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Tours from Alice
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A large number of professional
tour operators
offer adventurous, cultural or historic tours throughout the area - some recommended operators are listed below. Just about every hostel and hotel offers a tour-booking service, but if you feel you need more advice, ask at the official tourist information office on Hartley Street on the corner of Gregory Terrace. Alice Springs Tour Professionals, cnr Todd Street and Gregory Terrace (tel 08/8953 0666,
astp@ozemail.com.au
) act as a one-stop shop for many different tour companies.
Austour
(free call 1800 335 009) Day-trips to Uluru for $180 - but you'll regret such a short visit. Also offers Eastern and Western MacDonnell tours.
Ballooning Downunder (tel 08/8952 8816), Outback Ballooning (tel 08/8952 8723) and Spinifex (tel 08/8953 4800). Alice is Australia's ballooning capital and any of these will take you up, up and away - and back down to a champagne breakfast (around $170 for five hours). Don't wear your best clothes, as all hands are needed to pack up the dusty balloon. Frontier Camel Tours (tel 08/8953 0444). Short camel rides down the Todd River, two-and-a-half-day West Mac jaunts from Glen Helen Lodge , and five-day Simpson Desert treks. Ooramina Bush Camp (tel 08/8953 0170). One hour south of Alice offering horse rides and cattle station tours (from $160). Ossie's Outback Horse Treks (tel 08/8952 2308). Day, sunset and overnight rides up the Todd River's east bank from $60. Beginners welcome; discounts for YHA/VIP members. Outback Experience (tel 08/8955 2666). The best operator currently running trips to Chambers Pillar ($135) and other places in the northern Simpson. Outback Mail Flights (tel 08/8953 5000). Join the air-mail delivery service on their three weekly runs up to Rabbit Flat northwest of Alice; northeast to the Utopia region or southeast to Mount Dare station on the edge of the Simpson. It's an interesting alternative to standard scenic flights for around $220. Rockayer (tel 08/8956 2345) and Yarringka Air (tel 08/8956 7873). Flights to the Rock and back in a day for around $300. Rod Steinert (via AAT Kings, free call 1800 334 009). Several Aboriginal culture tours in the Alice area, including the excellent, half-day Dreamtime tour ($79). While the apparently solemn "corroboree" will bore or embarrass you, the rest of the tour is unusually informative, educational and provocative.
Sahara Outback Tours
(tel 08/8953 0881). Offers two-, three- and five-day camping tours through the West MacDonnells, to Kings Canyon and Uluru. As is often the case, the longer tours are much the best value. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Australia,
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