Traffic jam at Uluru

An unprecedented influx of travelers to the Red Centre during this year’s peak winter period has resulted in campers being turned away from Ayers Rock Campground for the first time - and complaints of overcrowding problems from those who managed to get into the campground.

In late June, Ayers Rock Campground – the closest caravan park to Uluru, about 18km away – for the first time began take bookings for the overflow area, as it had reached peak capacity – again, a first for the campground.

Those campers who were unaware of the new booking regime on the nights that the Campground had reached 100 per cent capacity for the overflow area were turned away.

The next nearest (powered camp sites) to Ayers Rock Campground is at Curtain Springs, 86km east on the Lassiter Highway. While free camping is available just off the Lassiter Highway, 10km east of Yulara, by early June there were campers located just off the Lassiter Highway, 3km east of Yulara.

A spokesperson for Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia (that runs Ayers Rock Campground) told Caravancampingsales that they “were blown away” by the unprecedented influx of campers.

“The [NSW/Victoria] July school holidays, that two week period, is our busiest period for the Campground,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve been a bit knocked out by how busy it has been.

“This is the first year that the overflow has filled. It’s certainly not something we ever want to do, to turn people away. We were totally blown away. It was totally unexpected.

“There’s no doubt, we’ve been caught a bit unawares by the large amount of people who’ve come in.

“We’re just all coping with the busy period at the moment. We’ll certainly try to figure out some strategies for how to deal with it, but I guess we’ve got at least six months to think about that.”

Some of those who did manage to camp in the overflow area were not impressed, including Colin Taylor, from Warners Bay NSW, who spent two nights there in early July.

“When we arrived there, we found it is what it says, an overflow area - it’s just a massive field of red dirt, virtually nothing in the way of amenities for people, and you’re just allowed to park wherever,” he said.

This lead to difficulties when leaving, according to Taylor.

“The second day we were there we found the exit route we took out had been blocked off by caravans coming in late, just putting themselves wherever they felt like,”  he complained.

Taylor noted that the numbers at the makeshift campground had clearly put a strain on the facilities.

“There were very few water taps for anybody, and the toilets were totally inadequate for the number of people in the camp. We didn’t try the showers purely because there were only a few of them, but people that did said they were cold most of the time.”

Meanwhile, it seemed those who did manage to secure a powered site only did so because they booked well in advance. Perth resident Kevin Ovington said he had booked a powered site for the July school holiday period in January.

“You can find a lot of this information by simply getting on the net, having a read of the write-ups,” he explained. “You wouldn’t want to leave it less than six months [before the booking dates] because of the popularity of these places.”

Recent reviews on popular travel rating websites also complain about the campground facilities, noting extraordinary long check-in times, cold showers, overcrowding in the overflow area and noise from the Resort’s diesel generator power station.

The Campground has 198 powered and 220 non-powered tent sites, as well as a large ‘overflow’ area, which includes unpowered (and unmarked) sites in a paddock out the back of the Campground.

For the peak 1 June- 15 October period, Ayers Rock Campground charges $25 per night to stay in the overflow area, while powered sites are from $53 per night (tent camping is from $43.50 per night).