Australia and the Northern Territory into two weeks? With the kind of skill that comes from operating in Australia for more than a century. This epic exploration traverses record-breaking canyons and gorges, national parks and World Heritage Sites. It’s nature writ large – small wonder TV and movie directors find inspiration here, as you will, too. And then there are the cities, from multicultural Adelaide and the wine country it covets, to steamy Darwin, where sunsets are as brash as the characters that call it home.
Highlights
Itinerary
Day 1 : Welcome To Adelaide
Location: Adelaide
Accommodation Name: Crowne Plaza Adelaide
At once cultured yet cool, Adelaide attracts foodies, historians and art aficionados in equal measure. Explore at your leisure, before meeting a local gourmand to tour the city’s legendary Central Market. This place has been selling cheese, green ant gin and artisan bread for 140-plus years, before joining your Travel Director for a Welcome Dinner.
Day 2 : Adelaide - Flinders Ranges
Location: Clare Valley, Hawker, Flinders Ranges
Accommodation Name: Wilpena Pound Resort
One of Australia’s oldest wine regions, the Clare Valley is all rounded hills, rippling vines and native forest. It’s the postcard-perfect setting for historic Knappstein Enterprise Winery, producing sweet-scented rieslings and mineral-rich reds. The route north lands you at Hawker, the gateway to the Flinders Ranges, but there are plenty of reasons to linger, including well-preserved heritage buildings and the Jeff Morgan Gallery. The best is yet to come, as you arrive at Wilpena Pound Resort in the shadows of a staggering natural amphitheatre. Know that your MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience visit to the resort helps by contributing towards the sustainable economic future of the Adnyamathanha who in turn work with the resort to minimize the environmental footprint and participate in the conservation of the region.
Day 3 : Flinders Ranges - Port Augusta
Location: Wilpena Creek, Wangara Hill, Pichi Richi Pass, Quorn, Port Augusta
Accommodation Name: Majestic Oasis Apartments
The river red gums that envelop Hills Homestead will leave you lost for words. You get here on a leisurely walk along Wilpena Creek and continue to Wangarra Hill Lookout for views over the pound’s peaks and curves. The drama is echoed as you climb to Pichi Richi Pass and the historic town of Quorn, where with a Local Guide, you'll hear the importance of this town in the ANZAC's Gallipoli Campaign, before easing into Port Augusta.
Day 4 : Port Augusta - Coober Pedy
Location: Woomera, Coober Pedy
Accommodation Name: Desert Cave Hotel
The main attraction in Woomera is a former rocket-testing site, today stocked with disused rockets and missiles. Speaking of space, you’ll think you’ve landed on the moon as you travel through sun-baked country to Coober Pedy, known as ‘the opal capital of the world’. Things get deep as you travel underground to visit the town’s head-scratching subterranean facilities.
Day 5 : Coober Pedy - Uluru
Location: Coober Pedy, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
Accommodation Name: Desert Gardens
Emerge from your cave and cross the border into the Northern Territory. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park has World Heritage status for a reason; under the gaze of the world’s mightiest monolith, toast the end of the day with a glass of bubbles and a camera full of sunset photos. Help protect the highlights of Australia's wilderness through your bucket list visit to Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park.
Day 6 : Uluru Sunrise & Kata Tjuta
Location: Uluru, Kata Tjuta
Accommodation Name: Desert Gardens
Pre-dawn wake-up calls are worth it when you get to enjoy a Red Centre sunrise. On this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience you’ll encounter the iconic Uluru, or ‘The Rock,’ half a billion years old, standing 348 meters high and taller than the Eiffel Tower. Marvel at the majesty of Uluru as you circumnavigate its base or join a guided walk to Mutitjulu Waterhole. This landscape takes you back to the beginning of time, a sacred place among the Anangu people. More soul-salving landscapes await at Kata Tjuta, cool relief provided as you walk amid its domes to Walpa Gorge.
Day 7 : Uluru - Kings Canyon
Location: Uluru, Kings Canyon
Accommodation Name: Kings Canyon Resort
Another sunrise excursion awaits, with this morning’s optional tour to Bruce Munro's Uluru Field of Light – a blanket of 50,000 glowing bulbs. Next chance to stretch your legs is at Kings Creek Station, the largest exporter of wild camels in Australia. All your senses will be activated at Kings Canyon, 440-million years in the making.
Day 8 : Kings Canyon - Alice Springs
Location: Kings Canyon, MacDonnell Ranges, Alice Springs
Accommodation Name: Doubletree by Hilton Alice Springs
Things are bigger in the NT outback, from the cattle stations to the MacDonnell Ranges, which stretch like a dinosaur spine toward Alice Springs. Aside from its plethora of Aboriginal galleries and art stores, Alice makes Australian history for her 1872 Telegraph Station, one of 12 along the Overland Telegraph Line between Adelaide and Darwin.
Day 9 : Alice Springs
Location: Alice Springs
Accommodation Name: Doubletree by Hilton Alice Springs
Aboriginal culture is strong in Alice, as you’ll fast find on a tour revealing the history of the Arrernte people at the Alice Springs Desert Park. The other thing that’s mighty is community spirit – it’s essential when there are so few people scattered over such a vast area of land. Enter the Royal Flying Doctor Service, its base a museum that goes behind the scenes of the life-saving health services delivered to people in remote realms. One of the benefits of being this far-flung is the lack of light pollution. And at Earth Sanctuary World Nature Centre, this equates to epic stargazing. Your Be My Guest BBQ dinner here with the Falzon family is enlightening and uplifting.
