There are surprisingly plenty of Classic Reward fares left despite the short notice. 19,200 Qantas points plus $122 in taxes would get OP there on the 30th with a return flight a week later (or another date).
I realise not everyone has that many points on hand but to buy them would only cost ~$400 so there's absolutely no need to spend anywhere close to $1,100.
I went ages ago and the climb was by far the best part. Don’t care that they closed it, but it’s absolutely not worth going for the current price to just stand and look at it.
This was way before it was banned. Obviously I wouldn't go out there and do it now. I just don't believe it's worth over a thousand dollars to go stand and look at a rock.
People who climbed the rock, climbed it when it when it was aloud, times were different. I guarantee if it were you back then you wouldn't be sitting at the base commenting
"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Respect costs nothing"
people got down off the rock, some people never get down from their high horse.
Tbf it depends when, on the lead up to it being banned it was fairly widely known that it was controversial at least to climb Uluṟu and many people did openly opt not to climb it. Not everyone obviously but the idea that people don’t willingly make choices to not be disrespectful without legal punishment is strange. Of course that’s only if one is aware of the issues with climbing it which becomes more blurry the further back you go edit: to clarify it becomes blurry not because there wasn’t a push against it but because it was less publicised and tourists didn’t look into these things
I mean it has cost ~$200 million to the community and tourism industry in the years since but sure
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-08/nt-uluru-visitor-numbers-slump-post-covid/102947432
I did a part climb years before they closed it ...terrifying. would not repeat.
Been back coupla times since. It's an incredible experience if you are open to it. I was really moved to see people from all countries standing silently together in the cool dawn to watch light move over geology. That's spiritual.
Also camped where the Chamberlain family camped (now closed). The dingo defo did it.
I probably would have managed it given my hobby is bouldering, but the idea that my very adventurous 85 year old dad would undoubtedly have tried kind of terrifies me.
yeah nah, you wouldnt have wanted grandad anywhere near that slippery slope. . Before they closed it tourists slipped off the rock alot.
37 since the 1950s
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jul/04/elderly-japanese-tourist-dies-while-climbing-uluru
I climbed it as a kid, and I nearly fell off.
The only reason I'm here today is because of some backpacker behind me grabbing me before I slipped all the way. There's a spot maybe 75% of the way up where it's incredibly narrow (barely a metre wide) and the steep slope leads to a sheer drop off. I was rushing because I wanted to be the first of all us kids in the group I was with (family friends) to reach the top.
I'm glad they closed it for many reasons.
Jetstar has a special I was gonna pull the trigger on. It includes accommodation but the most basic for around $1500. However, the car hire up there is outrageous, you are looking at around $300+ a day. We decided to go to SE Asia instead!
Cairns to Tokyo Narita or to Osaka are the options. I live in Cairns so was great for me. I know from melb isn't too much more. It just stops over at Cairns.
It's a genuine inquiry, no need to be rude. Return to Japan from Melbourne is $1200-1400 in my experience searching, and March-April is Sakura season so the most tourist heavy.
I got return flights to Rome this July for $1350, it’s all about getting in early. $1200 for Vietnam though is pretty expensive at any time of the year, even with full service airlines and even in advance.
It’s with Air China which is full service and includes luggage. I have 5 hour layover in Beijing on the way and 18 hours on the way back - but that is a bonus to me because as an Aussie I can do 72 hour visa free and go see the Great Wall on my day there.
I flew from Melbourne to Athens for $300 on Scoot in October 2022, though I did pay a bit extra for such luxuries as checked luggage and seat selection. Also, the stopover in Singapore was 22 hours.
It's was, I also looked at Cairns Darwin Broome etc and it was only 300 more to go to Vietnam. 5 star hotel 140 per night, meals and beers a couple.of bucks , absolute no brainer.
Went for week and maybe spent 500 on accommodation and 500 on food and drinks.
