Kylie Myles is a tour guide and driver based in Central Australia, where she shares the vast beauty of the Red Centre with travellers from around the world. Originally from Melbourne (and Bacchus Marsh), she blends a deep love of nature with a grounded, warm storytelling style shaped by life between city streets and desert horizons.
I’m a tour guide and driver in the Red Centre, Australia. I often tell people that in Central Australia, I’m your Kapi Kunga — the one who brings the rain, thunder, and lightning when you visit.
I'm writing this as I head south on holiday to Melbourne from Alice Springs, Central Australia. It’s been seven months since I left my Melbourne neighbourhood — only 4 km from the city centre — for the Red Centre Outback, where I’m advised not to walk around after dark. Gone are the days of walking home after a 3 am shift. Now I drive everywhere, and I miss walking at night more than I thought I would.
As a tour guide & driver, I get to show people the West MacDonnell Ranges, Uluru and Kata Tjuta,… and soon Kings Canyon when I’m back. I haven’t been to the Canyon myself yet, so I’ll be experiencing it for the first time with a German group, quite possibly! We’ll be walking before sunrise to beat the heat — it’s around 39 degrees Celsius at the moment, and apparently another 10 degrees hotter on the canyon rim. The Parks close the walks early in summer, so you’d better get up there. They call that first climb Heart Attack Hill… in any weather.
One of my routines out here is that the moment I arrive at my staff room (or plush hotel room, depending on the tour), I dump my bags and head out walking. For some reason, I seem to travel with a near-full moon everywhere I go, which means fewer stars. Before I moved here, people kept telling me, “You’ll see stars you’ve never seen before!” The first time I arrived, I looked up and said, “What the hell?! I can see more stars in my mum’s backyard!”
Mum’s in Bacchus Marsh — a little town about a 40-minute drive from the city that a few of you might know, with a population bigger than Alice Springs. Every time I go home, the first thing I do is step into her backyard and wait for the Milky Way/Dark Emu and hopefully a shooting star.
Still, the desert has its magic. I’ve heard that on the plane flight out of Yulara, if the pilot flies a certain direction, you can see Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Atila (Mt Connor) lined up perfectly. It blows my mind every time I think about it. Atila is on private cattle station land, so you can’t visit, which somehow makes it feel even more mysterious.
The Red Centre feels like a last frontier for many Aussies. It certainly was for me. When I decided to quit my job, I realised I also needed to move house. I sent my résumé across Australia and promised myself I’d accept whoever replied first — and I did. I bought a car, packed up, and drove 2,250 kilometres north. I arrived in Alice Springs at sunset, messaged my new boss, and he replied, “Great! See you in the yard at 9 am!” I didn’t even know where the main street was!
Tonight, after a three-day charter tour, I was sitting outside at sunset under a Jacaranda in full bloom. It’s not a native tree, but Aussies love them enough to throw festivals for them anyway. Wattle (a beloved native tree) season has ended, and the Jacarandas are shining.
The Aussie Backyard Bird Count ( An annual nationwide event where Australians spend 20 minutes observing and recording the birds they see in their backyard, local park, or neighbourhood) has wrapped up too — a couple of new birds this year! We have Western Bowerbirds up here that collect white objects. The pair I saw this morning was either having a domestic argument or flirting; I honestly couldn’t tell.
Now I’m preparing to see Melbourne again — family, friends, and the neighbourhood where I lived most of my adult life. I’ll be passing 50 cars compared to three in Alice, which already feels overwhelming.
My sister has volunteered me to pick up our cousin’s wife the day after I arrive. Classic. I can pass road trains (A very long truck used in remote and regional Australia, made up of a powerful prime mover pulling multiple trailers — sometimes three or four at a time) in a coach bus, but don’t ask me to navigate Melbourne Airport from the western suburbs with all the new bypasses… unless there’s a TKMaxx (discount retail outlet) involved!
For now, I’m letting the shift settle in. The desert has stretched me, grounded me, and given me a new sense of home. And heading south, with red dust still on my boots, I’m reminded that home isn’t a single place anymore. It’s the space between where I came from and where I’ve landed — and I’m grateful for both.
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