Day 10 : Alice Springs - Tennant Creek
Location: Alice Springs, Wycliffe Well, Karlu Karlu, Tennant Creek
Accommodation Name: Bluestone Motor Inn
1.3 million square kilometers – that’s the eye-watering distance the School of Air’s lessons are broadcast across daily. Learn how teachers interact with children who would otherwise have no access to education. It doesn’t matter how studious you are, you might just believe in aliens when you pass Wycliffe Well, the self-proclaimed ‘UFO capital’ of Australia. It’s the devil (well, his marbles) that awaits at Karlu Karlu, where precariously balanced boulders appear superglued together.
Day 11 : Tennant Creek - Katherine
Location: Daly Waters Historic Pub, Mataranka, Elsey Homestead, Katherine
Accommodation Name: Contour Hotel Katherine
Since the 1930s, the Daly Waters Historic Pub has been dishing up schnitzels, barramundi burgers and hearty steaks. The walls are lined with treasures that passers-by leave behind. ‘Land of the Never Never’ awaits at Mataranka. Visit a replica of the Elsey Homestead, used in 1982 Aussie drama We of the Never Never. Or wander palm-lined walkways to take a dip in the region’s thermal springs.
Day 12 : Katherine - Kakadu
Location: Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge, Kakadu National Park, Yellow Water Billabong
Accommodation Name: Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel
The Jawoyn have called Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge home for millennia. You can feel their presence as you cruise the waterway, home to more than a few resident crocs. They’ll make another appearance in Kakadu, when you explore Yellow Water Billabong. You don’t need binoculars to spot the sea eagles, brolgas and kingfishers; they’re everywhere you look.
Day 13 : Kakadu - Darwin
Location: Kakadu, Arnhem Land, Ubirr, Darwin
Accommodation Name: Hilton Garden Inn Darwin
Decisions, decisions: optional morning flight over Kakadu and Arnhem Land, or a sleep in. We vote for the former before you venture toward Ubirr and its ancient Aboriginal rock art. The night is yours in steamy Darwin, where the characters are as large as the shadows cast at sunset.
Day 14 : Litchfield National Park
Location: Litchfield National Park, Florence Falls, Wangi Falls, Darwin Harbour
Accommodation Name: Hilton Garden Inn Darwin
Nature rules today, your explorations into Litchfield National Park revealing magnetic termite mounds standing two metres tall. And then there are the waterfalls: Florence, for its dreamy cascades, and Wangi, where you can cool off in a crystal-clear waterhole (swimming is seasonal). See the NT capital in a new light when you venture out on a Darwin Harbour Cruise, your sparkling wine glass full to toast your last evening on this epic adventure.
Day 15 : Farewell From Darwin
Location: Darwin
Time to bid adieu and head home to sort through all those photos. Even better are the memories; two weeks of wild outback adventures.
What's Included
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What's included
• Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver that are accredited with Uluru & Kakadu National Parks
• 2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park & Kakadu National Park
• Centrally located premium hotels
• Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park & Kakadu National Park entrance fees
Private Arrival and Departure Transfers -
What to Bring
• Water bottle
• Warm layers in cooler months
• Camera
• Comfortable walking shoes
• Sunglasses, sunscreen and hat -
Dining
• 8 Dinners with Wine
• 15 Full Breakfasts
• 1 Be My Guest Dinner
• 1 Farewell Dinner
• 1 Lunch
• 1 Dinner
Mode of Transport
Day 1 – flights to arrive prior to 12.30pm into Adelaide Airport
Day 15 – flights to depart anytime from Darwin Airport
Flights are not included in the holiday price
Return airport to hotel transfers are included in the holiday price
Accommodation
Your Guided Holiday includes a range of quality accommodation for your comfort. The accommodation you will enjoy on this tour includes: Crowne Plaza Adelaide, Wilpena Pound Resort, Majestic Oasis Apartments, Desert Cave Hotel, Desert Gardens, Kings Canyon Resort, Doubletree by Hilton Alice Springs, Bluestone Motor Inn, Contour Hotel Katherine, Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel, Hilton Garden Inn Darwin.
Check out our Q&As
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Who will be my travelling companions on the tour?
The beauty of taking a holiday with us is you’ll have the opportunity to meet and travel with people from all over the globe.
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Can I join the tour once it has departed?
It is important to adhere to departure times while on tour for the comfort of everyone on-board, and to make sure no one misses out on the planned experiences. The coach will not be able to wait for you, and in some instances, if you miss a departure time you will need to make your own way to the next destination to re-join the tour.
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Do you operate a “single share” option and how does it work?
AAT Kings operated Guided Holidays have competitive single supplement rates available if you prefer to confirm your own room. Or we can match you to share with a guest of the same gender at no extra cost. If we fail to match you, we will accommodate you in a single room at no extra cost.
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How long has the tour company been trading?
Over 100 years
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What documents will I receive before I travel?
We will email your documents to you approximately four weeks before your departure date provided you have completed your pre trip registration using the My Travel Portal. If you’ve booked through a travel agent, your documents will be emailed directly to your agent.
Reviews of this operator
1 Dates & Availability
Tuesday - Tuesday
Aug 06, 2024 - Aug 20, 2024Book with Confidence
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Low Deposit
AAT Kings requires a minimum deposit of 100 GBP per person or the full booking value, whichever is less, with the final balance not due until 60 days before departure.
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Cancellation Policy
We don't charge a cancellation fee, here is a summary of aat kings charges.
Up to 60 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of deposit.
At 59 days before tour starts: Forfeit 30% of booking price.
At 15 days before tour starts: Forfeit 50% of booking price.
At 7 days before tour starts: Forfeit 90% of booking price.
At 1 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of booking price.
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