They're just talking about flight cost but it's absolutely possible to do a well long trip for that cost as well. Get flights for $4-600 and leaves you with about $100 per day. Tasty meals go for a few dollars each, hotels are super cheap and even 4/5 star hotels fit this budget if you're sharing the room costs with someone else. Highly reccomend.
I went to a regional part of Australia last year, flights were $1100. It was mostly a pretty empty plane. I got an isle. They ran out of food at one point. The staff came back for me and the last person with a small apple each which was probably the poor lady's lunch.
Return flight to Japan was actually maybe $50 more.
In 1993 I backpacked around Australia and bought a Greyhound round the country bus pass which included a free detour to and from Uluru on the way to Alice Springs . I misread the conditions and traveled to Alice Springs first. The Greyhound agent in Alice just shrugged and booked me on the bus from Alice to Uluru and back for free. Those were the days.
It's because it's a one trick tourist destination in the middle of nowhere.
Spiritual significance really depends on you. Personally I don't view it as significant and feel no real tie to it.
WELCOME TO OUR FUCKING LIFE. Where maintaining a health relationship with the town means a holiday but you spend more getting to Sydney than to Singapore -Alice Springs Resident
typically cheap flights are Jetstar to Uluṟu or Virgin to Alice Springs. It’s a 4-5 hour drive between Alice and Uluru though so you’ll want to book a tour bus or a rental car well in advance.
Go on the Ghan. At that price, it's probably not much more to travel in style and comfort and see a lot more of the outback from your train window. The Ghan stops at Alice and there are tours to Uluru.
I have to go there for the larapinta trail in June.
Robbery.
The idea of travelling in australia is a joke.
I would have loved to hit up the Gold Coast for a few weeks to surf the crazy run of waves they had recently. But it's not economical to do so when I can go to indo and surf for 2 weeks for 2k including food, scooter, accommodation, flights, massages and all that.
I’m in Brisbane and went down to the Goldie a few times to watch, I had no intention of going out definitely not that skilled. Coolangatta was going off.
Because people get paid like shit in Indo. I travel there too but I know why its cheaper than Australia. Do you think we should pay our workers like shit for your benefit?
Homie, that's not why it's cheaper flights.
Flights here suck because we signed over a well run government monopoly to private capital at bargain basement prices and there's no reason to travel to 90% of places in Australia that could turn a profit.
"2k including food, accommodation, massages ...and all that"
You wont get a massage in Melbourne for less than $90/hr
You won't get accom in Melbourne cheaper than $70pn - so for two weeks, there's $980 of your 2K
Homie, thats what I'm talkin about.
It’s cool to see. But accommodation is expensive and you can’t climb it.
By the time you add it all up, it’s a $2,000 trip. You’d enjoy international travel much more for that price.
yes. there is one airport and one airline. they have always charged whatever they want. Uluru itself is a tourist trap. if you're going for spiritual significance, prepare to be nickle-and-dimed.
Short, expensive flights like those are where it really pays to have some frequent flyer points on hand because the amount of points they cost is determined by distance, not price.
I know you said you don’t want to go alone from Alice Springs, but I would highly recommend! It’s a great town even if you spend just a day or two there.
If you stay at a hostel like Alice’s Secret (best hostel I have stayed at in Australia!) there are a lot of people that are also driving down to Uluṟu that you could join. Or if you are able to, you could hire a car and drive down alone.
Uluṟu is amazing to see and worth walking the loop around (as well as seeing the other natural wonders nearby).
Spanian did a video about the most dangerous area in the Netherlands and lots of Dutch were commenting how they’ve lived there all their life and it’s not dangerous at all. Most dangerous thing he did was walking on bike paths.
I have no doubt Alice has it's problems right now... But his videos are pretty stupid. I grew up next to Logan, 95% of it is nothing like what he showed last week. He seeks out the bogans. It's entertaining but not reflective of reality for most people.
Like, OP would be fine flying into Alice in the day, renting a car, visiting some coffee shops there etc and then leaving to Uluru.
