Driving down to the famous Bungle Bungles (or Purnululu to give them their Aboriginal name) we noticed a spattering of rain on the windscreen – the first for a calendar month – and a few small puddles at the side of the road. But we were unprepared after 3 hours’ driving to find the road into the Bungle Bungles closed because of an inch of rain the night before. Nothing for it but to head back the way we came, as we were told it could be a couple of days before the road reopened.
So we headed back along the Great Northern Highway, which despite being the main north-south artery in Western Australia, is only single track in places – you make sure you put two wheels in the dirt when you meet a 4-truck road-train belting towards you, as he certainly won’t. Parry Creek was our destination, and it turned out to be a really good decision. Tucked away 13 k from the highway, it was birdwatcher’s oasis. We had a lovely campsite right on the river bank (no swimming because of Freshie crocs) but lots of bird life, especially finches and Nick’s first ever sighting of a Frogmouth, an owl-like bird that scared the bejeebus out of all the other birds. We had a wonderful morning at a hide built out over a lagoon, where Nick birdwatched (purple swamp hens, pied herons and brolgas - majestic as a stork in colour-coordinated grey with bright red flash on its head) while I watched birds. My favourite was the Jacana, or lotus hopper, a tiny wader with spindly legs and long thin toes like Strewel Peter’s fingernails, delicately negotiating its cumbersome feet from lotus leaf to lotus leaf.
The Bungle Bungles road was in fact only closed for the one day, so we left Parry Creek early in the morning for the drive back down there. The road into the national park is only about 50 k long, but takes 2 hours to drive, and we got to practice our river crossing skills once again. Bush camping once more, which, believe it or not, I’ve really come to enjoy, and we had the prettiest site yet (complete with a budgie whirring round us, which I still find strange to see in the wild). Bush camping is the opposite of site camping, no showers provided, and usually only river water or a tap of bore water. But there are nearly always camp fire sites, sometimes we collect wood as we drive in, Nick loading it onto the roof-rack. We then pick where to camp – sites are all tucked away from each other so when it gets dark at 6 you really feel as if you’re in the wilderness, with complete darkness surrounding your little oasis of light and buzzing insects. Nick even organized a our solar shower – filling the large bag with water to heat up in the sun by day, and then rigging it up over a tree so that we got quite a good tepid trickly shower in the evening. Now this may not sound like my idea of a good shower, but after a day’s dust-tramping it goes a long way towards camping luxury.
How to describe the beauty of the Bungles? I just can’t do it justice, suffice it to say that of all the wondrous sights so far, this place is the one I am so glad not to have missed. Our photos describe it much better than words. We were just blown away by the colours – domed hills striped in orange sandstone and purple grey conglomorate – and the timelessness. Even with the sandstone erosion you just know that this landscape will be here for a few hundred more millennia. We did all three main trails in the same day as they weren’t too arduous, and each one was different. Echidna Chasm was 200 m deep and barely a metre wide in places. We walked it as the midday sun struck a path deep into the dark, and we looked up to green palms outlined against the deep blue sky. Also mighty boulders lodged between the chasm walls, with notices telling you not to linger under them in case they fell – we didn’t linger there. We were lucky enough to avoid the tour groups each time, and at the end of the long day had Cathedral Gorge to ourselves, stepping into an amphitheatre of white sand and spooky pool surrounded by towering sandstone walls.
We’ve been lucky so far with encounters with nasty beasties. A couple of snakes in the last few days: a rather pretty small bronze tree snake almost ran over my feet at the Parry Creek showers, and driving in the Bungles Nick spotted a large (6ft) Olive Python sunning itself on the road. We walked to within a few feet of it, but apart from flickering its tongue it didn’t seem too bothered by us, so we left hoping no one would run it over.
Two days of bush camping, however fun, is enough for this gal and tonight we’re at a motel in Kununarra, where we’ve washed ourselves and our clothes squeaky clean, and are girding up to explore the Kakadu. But first we’re going cruising – a couple of trips planned on the waterways around here.
