Travelling Past Time: 9 - Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles)

May - 21/5/16

From Keep River NP in the Northern Territory we drove down the road about 3 kilometres into Western Australia handing over the little of our remaining fresh food to quarantine inspectors who inspected the contents of every cupboard in the caravan.

A short time later we arrived at Kununurra where we attended the information centre. There was a queue of at least a dozen people waiting for attention which didn’t move in the 20 minutes we were there, so we found some information on display of interest and left. We walked around the local market inspecting all the wares on offer, attended the local supermarket to restock our fresh food supplies, returning to the information centre only to find it was just as crowded with people, so we didn’t bother pursuing the local information we were hoping to obtain.

Kununurra was bustling with people, something to do with the “Ord River Muster” (their annual festival held over 10 days) which was in full swing on our arrival. There were many optional events to participate in and in the evening we experienced our first ever rodeo which was entertaining and sometimes heart stopping when a rider fell to the ground under a bucking bull.

Kununurra Rodeo

The next morning leaving Kununurra we managed to drive 77 kilometres before we just plain had enough of driving for the day, spending the afternoon and evening at a road side stop.

Then it was down the road a bit to the Bungle Bungles caravan park where we spent most of the afternoon preparing for our stay in Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles). Under the current National Park regulations, only single axle trailers were permitted into the National Park. As our caravan was not allowable with its tandem axle group it was placed in storage at the caravan park and we drove the 53 kilometres to the National Park where we slummed it living in a tent for three nights.

The day time temperatures hovered around the 33 – 34 degrees daily, limiting our walking time to mainly in the mornings where we walked between 5 to 10 kilometres each day viewing different areas of the national park.

There were two campgrounds in the national park about 18 kilometres apart, one in the southern area and one in the northern area of the national park. From both campgrounds you need to drive about a further 10 kilometres to the walking tracks which commence from the significant showcase geological areas of the national park. We stayed at the northern campground, (Kurrajong camp site) but if we returned we thought the southern campground, (Walardi camps) may have been a better option.

The distant scenery driving along the roads was spectacular with the main highlights for us The Domes, Cathedral Gorge, Piccaninny Creek Lookout and Echidna Chasm. We viewed many other areas all of which would have attracted thousands of visitors each day if they had been located anywhere else in the world other than Purnululu National Park.

Purnululu National Park or commonly known as the “Bungle Bungles,” was our main focal point for viewing this year and we were not disappointed with any of the scenery other than it would have been appreciated if we could have utilized our caravan with all its comforts for accommodation in the national park which in turn would have resulted in a longer stay.

Echidna Chasm

Driving towards The Domes

Walking around The Domes

Walking to Cathedral Gorge

We were unable to get a photograph to show how our eyes viewed Cathedral Gorge due to its size. We managed this photo by pointing the camera down at the pool of water inside the Gorge. Mary is standing to the right just off centre in the blue top.