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Signature Series Insider: Miguel Maestre on Our New Red Centre Tour
Written by Paul Chai
The Northern Territory is the perfect place for visitors to learn more about Australia’s unique Indigenous culture. Celebrity chef, Miguel Maestre, finds a feast for the senses in the NT.
Whether it’s being awe-struck by the colours of an Uluṟu sunrise, seeing a modern interpretation of Dreamtime stories using high-tech drones, or getting a taste of the local produce, Miguel Maestre is excited to bring you to the wonders of the Red Centre. See it all on this once-in-a-lifetime, 4-day Signature Series tour of discovery through Australia’s spellbinding Red Centre, designed and hosted by Miguel Maestre – in collaboration with Tourism NT – and featuring countless iconic moments in the heart of the outback.
Dream destination
“I think that experiencing a sunrise at Uluṟu is up there with the greatest wonders of the world,” says chef, author and television presenter Miguel Maestre. “I would compare it with the Northern Lights in Lapland, the 1200 steps of Lion Rock in Sri Lanka or the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, my home country.”
Miguel felt both “impressed and nurtured” during his early morning walk around the base of the famous rock. Normally something that he had only seen on video, Instagram or Tik Tok, he was struck by how the experience was far more than just a visual experience.
“It is hard to put in words the intensity of the colours that you see,” Miguel says. “You have to see it to believe it, the colours of the vegetation and the red dirt is so intense and I have also been putting my hands in the dirt and feeling the wind everywhere I go. There is something very spiritual about the place.
“In Uluṟu what I felt was a big fountain of knowledge and all these stories of the people that you meet along the way, the guides and fellow travellers, you really get to take home some really lovely emotions not just the pictures and the good times that you have; you go home with a lot of knowledge of things I did not know before.”
The Wintjiri Wiṟu drone show at the Ayers Rock Resort provided Miguel with the region’s dreamtime stories. Meaning “beautiful view out to the horizon”, the show is a cultural storytelling experience that fuses modern technology with the oldest culture on the planet, bringing to life the ancestral Mala story. The tale of the Mala (rufous hare-wallaby) people includes celebration, rivalry and a huge devil dog called Kurpany and it is told as the sun goes down over Uluṟu.
Taste of the Red Centre
It would not be a trip for Miguel Maestre if he did not deep dive into the area’s flavours and natural ingredients.
“I had an amazing crocodile pie with the curry spices, quandong marmalade with bread-and-butter pudding and I had some fantastic bush tomato relish,” the chef says. “But I also loved a charcuterie board that we had with emu smallgoods, cured kangaroo pastrami and saltbush, and I will take a lot of those flavours home with me.
“I am going to try to cook a crocodile pie at home and I am going to maybe add a little chorizo and try to get a bit of Spanish influence in there. All of those ingredients I have at home already, so I use pepperberry on steak and when I make shortbread, I add some lemon myrtle but being up there in the Northern Territory I am even more inspired to work with indigenous ingredients.”
But there is one thing in particular that has stuck with Miguel after a visit to the state.
“I think the Northern Territory has an unbelievable level of authenticity,” he says. “Whether it is the red dirt, the funky Australian clothes like a proper outback hat or learning about Indigenous culture there is just nothing else like it.”
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This article was originally featured in the fourth issue of Dream by Luxury Escapes magazine. Get your copy here.
After more? Check out India with MasterChef Australia’s Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan
