10 Things to Do at Uluru That Don't Involve Staring at the Rock
Uluru dominates the conversation so completely that people forget there's an entire national park, a resort village, and 30,000 years of culture surrounding it. The rock is magnificent — obviously. But if you've flown to the middle of the Australian outback, you should see more than one sandstone formation.
Here are 10 experiences that most visitors either miss or don't know exist.
1. Walk the Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta
Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) is 45 minutes from Uluru and receives a fraction of the visitors. The Valley of the Winds walk (7.4km loop, 3-4 hours) is the best hike in the Red Centre — threading between massive domed rock formations, through narrow gorges where the wind sounds like breathing, and past lookout points where the 36 domes stretch to the horizon.
The trail closes when temperatures exceed 36 degrees C (common in summer), so go early. Same park pass as Uluru (AUD 38, valid 3 days).
Honestly? If I could only do one thing at Uluru-Kata Tjuta, I'd choose this hike over watching sunset at Uluru. The scale is more intimate and the experience more physical.
2. Ride a Camel at Sunrise
Uluru Camel Tours runs sunrise and sunset rides through the red desert with Uluru as the backdrop. AUD 130 for the 1-hour sunrise ride, which includes billy tea and damper (bush bread) afterward.
The camels are gentle. The pace is slow. And there's something genuinely funny about approaching Australia's most sacred site on the back of a camel — an animal that was imported for desert transport in the 1840s and now numbers over a million in the wild.
The sunrise ride starts at 5:30AM in winter, 4:30AM in summer. Dress warmly — desert mornings are cold (5-10 degrees C in winter).
3. Eat Dinner Under the Stars at Sounds of Silence
Sounds of Silence (AUD 250-370) is a four-course dinner in the open desert with Uluru and Kata Tjuta as the backdrop. After sunset, the lights dim and a star talker guides you through the southern sky.
The food is modern Australian with bush tucker elements — think kangaroo, crocodile, and barramundi alongside traditional sides. The wine is Australian. The tables seat 10, so you dine with strangers, which is either charming or annoying depending on who you're seated with.
A Tali Wiru dinner (AUD 450-570, limited to 20 guests) is the luxury version on a private dune.
Book either at least 2 weeks ahead. They sell out, especially in the cooler months.
4. Walk the Uluru Base at Dawn
The 10.6km base walk takes 3-4 hours and most people do it mid-morning. Wrong. Do it at dawn.
At 5:30AM, you'll have sections entirely to yourself. The light changes minute by minute as the sun rises. The rock surface reveals details invisible in harsh daylight — ancient rock art in cave shelters, waterhole stains, and erosion patterns that look like faces.
Carry at least 2 liters of water even at dawn. The sun heats up fast.
5. Take an Aboriginal Dot Painting Workshop
Maruku Arts at the Cultural Centre runs 90-minute workshops (AUD 50-80) where Anangu artists teach traditional dot painting techniques. You create a small painting on canvas using ochre pigments and learn the symbols — concentric circles for waterholes, U-shapes for sitting people, wavy lines for water.
The workshop is hands-on and the artists are patient. My painting looked like a child's first attempt. The Anangu artist next to me creating the same pattern produced something museum-worthy. Thirty thousand years of practice will do that.
6. Ride the Segway
Uluru Segway Tours (AUD 99-169) cover sections of the base that would take 2 hours on foot in 30-45 minutes. It's genuinely the best way to cover ground if you have mobility issues or limited time.
The 2.5-hour twilight Segway tour combines base exploration with sunset viewing. It feels slightly ridiculous — Segways always do — but the guides are Anangu and share cultural stories at each stop.
7. Visit the Cultural Centre
Free entry. Two exhibition halls — Ininti Store (art and craft sales) and Tjukurpa exhibits explaining Anangu creation stories through displays, videos, and interactive elements.
Spend at least an hour here BEFORE visiting Uluru. The context transforms what you see at the rock. Without it, Uluru is a big red formation. With it, every cave, stain, groove, and fold has meaning.
The center also has a cafe with decent coffee and bush tucker snacks.
8. Photograph Uluru from the Forgotten Lookout
Everyone goes to the car park sunset viewing area. It's crowded, it's fine, it works. But drive to the Kata Tjuta dune viewing area at sunset instead.
From there, you can see BOTH Uluru and Kata Tjuta — the single rock and the 36 domes — separated by 30km of flat desert. The depth of the composition is better, the crowd is 90% smaller, and you can bring a blanket and wine without jostling for space.
9. See the Night Sky with an Astronomer
Astro Tours (AUD 60-120) set up telescopes at a dark-sky site away from the resort lights. In the Red Centre, the Milky Way is so bright it casts shadows. You'll see Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moons, nebulae, and star clusters that are invisible from any city.
The guide explains both Western astronomy and Anangu star knowledge — the dark spaces between stars form shapes (an emu, a possum) that are as important as the bright constellations.
Book the one that runs closest to new moon for the darkest skies.
10. Drive the Red Centre Way to Alice Springs
If you rented a car, don't fly out — drive. The 450km road from Uluru to Alice Springs crosses the Red Centre through some of the most empty, beautiful landscape in Australia.
Stops along the way:
Kings Canyon (Watarrka National Park) — 300km from Uluru. The Rim Walk (6km, 3-4 hours) is spectacular — sandstone walls, Garden of Eden oasis, and views into a canyon that rivals the American Southwest. AUD 15 park entry.
Mt Conner — A flat-topped mesa that people mistake for Uluru from a distance. Free viewing from the highway. Much less dramatic, but the confusion is funny.
Alice Springs — The outback town itself, with the Desert Park (AUD 37, excellent wildlife facility), Telegraph Station (free), and more accessible Aboriginal art galleries than Uluru.
The drive takes 4.5 hours without stops. With Kings Canyon, make it a full day.
The Meta Tip
Uluru deserves more than a sunset visit. Three nights minimum. Two for the park experiences, one for the wider Red Centre. The mistake most visitors make is treating it as a sight to see rather than a place to be.
The desert has a pace. It's slow. The light changes. The silence is enormous. The stars fill the sky. And somewhere in all that space and quiet, a 30,000-year-old culture is still telling its stories.
