Inside Virgin Australia’s lavish VIP launch weekend in Uluru

Virgin has launched the first direct Sydney-Uluru and Melbourne-Uluru flights with a luxury weekend for 60 celebrities, including a cocktail performance in front of the rock by singing sensation Budjerah.

At just 22 years of age, ARIA award-winning singer Budjerah has already shared stages with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Kylie Minogue, Kate Ceberano and Matt Corby.

However it was an invitation to headline a sunset performance in Australia’s spiritual heartland on Thursday that he calls “an honour and a privilege”.

“I feel really blessed to be welcomed here by the traditional owners and to help promote Uluru to Australia and the world,” he said.

Virgin Australia commenced the first-ever direct flights to Uluru from Melbourne and Sydney on Thursday, with the airline’s maiden Brisbane-Uluru service taking flight on Friday.

To celebrate, a select group of Australian celebrities and media personalities were invited on Virgin’s maiden voyage to the Red Centre, including Natalie Bassingthwaite, model and TV host Rebecca Judd, celebrity personal trainer Michelle Bridges, singer Alli Simpson and model Jett Kenny.

Budjerah in Uluru for Virgin Australia.

Shortly after checking into Ayers Rock Resort, the celebrity group was escorted to a VIP welcome dinner at Wintjiri Wiru.

Budjerah, supported by his cousin on guitar, serenaded the cohort as the sun sank below the horizon on an open-air platform with panoramic views of the sacred Australian landmark. “Aboriginal People, whether they’re from the coast or from the desert, have so much to offer in all areas,” Budjerah said.

“Travelling to different countries always makes me proud of my heritage. I love to share stories from my culture.”

Mitch Tambo on Virgin’s first flight from Melbourne to Uluru.

Sarah Todd on the trip.

The guests were almost moved to tears when the 22-year-old was presented with a “very special gift” by Anangu elder Uncle Sammy after his surprise performance.

“I want to give this gift, it’s something very special,” he said, presenting a “good friend” kangaroo spear thrower which “feeds a lot of people” in the First Nations Pitjantjatjara language.

Launched in partnership with the Northern Territory government and Voyages Indigenous Tourism (operators of Ayers Rock Resort, Uluru), the new services will provide 62,000 airline seats to the Red Centre each year.

It will support the growth of the Indigenous tourism sector, which contributes almost $6 billion to the national visitor economy.

As passengers near the back of the plane on Thursday caught wind that there was a cohort of “celebrities” in their midst, people started craning their necks to see past the champagne trolleys in the aisles to who was seated on the plane.

Australian chef and model Sarah Todd said she’d never been to the “bucket list” Australian landmark before.

“I felt like for me it was a responsibility for me to understand my son’s Indian culture, so I’ve spent so much time travelling there. And then I was like hang on a minute, I haven’t done that in my own country.”

AFL WAG Judd, who was travelling with her daughter Billie, and said she was excited for her “to see the most beautiful part of Australia,” as she did in her early 20s.

“I think she’ll come home very different from our experiences here together,” Judd told Confidential.

The airline hosted 90 guests for a weekend of cultural experiences in the Red Centre and treated them to a sunrise breakfast at artist Bruce Monroe’s Field of Light, a guided walking tour around Uluru, outback cycling, a first-hand education on dot painting, and multiple degustation meals made entirely with native ingredients (including a green ants appetiser, a kangaroo and cheese croissant, and a crocodile mince pie).

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