So we headed back along the Great Northern Highway, which despite being the main north-south artery in Western Australia, is only single track in places – you make sure you put two wheels in the dirt when you meet a 4-truck road-train belting towards you, as he certainly won’t. Parry Creek was our destination, and it turned out to be a really good decision. Tucked away 13 k from the highway, it was birdwatcher’s oasis. We had a lovely campsite right on the river bank (no swimming because of Freshie crocs) but lots of bird life, especially finches and Nick’s first ever sighting of a Frogmouth, an owl-like bird that scared the bejeebus out of all the other birds. We had a wonderful morning at a hide built out over a lagoon, where Nick birdwatched (purple swamp hens, pied herons and brolgas - majestic as a stork in colour-coordinated grey with bright red flash on its head) while I watched birds. My favourite was the Jacana, or lotus hopper, a tiny wader with spindly legs and long thin toes like Strewel Peter’s fingernails, delicately negotiating its cumbersome feet from lotus leaf to lotus leaf.
The Bungle Bungles road was in fact only closed for the one day, so we left Parry Creek early in the morning for the drive back down there. The road into the national park is only about 50 k long, but takes 2 hours to drive, and we got to practice our river crossing skills once again. Bush camping once more, which, believe it or not, I’ve really come to enjoy, and we had the prettiest site yet (complete with a budgie whirring round us, which I still find strange to see in the wild). Bush camping is the opposite of site camping, no showers provided, and usually only river water or a tap of bore water. But there are nearly always camp fire sites, sometimes we collect wood as we drive in, Nick loading it onto the roof-rack. We then pick where to camp – sites are all tucked away from each other so when it gets dark at 6 you really feel as if you’re in the wilderness, with complete darkness surrounding your little oasis of light and buzzing insects. Nick even organized a our solar shower – filling the large bag with water to heat up in the sun by day, and then rigging it up over a tree so that we got quite a good tepid trickly shower in the evening. Now this may not sound like my idea of a good shower, but after a day’s dust-tramping it goes a long way towards camping luxury.
How to describe the beauty of the Bungles? I just can’t do it justice, suffice it to say that of all the wondrous sights so far, this place is the one I am so glad not to have missed. Our photos describe it much better than words. We were just blown away by the colours – domed hills striped in orange sandstone and purple grey conglomorate – and the timelessness. Even with the sandstone erosion you just know that this landscape will be here for a few hundred more millennia. We did all three main trails in the same day as they weren’t too arduous, and each one was different. Echidna Chasm was 200 m deep and barely a metre wide in places. We walked it as the midday sun struck a path deep into the dark, and we looked up to green palms outlined against the deep blue sky. Also mighty boulders lodged between the chasm walls, with notices telling you not to linger under them in case they fell – we didn’t linger there. We were lucky enough to avoid the tour groups each time, and at the end of the long day had Cathedral Gorge to ourselves, stepping into an amphitheatre of white sand and spooky pool surrounded by towering sandstone walls.
We’ve been lucky so far with encounters with nasty beasties. A couple of snakes in the last few days: a rather pretty small bronze tree snake almost ran over my feet at the Parry Creek showers, and driving in the Bungles Nick spotted a large (6ft) Olive Python sunning itself on the road. We walked to within a few feet of it, but apart from flickering its tongue it didn’t seem too bothered by us, so we left hoping no one would run it over.
Two days of bush camping, however fun, is enough for this gal and tonight we’re at a motel in Kununarra, where we’ve washed ourselves and our clothes squeaky clean, and are girding up to explore the Kakadu. But first we’re going cruising – a couple of trips planned on the waterways around here.
Pics: Bungling along Bungles Road
Stripes of Bungle Bungles
In awe, Echidna Chasm
Cathedral Gorge
1 comment:
Looks like the Bungles were well and truly bungled. So glad you enjoyed it. We just arrived in San Francisco and will be heading home to Kansas tomorrow! Love reading your blog so keep it up.
Miss you (still don't think you have convinced me camping is fun but the photos are making me waiver).
Glenda
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