Theme: Springs in Dry Places

After breakfast we board our coach and travel to Our Lady of The Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Alice Springs for our privately booked liturgy.

We begin our journey, to 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.

Visit Ormiston Gorge one of the most popular and photographed places in the Red Centre, where we will enjoy a lunch stop and opportunity to swim in the waterhole.

Travel on to Haasts Bluff for our two-night stay. This is a unique opportunity to stay in a closed Aboriginal community in central Australia. There are no hotels, and we will be staying in basic, simple, but comfortable accommodation. This is a rare occasion for an up-close-and-personal encounter as we are welcomed into an Indigenous community.

This afternoon we will visit the Ikuntji Artists Centre where many Indigenous artists are becoming world renowned for their inspired artwork and handicrafts. 

Haasts Bluff overnight (BLD)

Theme: Healing and Restoration

This morning enjoy some time in Haasts Bluff. Take the opportunity to meet some of the locals and learn something of their local traditions and practices.

After lunch board our coach and travel to the nearby Forgiveness Cross at Memory Mountain.

Memory Mountain at Haasts Bluff is where a 20-metre Cross stands atop a sacred mountain where faith, culture and social enterprise combine to draw the faithful to a deep encounter with God and nature. Enjoy a pilgrim-trek, prayer, song, and indigenous cultural awareness gathered around this amazing new Australian icon of unity and hope. Take time for prayer here in this unique outdoor location.

Watch the cross illuminate as the sun sets and the ocean of stars in the night-sky take centre stage. Enjoy a meal under the night sky and then join with the locals for a sing-along by campfire before returning by coach to Haasts Bluff.

Haasts Bluff overnight (BLD)

Theme: God’s Provision

Optional pre-dawn departure from Haasts Bluff to experience the dawn and make a sunrise climb to The Forgiveness Cross. Return to Haasts Bluff for breakfast.

After the celebration of our Sunday Mass or Service, bid farewell to Haasts Bluff and travel by coach to Standley Chasm, known traditionally as Angkerle Atwatye, meaning “Gap of Water”. Standley Chasm is a 3-metre-wide, 80-metre-high gorge and is a unique Aboriginal Owned and Operated enterprise, the local Community members being direct descendants of the Arrernte Aboriginal People who have lived in this area for tens of thousands of years. 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.

On the way back to Alice Springs drive into Blatherskite Park (Alice Springs Showgrounds), where in 1986 Pope John Paul II gave his famous speech to a crowd of thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, that still has great resonance today.

Enjoy some free time this afternoon before dinner at our hotel.

Alice Springs overnight (BD)

Theme: Abundance of Blessings

After breakfast we will board our coach and travel to Santa Teresa.

Santa Teresa Community was established as a Catholic Mission in the 1950’s by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Santa Teresa (Ltyentye Apurte) 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. Celebrate Mass at the Santa Teresa Parish Church, with its remarkable Australian spiritual artworks. Visit the Spirituality Centre for morning tea where you can view some art and meet the artists. Also visit the famous Keringke Arts Centre. 

As the sun sets journey into the bush for the unique experience of the Outback Bush BBQ Dinner & Show, a fun-filled evening of entertainment and outback cuisine in the remote setting of the East MacDonnell Ranges. Underneath a chandelier of stars, hear stories and sing songs that tell of our timeless traditional folk heritage and Australian traditions, while enjoying a meal of local produce and a drink from the Aussie Bush Bar.

Alice Springs Overnight (BD)

Theme: Food for the Journey

After breakfast we board our coach for our journey to Kings Canyon.

On the way we make a stop to tour the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the largest air medical response team in the world. Alice Springs houses the Central Operations of the service and here there is an opportunity to learn all about the incredible history of the RFDS and how it has shaped life in the outback.

Stop at the Erldunda Roadhouse, “the Centre of the Centre”, where we will be able to have lunch (own expense), and visit the emu enclosure.

Arrive Kings Canyon this afternoon and prepare to immerse ourselves in the beauty of this ancient outback place. Kings Canyon is a majestic destination featuring 300-metre-high sandstone walls, palm-filled crevices, and views that stretch across the desert.

We take some time for prayer at Kings Canyon followed by a beautiful sunset viewing.

Kings Canyon Resort Overnight (BD)

Theme: Wonder of Creation

This morning we walk the Kings Canyon – 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. 

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.

On our road trip we stop at Kings Creek Station – a working cattle station – set amongst majestic desert oaks. Enjoy a lunch stop here with a variety of home cooked meals, snacks and beverages (own expense).

Arrive Uluru, considered the spiritual heart of Australia, truly the red centre of our nation. The Uluru region is home to two of Australia’s most famous rock formations, a mighty canyon and an ancient Indigenous culture rich in story, dance and art.

Enjoy dinner at our hotel.

Uluru Overnight (BLD)

Theme: Gratitude & Peace

Rise early this morning, collect our boxed breakfast from the hotel and board the coach for our Uluru sunrise experience.

Enjoy a guided walk at the base of Uluru (The Mala Walk), including the caves of the Mala people and the sacred Kantju Gorge, a quiet waterhole at the base of a dramatic rock face.

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.

Remainder of the afternoon at leisure.

Fields of Light Dinner Experience – Experience the changing colours of Uluru as the sun sets and enjoy an evening of dining under the sparking outback sky. View the “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)

After breakfast, transfer by the hotel shuttle to Uluru Airport for your trip home. (B)