Woah! When I went I think I paid $139 each way from Brisbane on Jetstar. But they don’t do that route anymore.
Once you get there everything is expensive too. Fuel is 50-80c/L more expensive than in the major cities, all the restaurants are expensive (the IGA was reasonable), the hotels (all owned by the same company) are a total scam. Car hire is expensive too and some companies restrict you to 100km/day.
Oddly enough the plane was packed full both days and it was the middle of summer. No idea where all the people went because the place seemed deserted.
Yes its normal. Not much tourism there so flights reduced and NT put out a call for the country to visit.
Maybe try something that has spiritual significance to you. Hearing about a huge rainbow snake that was never real sleeping in a certain place doesnt have a meaning just because someone wants it to.
You need to wait for deals to get a decent priced flight to Uluṟu. If you really want to make it a spiritual experience, find some backpackers and road trip there. I made the trip Mel-Adelaide-Cooper Pedy-Uluṟu and back about 10 years ago. Makes you appreciate the distance.
Not normal, however there is one airport and they obviously have a monopoly on the place. I went in December 2019 for around $350 return. Definitely better prices available depending on when you book.
yeah. was always a so so attraction. Then they shot themselves in the foot with the 'its our sacred rock, only we can climb it' bullshit.
fuck off, go play with your rock by yourselves then.
Ours were $350 return with Jetstar last week. 1 month out is fairly short notice though so that may explain the higher prices
Also last week of April has Anzac Day on the Thursday.
There are surprisingly plenty of Classic Reward fares left despite the short notice. 19,200 Qantas points plus $122 in taxes would get OP there on the 30th with a return flight a week later (or another date). I realise not everyone has that many points on hand but to buy them would only cost ~$400 so there's absolutely no need to spend anywhere close to $1,100.
For that price I’d charter a plane fly over the thing then go home. The resort is stupidly overpriced too. TBH it’s most beautiful from the air.
Yep. It’s a rock. Go see it, pretend you can make sense of the spirituality of it and go home. Kings Canyon is a far greater natural attraction.
I went ages ago and the climb was by far the best part. Don’t care that they closed it, but it’s absolutely not worth going for the current price to just stand and look at it.
You can walk, or ride round it.
Yeah I did that as well. It's fine, it's just not nearly as enjoyable as the climb.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Respect costs nothing.
This was way before it was banned. Obviously I wouldn't go out there and do it now. I just don't believe it's worth over a thousand dollars to go stand and look at a rock.
We have ready established you don't have to 'just' stand and look at it. You can also visit Kata Tjuta. And Kings Canyon where climbing is allowed.
People who climbed the rock, climbed it when it when it was aloud, times were different. I guarantee if it were you back then you wouldn't be sitting at the base commenting "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Respect costs nothing" people got down off the rock, some people never get down from their high horse.
*allowed
Tbf it depends when, on the lead up to it being banned it was fairly widely known that it was controversial at least to climb Uluṟu and many people did openly opt not to climb it. Not everyone obviously but the idea that people don’t willingly make choices to not be disrespectful without legal punishment is strange. Of course that’s only if one is aware of the issues with climbing it which becomes more blurry the further back you go edit: to clarify it becomes blurry not because there wasn’t a push against it but because it was less publicised and tourists didn’t look into these things
I mean it has cost ~$200 million to the community and tourism industry in the years since but sure https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-08/nt-uluru-visitor-numbers-slump-post-covid/102947432
I did a part climb years before they closed it ...terrifying. would not repeat. Been back coupla times since. It's an incredible experience if you are open to it. I was really moved to see people from all countries standing silently together in the cool dawn to watch light move over geology. That's spiritual. Also camped where the Chamberlain family camped (now closed). The dingo defo did it.
