Uluru’s budget accommodation option gets a welcome facelift

The place

Outback Hotel and Lodge, Yulara (near Uluru), NT

Check-in

Revamp with a familiar edge … Outback Hotel and Lodge Ayers Rock Resort, Yulara.

After 20 years as Yulara’s rowdy child of sorts, the Outback Hotel and Lodge is fresh off a facelift. Reopened in April after a multi-million-dollar refurbishment, it sports a new name – changed from the jarring colonialism of the Outback Pioneer Hotel – and a fresh feeling to its sprawling design. Set apart from the pricier accommodation offerings at Ayers Rock Resort, the Outback remains the resort’s earthiest and cheapest option, targeting more budget-minded travellers and families, but now with more style and sense of place. As you check-in take note of Ngura-Country, the painting by Indigenous artist Delma Forbes hanging in reception that influences so much of the design you’ll see in the rooms.

The look

The revamped pool will soon include a new play area.

From the outside, there’s little hint of the scope of the change. The 125 rooms remain dotted among the sparse but beautiful desert gardens, and the higgledy-piggledy exterior of its dispersed rooms is all but untouched. The greatest change externally is an upgrade to the pool – the Outback’s most welcome retreat after a day in the desert – which now incorporates a lawn area, expanded tiling and a planned playground.

Every room in the hotel has had a top-to-tail interior makeover, with new furnishings and the introduction of tones that reflect the desert environment – earthy ochres and reds. It’s done without pretension, maintaining the simplicity but greatly enhancing the Outback’s connection to the land.

The room

All rooms have been refreshed and reflect desert colours and the design of an Indigenous artwork.

Rooms are sprinkled like a Tetris puzzle through the gardens, and it’s a short walk through the heat to room 302, my Yulara home for a couple of nights. Post-refurbishment, 117 of the rooms contain a pair of queen beds (the other eight rooms are interconnecting), and the first thing I notice is the design influenced by the Delma Forbes painting in reception. A representation of the artwork covers the length of a wall, above desert-inspired carpets and timber-panelled bed heads.

Well shaded by bull-nose verandahs, the rooms are cool and open through sliding doors to paved areas that peer into the gardens and ghost gums.

The ochre-tiled bathrooms now feature rain showers and Wiru toiletries – the same toiletries found even in Yulara’s more expensive hotels. These contain native ingredients such as wattle seed and quandong, and are made exclusively for Ayers Rock Resort.

The Lodge budget accommodation has also had a facelift.

If you’re choosing the Outback’s cheapest option – the Lodge, formerly the backpacker wing – its rooms have also had a refresh. These budget rooms have been reconfigured into family rooms, each containing a queen bed and a bunk bed for the kids, while several dorms remain.

Food + drink

The next stage of the Outback’s overhaul will focus on the Outback BBQ and Bar. This open-air pub has long been Yulara’s social hub, blurring the divide between travellers, staff and locals. At its heart are the barbecues, with a menu of do-it-yourself meats. Sizzle up a standard porterhouse or try game meats such as emu kebabs, camel sausages and buffalo. Look also to the taps for Jarrah Boy beers, an Indigenous-owned craft brewery using native bush ingredients.

The bar will close in November for refurbishment, with an anticipated reopening around Easter, 2024. The barbecue experience will remain, but much else will look different. Capacity will double, and the height of the roof will be raised to make it feel more spacious.

Filled with glass and steel and the likes of booth seating, it’s planned to have the feel of a gastro pub, helped by a plan to introduce more native flavours to the menu – kangaroo pepperoni pizzas, anyone? – while retaining the outback vibe.

The adjoining Bough House has also just reopened, serving an Australiana dinner buffet with a carvery section and the likes of damper and curries made with native bush ingredients. Yulara’s finest restaurants, such as the Arnguli Grill, remain a 10-minute walk (or free shuttle-bus ride) across the resort.

Out + about

There’s a big red rock to be explored, and a host more rocks out on the horizon at Kata Tjuta. Guests at the Outback can also take part in a free Indigenous activities program, which includes a bush foods experience, didgeridoo workshop and entry to the impressive Gallery of Central Australia.

The verdict

A more nuamced look - the reception area which features “Ngura-Country’ ’by Indigenous artist Delma Forbes.

It’s not luxury, but the Outback Hotel and Lodge is a rare piece of Yulara affordability done well. Removed from the thrust of Yulara’s daytime activity, but very much the evening focus, it’s the perfect spot for a casual desert stay, enhanced by a welcome new look to every room.

The essentials

Rooms from $300 a night. Two accessible rooms. 2 Yulara Dr, Yulara. See ayersrockresort.com.au

The score

★★★½

Highlight

Fresh is rare in a desert setting, but there’s a distinct sense of newness to the rooms, clawing back much of the gap between the Outback and its more affluent Yulara compatriots.

Lowlight

If you never liked the Outback’s pubby sound waves, they remain, with live music and lively evenings the norm.

Andrew Bain travelled courtesy of Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia.