The hook
The rest of the Red Centre that isn't the Rock: a 100-metre-walled canyon you walk the rim of at sunrise, and a chain of hidden gorges and waterholes strung west of Alice Springs that many Australians have never seen.
01Why it's worth it
Uluru gets the attention, but travellers who push deeper into the Northern Territory's centre often rate what's around it even higher. Kings Canyon (Watarrka) is the headline: a sandstone chasm whose six-kilometre Rim Walk climbs onto a plateau of weathered domes and drops past the "Garden of Eden", a permanent waterhole in the rock. West of Alice Springs, the West MacDonnell Ranges unspool a series of gorges and gaps, Ormiston, Ellery Creek, Standley Chasm, Simpsons Gap, each with cold waterholes and ghost gums, linked by the long-distance Larapinta Trail. The colours (red rock, white trunks, blue sky) and the sheer emptiness are the draw, and because it takes real driving to reach, the crowds thin fast. This is remote desert country: distances are large, water is scarce, and summer heat is dangerous, so it demands planning.
02How to experience it
Base out of Alice Springs and drive the Red Centre loop. Walk the Kings Canyon Rim Walk at first light before the heat, then work the West MacDonnell gorges (Ormiston and Ellery Creek are the swimmers). Serious hikers take on sections of the Larapinta Trail. Go in the cooler months (May to September), start walks early, and carry far more water than feels necessary.
From the locals
Australians who've been keep saying the same thing, that the Rock is only the start: "Uluru was very beautiful, don't get me wrong, but Kata Tjuṯa and Kings Canyon were both absolutely stunning," one wrote, adding after walking the Larapinta that "the red centre is mesmerizing and so special. So many Australians have never been."