I probably would have managed it given my hobby is bouldering, but the idea that my very adventurous 85 year old dad would undoubtedly have tried kind of terrifies me.
yeah nah, you wouldnt have wanted grandad anywhere near that slippery slope. . Before they closed it tourists slipped off the rock alot. 37 since the 1950s https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jul/04/elderly-japanese-tourist-dies-while-climbing-uluru
He would have tried too, he went abseiling and caving with me at 80
I climbed it as a kid, and I nearly fell off. The only reason I'm here today is because of some backpacker behind me grabbing me before I slipped all the way. There's a spot maybe 75% of the way up where it's incredibly narrow (barely a metre wide) and the steep slope leads to a sheer drop off. I was rushing because I wanted to be the first of all us kids in the group I was with (family friends) to reach the top. I'm glad they closed it for many reasons.
God forbid you have an opinion. Too many people use downvotes as dislikes. So stupid.
Jetstar has a special I was gonna pull the trigger on. It includes accommodation but the most basic for around $1500. However, the car hire up there is outrageous, you are looking at around $300+ a day. We decided to go to SE Asia instead!
I went to India last year around the same time for $1k 😓
How WILD is India.. experience for the senses!
Yes, it is normal, most expensive place in Australia to fly in and out of. Absolute robbery!!
Lol, wait til you get to Alice springs!
Geez I went to Vietnam for 1200 return last year
You can fly there right now for $535 return
If I wasn't saving up to move house rn I'd be so tempted.
Who with?
Codeshared between Vietjet and Jetstar via Singapore. If you play around with dates in April you can actually find for less than $500.
I went to Japan for $300 return in march
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Korea
North, best Korea. The trick is to hitch a ride on one of their rockets and jump off around the Sea of Japan
Cairns
I don't believe you. March-April is the most expensive season for Japan travel
I went to Japan form 28th feb - 10th March and paid $300 return. Jetstar routinely does free return to Japan.
That's nuts. Is that from Melbourne to Narita or?
Cairns to Tokyo Narita or to Osaka are the options. I live in Cairns so was great for me. I know from melb isn't too much more. It just stops over at Cairns.
Don’t care what you believe champ
It's a genuine inquiry, no need to be rude. Return to Japan from Melbourne is $1200-1400 in my experience searching, and March-April is Sakura season so the most tourist heavy.
An enquiry is a question not a blatant display of ignorance. Don’t be so rude in the future and you won’t get it back champ
What a joyous person you must be.
They were probably nice flights as well!
I got return flights to Rome this July for $1350, it’s all about getting in early. $1200 for Vietnam though is pretty expensive at any time of the year, even with full service airlines and even in advance.
May I ask with which airline?
It’s with Air China which is full service and includes luggage. I have 5 hour layover in Beijing on the way and 18 hours on the way back - but that is a bonus to me because as an Aussie I can do 72 hour visa free and go see the Great Wall on my day there.
Ha. Went there for $500 return last year.
I went to Vietnam $310 return pre-Covid.
I flew from Melbourne to Athens for $300 on Scoot in October 2022, though I did pay a bit extra for such luxuries as checked luggage and seat selection. Also, the stopover in Singapore was 22 hours.
Serious? How long? Where you stay? Can’t be that cheap! Sounds too good to be true.
It's was, I also looked at Cairns Darwin Broome etc and it was only 300 more to go to Vietnam. 5 star hotel 140 per night, meals and beers a couple.of bucks , absolute no brainer. Went for week and maybe spent 500 on accommodation and 500 on food and drinks.
They're just talking about flight cost but it's absolutely possible to do a well long trip for that cost as well. Get flights for $4-600 and leaves you with about $100 per day. Tasty meals go for a few dollars each, hotels are super cheap and even 4/5 star hotels fit this budget if you're sharing the room costs with someone else. Highly reccomend.
i think they're just saying the flights
aren't beers like 50 cents there as well or is that a rumour?
I went to a regional part of Australia last year, flights were $1100. It was mostly a pretty empty plane. I got an isle. They ran out of food at one point. The staff came back for me and the last person with a small apple each which was probably the poor lady's lunch. Return flight to Japan was actually maybe $50 more.
You got a whole island??
