The Corridors: Explorer's Way - da Adelaide ad Ayers Rock

Adelaide spreads in orderly fashion between the Mount Lofty Ranges and the waters of Gulf St Vincent, capital of South Australia laid out on a grid and ringed by a belt of parklands. Its elegant heart is North Terrace, a boulevard of museums lined by the Art Gallery of South Australia, the South Australian Museum and the Botanic Garden; just beyond, the Central Market brims with cheeses, spices and produce from the surrounding countryside. Nicknamed the “city of churches”, Adelaide pairs an easygoing rhythm with a lively dining scene, from cafés along Rundle Street to acclaimed restaurants. All around lie some of the nation’s most famous wine regions — the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills — while a short ferry leads to Kangaroo Island, a wildlife sanctuary. Sophisticated yet human in scale, Adelaide is best savoured slowly, over a glass of Shiraz and a sunset by the sea. Mountain ranges hundreds of millions of years old, the Flinders Ranges rise from the South Australian outback in a succession of reddish ridges, deep gorges and plains dotted with eucalyptus. At the heart of the region lies Wilpena Pound (Ikara), a spectacular natural amphitheatre of mountains enclosing a valley sacred to the Adnyamathanha people. Trails cross primeval landscapes where kangaroos, emus and wedge-tailed eagles roam undisturbed, while the rocks reveal some of the oldest fossils on Earth. At sunset the walls glow ochre and purple, and the nights offer star-filled skies without equal. The Flinders Ranges are the Australian interior in its purest, most silent form.

At the northern tip of Spencer Gulf, Port Augusta stands where coastal South Australia meets the arid Outback, earning its nickname as the "Crossroads of Australia." The town is a natural gateway towards the Flinders Ranges and the desert, and is home to the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden, where visitors discover flora that thrives in the driest of climates. The calm waters of the gulf offer memorable sunsets across the reddish horizon. Port Augusta is the perfect gateway for those wishing to venture into the vast wild spaces of the interior.

Coober Pedy guards the title of opal capital of the world in the scorching desert of South Australia, where extreme heat drove its residents to seek shelter underground. Its celebrated “dugouts” – homes, churches and even hotels carved into the rock – stay at a constant temperature and make this mining town truly unique. On the surface, the lunar landscape of mullock heaps and abandoned shafts has served as a backdrop for many films. Between fossicking for opals, exploring the desert expanses of the nearby Breakaways and sleeping in a subterranean dwelling, Coober Pedy offers an experience quite unlike any other.

Alice Springs lies at the geographic heart of the Australian continent, an outback town set among the ancient ridges of the MacDonnell Ranges. The spiritual capital of the Red Centre, it has long been a crossroads of Aboriginal cultures and a launch point for exploring one of the planet's most remote landscapes. Its galleries display the dot paintings of the desert peoples, while the surroundings hold dramatic gorges such as Simpsons Gap and Standley Chasm, where the rock walls turn red under the midday sun. From here one reaches Uluru and Kings Canyon and uncovers pioneer stories along the old telegraph line. A solitary, proud town suspended in the vastness of the red desert.

Alice Springs / Kings Canyon (approximately 360km / 5 hours). A landscape dominated by the brick red of the earth, the yellow of spinifex bushes, and the blue of the sky. For those with a 4x4 and a spirit of adventure, depart towards Kings Canyon following the Larapinta Drive, through the West MacDonnell Ranges. We suggest a stop to explore Simpson Gap, Standley Chasm, Serpentine Gorge, and Ormiston Gorge (a longer and more challenging itinerary along the Namatjira Drive). After passing the historic town of Hermannsburg, home to an Aboriginal community, you will access the Mereenie Loop Road, an unpaved road to be traveled only with a 4x4, used by Aboriginal people and experienced bushmen to reach Kings Canyon more quickly. Along the way, a magnificent scenery awaits: Gosse Bluff, a crater caused by a meteorite impact millions of years ago. The Aboriginal legend, of course, is different: during a dance of the Ancestors that took place in the Milky Way, a mother placed her baby in a nearby cradle. Unintentionally, she fell to Earth and was covered by soil and vegetation. Despite the search for the child, the Morning Star, the Mother, and the Evening Star, the Father, still wander in search of the baby. It is an Aboriginal reserve closed to tourism, but with tact, you can access it without problems. If the sun is in the right position and the light doesn't play tricks, it will seem like you are crossing a lunar landscape with a mystical and wonderful atmosphere. Arrive at Kings Canyon before sunset, and don't miss the magic of the evening colors on the Canyon, following the shortest route inside it, leaving the longer and more challenging one for the next morning. Note: in case the Mereenie Loop Road is closed or if you have a conventional rental car, you will need to return to the Stuart Highway and turn onto the Lasseters Highway to reach Kings Canyon following the Luritja Road (approximately 470km / 7 hours). Watarrka, home to Kings Canyon National Park, encloses one of the most spectacular gorges in the outback of the Northern Territory. Red sandstone walls over a hundred metres high plunge into a hidden valley where palms and ferns survive, in striking contrast with the surrounding aridity. The famous Rim Walk follows the canyon's edge to the so-called Garden of Eden, a lush oasis among the rocks. A sacred place for the Luritja people, Watarrka offers fiery sunsets and some of the clearest night skies on the continent, an unmissable stop on the road to Uluru.

Kings Canyon / Ayers Rock (approximately 310km / 4.5 hours). At dawn, there is the possibility to take a 3-hour itinerary to climb the canyon. Not to be missed!!! Continue to Ayers Rock. After passing Ayers Rock Resort, you enter Uluru National Park (25 AUD) and the Olgas Mountains, sacred Aboriginal mountains, for a walk through the valleys that separate them. Return to Ayers Rock in time to admire the spectacle that the sunset creates around the monolith. Uluru rises in solitude at the red heart of Australia, a sandstone monolith more than three hundred metres high emerging from the desert plains of the Northern Territory. Sacred to the Anangu people and a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with nearby Kata Tjuṯa (the Olgas), it shifts colour with the changing light, blazing red and orange at dawn and dusk. Trails wind around its base, revealing rock art, waterholes and shaded gorges, while the stories of the Tjukurpa, the Aboriginal creation time, give voice to every fold of the stone. The nights offer star-filled skies of rare clarity and dinners under the desert sky. Uluru is not merely visited: it is listened to, in silence, in the ancient breath of the outback.