For many of us in Sydney, the thought of travelling up into the Red Centre feels like a magical stretch of possibility and wild adventure. Now, the siren’s call of the great red north has become even louder, with the introduction of the Red Centre Light Trail, an amazing six-day road trip from Uluru to Alice Springs via Kings Canyon that is full of glittering light shows, installations and sparkly experiences that all look set to enthral, awe and light up an already very spectacular place.
We all know Vivid in Sydneytown, but the thought of gazing at wild light projections in the middle of a desert is something else entirely. The vast distances between Alice Springs, Uluru and Kings Canyon are usually marked by long, arid stretches of land with very little breaking the landscape up. Now, travellers will get a whole extra dimension added to an already epic adventure.
The installations will pop up on the way as you drive the main tourist loop between these iconic Australian locations, however there are some special highlights that look particularly notable.
At Uluru, you will be able to see Wintjiri Wiru, a choreographed drone show that uses lasers and light projections to a re-telling of ancient Anangu stories. Made in close collaboration with the local Anangu community, this reflection of the Mala ancestral story will illuminate the desert sky twice every night all the way until January 2024.
Also, at Uluru you can find the famous Field of Light experience that has been (yay!) extended indefinitely. Designed by artist Bruce Munro, and named Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku or ‘looking at lots of beautiful lights’ in local Pitjantjatjara language, this delicate and huge web of glowing colours is currently the largest of its kind to date. Bigger than seven football fields, 500,000 spindles of different coloured waving lights are spread out at the foot of Uluru, promising a truly spectacular viewing of the nation’s most important rock.
At Kings Canyon, you can check out Light-Towers. This new installation (also designed by Bruce Munro) is also now a permanent installation at the Discovery Resort that looks out over Kings Canyon. It consists of two 69-metre tall towers that change colour in tune with sound. We can imagine that a stroll amongst these stunners under the desert stars – all while an ethereal soundtrack plays in the background – would be a pretty magical experience.
So, if you’re looking to bust out of the big smoke, explore Australia and dive into a uniquely glorious experience in one of the wildest and most majestic corners of the world, look no further. This light trail could just be it.
You can find out more about it right here.