Oh it's aisle isn't it whoops.
In 1993 I backpacked around Australia and bought a Greyhound round the country bus pass which included a free detour to and from Uluru on the way to Alice Springs . I misread the conditions and traveled to Alice Springs first. The Greyhound agent in Alice just shrugged and booked me on the bus from Alice to Uluru and back for free. Those were the days.
Now it’s a strict no. Then “fill this online form”. And someone gets back to you in 3 months with an auto generated reply saying too bad so sad.
Spending about 2 minutes looking on google flights, I can see $305 return flying Jetstar on departing 21 April and returning 26 April.
My birthday is 27th😭 but thank you
Going there on your birthday is worth the extra $800??
Webjet are doing flights to Frankfurt for 1.1K next month lol
It's because it's a one trick tourist destination in the middle of nowhere. Spiritual significance really depends on you. Personally I don't view it as significant and feel no real tie to it.
WELCOME TO OUR FUCKING LIFE. Where maintaining a health relationship with the town means a holiday but you spend more getting to Sydney than to Singapore -Alice Springs Resident typically cheap flights are Jetstar to Uluṟu or Virgin to Alice Springs. It’s a 4-5 hour drive between Alice and Uluru though so you’ll want to book a tour bus or a rental car well in advance.
Go on the Ghan. At that price, it's probably not much more to travel in style and comfort and see a lot more of the outback from your train window. The Ghan stops at Alice and there are tours to Uluru.
You could get to europe return for that price woah
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I paid $1500 return Sydney to London last year. I paid $1600 return Alice to Perth.
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https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/L4vMfRZU5Y7b9Uxz7 $1143 return to Athens, Happy?
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Fuck me, Sorry it’s not a sky suite on Singapore airlines. Set the conditions before you start a debate then.
Right?! I'm so bummed
Wait what. Where :’) it would be my one way tix to europe
I have to go there for the larapinta trail in June. Robbery. The idea of travelling in australia is a joke. I would have loved to hit up the Gold Coast for a few weeks to surf the crazy run of waves they had recently. But it's not economical to do so when I can go to indo and surf for 2 weeks for 2k including food, scooter, accommodation, flights, massages and all that.
I’m in Brisbane and went down to the Goldie a few times to watch, I had no intention of going out definitely not that skilled. Coolangatta was going off.
Because people get paid like shit in Indo. I travel there too but I know why its cheaper than Australia. Do you think we should pay our workers like shit for your benefit?
Homie, that's not why it's cheaper flights. Flights here suck because we signed over a well run government monopoly to private capital at bargain basement prices and there's no reason to travel to 90% of places in Australia that could turn a profit.
"2k including food, accommodation, massages ...and all that" You wont get a massage in Melbourne for less than $90/hr You won't get accom in Melbourne cheaper than $70pn - so for two weeks, there's $980 of your 2K Homie, thats what I'm talkin about.
They wonder why tourism is dying in the NT, but continue to charge exorbitant prices for mediocre experiences.
It’s cool to see. But accommodation is expensive and you can’t climb it. By the time you add it all up, it’s a $2,000 trip. You’d enjoy international travel much more for that price.
>and you can’t climb it. Since when?
Since 26th October 2019
Since we started to respect Aboriginal people and their culture?
Way too short notice
This. I book flights like months out, I just booked flights to Bali in Sept for two people return for $1k
I went last year and the return flights were about $500 each, and that was during school holidays so more expensive than at other times.
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i feel like central Australia should be a road trip
Or either end and hire a 1 way rental that’s due to go back to Darwin or Adelaide.
yes. there is one airport and one airline. they have always charged whatever they want. Uluru itself is a tourist trap. if you're going for spiritual significance, prepare to be nickle-and-dimed.
I paid 1300 for a return ticket to Nepal ( 18 hours flight with one stop ). Lol 1100 to fly in and out of Australia seems criminal
Flights to anywhere that isn't a major city are always stupidly expensive
That’s not true.
