5 Star Review from Michelle.
I thoroughly enjoyed this tour as I love outback country. All travel is on sealed roads. Be prepared for a few long travel days, as there are some big distances to cover, but we had good stops at least every couple of hours on those long days. There are a number of very early mornings, and if you’re doing the tour in winter, make sure you have your winter woolies, as it was very cold, particularly to watch the sunrise at Uluru!! Accommodation was excellent all the way. The rooms at Wilpena Pound Resort were more basic than the others, but they were comfortable and clean, and in a beautiful bush setting. Meals were fabulous, with plenty to choose from the set tour menu for each course, even for me being GF. Breakfasts in SA were by preorder due to COVID19 restrictions on buffets, but there were great buffet breakfasts in NT. As can be expected due to the isolation, costs for food/drinks/snacks/coffees at the outback roadhouses/shops are fairly high. If you need special dietary snacks/biscuits, I would suggest buying these at the supermarkets along the way, as not many of the roadhouses have these available. Strangely we saw only a handful of kangaroos the whole trip, but we did see a herd of about 20 camels as we drove out to Uluru, which was a treat. Huge flocks of wild budgies and cockatiels were seen all the time rising from the trees or off the road. The 3 hour walk at Wilpena Pound was lovely, and you can do as much as you like. It’s only at the end that you can choose to climb up an uneven rock path to get to the lookout over the pound before you head back down along the same flat track. I did the 11km Uluru base walk and thoroughly enjoyed it. The walk is completely flat on a dirt/sand track. Most of it isn’t right at the base, but this gives you better views from a distance. You are given 3.5 hours to do the walk, and once you start walking, you’re committed, as the bus won’t pick you up from anywhere other than where they drop you off! A few of our group did the 3 hour King’s Canyon Rim Walk which they said was great, with views down into the canyon, however it starts off with 500 steep and uneven rock steps, so you need to be able to handle the steps and definitely not be afraid of heights if you want to take on that loop walk! The rest of us did the lovely canyon floor walk which took us just over an hour. We marveled at the amazing red canyon walls, beautiful white gums in the dry riverbed, and beautiful birds. Our tour director Dave Overton was fantastic - very friendly, helpful and funny, and he gave just the right amount of interesting commentary, without overloading us. Tom our driver was also excellent and friendly, and a very safe and careful driver. The bus had very comfortable leather seats, plenty of leg room, big windows for sightseeing, and a toilet on board if needed. Although they do have free Wi-Fi on board, it’s quite spasmodic, and on some days you can go hours without any internet or phone reception. It wasn’t until the start of the tour that I found that AAT Kings always run 3 different tours concurrently, so you may find that on the bus there will be guests doing the full Adelaide to Darwin tour, some are only doing the Adelaide to Alice Springs tour, and other guests will join you at Uluru for the Uluru to Darwin tour, so don’t be surprised if there are guests coming and going on the bus! Thanks to Georgie Walpole and the team for their assistance in keeping me appraised of things with my booking, and also with the ease that they transferred another booking to 2022 for me. This is the second time I’ve used Global Journeys, and I will continue to do so in the future.
5 Star Review from Alick.
I rated this trip as a 10/10 adventure based on the scenery, the experiences in terms of the Bungles, Emma Gorge and Zebedee Gorge, the 4 boat trips and the overall wilderness, which were all enhanced by AAT's Nellie and Mark.
4 Star Review from Ken.
A great way to see the diversity of Western Australia from the red dust in the Pilbara to the pristine blue waters of the Indian Ocean. While some early starts and long days are a necessity the coach was very comfortable, cleaned daily and sanitised regularly. Be prepared for cold nights and some windy days at this time of the year. If you want to see wildflowers I would suggest taking this trip in late August/September. Global Journeys took the hassle out of organising this trip. Everything went smoothly and a thanks to Georgie for her help.
4 Star Review from Margaret.
First time to join ATT King tour to Uluru which is different than normal group tour. The tour has different groups join in. They cancelled the Kata Tjuta Sunset in the first day is good, because the second day Sunset tour is the same thing! BBQ dinner was super! 4 days break is good enough. Spent a lot of time travel from Alice Spring to Uluru.
5 Star Review from Denise & Sarah.
First time touring with AAT Kings but we'd travelled previously with associated companies Trafalgar and Insight Vacations. The top end scenery was great and we saw and did what we expected: swimming in waterfalls, Katherine Gorge cruise, Kakadu cruise, saw fresh and saltwater crocodiles, lots of birdlife and Aboriginal art on sandstone cliffs. The colours in this area are so vibrant! Accommodation was good, everything worked but don't expect anything flash. Included food was ok. The Tour Director told us at the tour meeting at the start that there were limited food options available due to lack of hospitality staff, we had to buy sandwiches for lunch every day as that was all that was available. There was only 1 optional and we didn't do that. A full bus of Aussies - all states except Tassie represented and all travellers were on time. Excellent Tour Director - Liz, she shared her extensive knowledge of flora and fauna as well as the local history. Thoroughly enjoyable tour.
