Red Centre Pilgrimage

Day 1 – Tue 26  April 2022 – Begin Alice Springs
Meet your group leader and get to know your fellow travelers as we come together to share our first group dinner.

Alice Springs Overnight (D)

Day 2 – Wednesday 27 April – MacDonnell Ranges

• Mass – Our Lady Of The Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Alice Springs
• Visit Simpsons Gap, a stunning gorge carved out of the West MacDonnell Ranges by Roe Creek, where water flows through a small gap in the mountain range.
• Continue west to Standley Chasm – Known traditionally as Angkerle Atwatye, meaning “Gap of Water”, Standley Chasm is a 3-metre-wide, 80-metre-high gorge. The walking trail to the Chasm and those in its surrounds offer chance encounters with a variety of inhabitants, including diverse bird species, lizards, wallabies, as well as native flowering plants and ancient cycad palms.
• Visit Ormiston Gorge one of the most popular and photographed places in the Red Centre, where we will enjoy a picnic lunch and opportunity to swim in the waterhole
• Travel on to Ellery Creek Big Hole, where thousands of years of massive floods have carved out a beautiful waterhole and unlocked some amazing geology.

Alice Springs Overnight (BLD)

Day 3 – Thursday 28 April – Santa Teresa Mission Experience

• Santa Teresa Mission. Established as a Catholic Mission in the 1950s by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Santa Teresa is today an Indigenous Catholic Community of over 500 residents with a strong Christian faith with the church being a focal point of the community. Visit the Spirituality Centre for morning tea. Spend time at the famous Keringke Arts Centre where you have the opportunity to meet the artists. Celebrate Mass at the Santa Teresa Parish Church
• On the way back to Alice Springs we will visit the Ewaninga Rock Carvings.
• Alice Springs City tour – an afternoon tour beginning with panoramic views from Anzac Hill overlooking the rugged West MacDonnell Ranges, School of the Air and the Telegraph Station. Visit the Museum of Central Australia which tells the story of the region’s unique natural history. See also the Strehlow Research Centre, one of Australia’s most important collections of film, sound, archival records and museum objects relating to Indigenous ceremonial life.

Alice Springs Overnight (BD)

Day 4 – Friday 29 April – Alice Springs to Kings Canyon

• MASS
• Tour the Royal Flying Doctor Service
• Depart Alice Springs and travel to Kings Canyon
• Stop at the Erldunda Roadhouse, “the Centre of the Centre”, where we will be able to have lunch, visit the kangaroo farm and emu enclosure.

Kings Canyon Resort Overnight (BD)

Day 5 – Saturday 30 April – Kings Canyon

• This morning you may wish to walk the Kings Canyon hike – a gentle 2.6 kilometre walk that follows a trail between the two soaring canyon walls. As you arrive at the lookout point, you will be welcomed by spectacular views of the sheer cliff face at the far end of the canyon. The more athletic may want to explore the iconic Kings Canyon Rim Walk – a six-kilometre circuit that will take you down into the Garden of Eden, a beautiful rockhole surrounded by rare plants, before ascending to 360 degree panoramic views over the red sand dunes.
• Retreat Afternoon (Fr Ken will lead us in a retreat reflection before a prayer-filled and restful afternoon)
• Outdoor Mass at Kings Canyon with sunset viewing.

Kings Canyon Resort Overnight (BD)

Day 6 – Sunday 1 May – Kings Canyon to Uluru via Curtin Springs

• This morning we visit the Karrke Indigenous Experience for a one-of-a-kind authen­tic Abo­rig­i­nal cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence. The tour is a short walk and talk on areas of impor­tance in local cul­tur­al knowl­edge on bush tuck­er and bush med­i­cines, as used by the Lurit­ja and Per­tame (South­ern Aran­da) people.
• Visit Curtin Springs Station – a working cattle station – where you will learn about the legacy of the Severin family and their outback heritage. Relax and enjoy a true Aussie-style barbecue lunch
• Arrive Uluru in the early afternoon
• Outdoor Mass
• Sounds of Silence dinner experience – an evening of dining under the sparkling outback sky

Uluru Overnight (BLD) – Desert Gardens Hotel

Day 7 – Monday 2 May – Uluru Discovery

• Guided walk around the base of Uluru (Mala Walk)
• Visit Kata Tjuta National Park (also known as the Olgas) recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Area for both its natural and cultural values. to experience the Olgas as you walk through the Walpa Gorge, a natural creek bed that carves its way between the two tallest domes of Kata Tjuta.
• Celebrate an outdoor Mass in Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)
• Remainder of the afternoon at leisure
• Fields of Light – Experience the changing colours of Uluru as the sun sets, followed by the world-renowned “Field of Lights” installation featuring 50,000 slender stems topped with radiant frosted glass spheres spread over an area of seven football fields in the foreground of Uluru.

Uluru Overnight (BD) – Desert Gardens Hotel

Day 8 – Tuesday 3 May – Depart Uluru

• Mass at the Yulara Community Shed.
• Depart Uluru Airport (B)

Meal Code: (B) = Breakfast, (L) = Lunch, (D) = Dinner