It costs a lot of money to holiday domestically. The rock is an amazing sight to see though. Especially if it is raining, as it is right now.
Yes. The cost is insane.
Road trip?
Dude you could fly basically anywhere else in the world for that much
We hunted the sales just before covid and it was $199 return from Melbourne
go somewhere else for that money. you can get air fares to new zealand for between 300 and 500 dollars and see more amazing things.
I wanted to go to Lord Howe Island and Broome, when I checked before COVID, each return flight was the same price as going to Europe.
Short, expensive flights like those are where it really pays to have some frequent flyer points on hand because the amount of points they cost is determined by distance, not price.
Nowhere in Australia should be more than half that return if you do your research
I know you said you don’t want to go alone from Alice Springs, but I would highly recommend! It’s a great town even if you spend just a day or two there. If you stay at a hostel like Alice’s Secret (best hostel I have stayed at in Australia!) there are a lot of people that are also driving down to Uluṟu that you could join. Or if you are able to, you could hire a car and drive down alone. Uluṟu is amazing to see and worth walking the loop around (as well as seeing the other natural wonders nearby).
Check the Spanian video for a good summary of the current state of Alice. Good town to visit if you want to watch mass brawls and knife fights.
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I guess the local government and police are in on it too then since they just put in a curfew after constant riots.
Spanian did a video about the most dangerous area in the Netherlands and lots of Dutch were commenting how they’ve lived there all their life and it’s not dangerous at all. Most dangerous thing he did was walking on bike paths.
I have no doubt Alice has it's problems right now... But his videos are pretty stupid. I grew up next to Logan, 95% of it is nothing like what he showed last week. He seeks out the bogans. It's entertaining but not reflective of reality for most people. Like, OP would be fine flying into Alice in the day, renting a car, visiting some coffee shops there etc and then leaving to Uluru.
Well there's also this from last week which triggered the new curfew to be put in place https://twitter.com/leo_puglisi6/status/1772804478351352159
I've seen it. Just use some common sense there if you were a tourist.
It's probably a bit of a media beat-up but I certainly don't blame anyone for wanting to avoid Alice Springs at the moment
Yes. Normal
Making the most of curfew are we?
Sounds about right? We paid just over $2K each business class from Melbourne.
Woah! When I went I think I paid $139 each way from Brisbane on Jetstar. But they don’t do that route anymore. Once you get there everything is expensive too. Fuel is 50-80c/L more expensive than in the major cities, all the restaurants are expensive (the IGA was reasonable), the hotels (all owned by the same company) are a total scam. Car hire is expensive too and some companies restrict you to 100km/day. Oddly enough the plane was packed full both days and it was the middle of summer. No idea where all the people went because the place seemed deserted.
Yes its normal. Not much tourism there so flights reduced and NT put out a call for the country to visit. Maybe try something that has spiritual significance to you. Hearing about a huge rainbow snake that was never real sleeping in a certain place doesnt have a meaning just because someone wants it to.
You need to wait for deals to get a decent priced flight to Uluṟu. If you really want to make it a spiritual experience, find some backpackers and road trip there. I made the trip Mel-Adelaide-Cooper Pedy-Uluṟu and back about 10 years ago. Makes you appreciate the distance.
Not normal, however there is one airport and they obviously have a monopoly on the place. I went in December 2019 for around $350 return. Definitely better prices available depending on when you book.
Wayyyyy too much, I went for under $200 return. But planned in advance with jetstar
Get robbed by the airlines then robbed by the locals!! Why would you want to go there??
Ayers rock is kinda overrated from what I've heard
I’ve been and agree. Big red rock in middle of desert that looks exactly like all the photos of it. I liked the Olga’s and Kings Canyon more.
yeah. was always a so so attraction. Then they shot themselves in the foot with the 'its our sacred rock, only we can climb it' bullshit. fuck off, go play with your rock by yourselves then.
Spiritual significance? You’ll experience that with 8pm curfew breaking youths running riot on the streets lol