Friday, November 28, 2008

The Bungle Bungles

Finally into Western Australia, and after some time in Kununurra and a visit to Lake Argyle, a very large man-made lake created for the infamous Ord River scheme, we headed for the Bungle Bungles. The Bungle Bungle range of the East Kimberley is one of the world's great wonders, an intricate maze of spectacular sandstone beehive domes, narrow gorges lined with magnificent fan palms, and soaring cliffs with many seasonal waterfalls and rock pools.

There was no way we could drive our van in over the heavily corrugated gravel road, so we booked a guided overnight bus tour, which involved being picked up at Turkey Creek (Warmun), an Aboriginal community, at 5:30 am (one pre-booked couple obviously slept in, so the bus went without them). The ride in was very rough but we had a cheerful group, who even took it in their stride when at one point the bus started rolling forward, minus driver.
A bonus on the drive in was our first close up contact with a dingo (Australian wild dog):

Day One took us into the northern part of the Purnululu National Park, with walks into Mini Palms Gorge:
and Echidna Chasm:
One of the delights of our tour was Freddi, a bubbly 20 year old German girl working at the Camp, who joined us as a work experience exercise to see the other side of the business. Here she is demonstrating her climbing prowess in Echidna Chasm:
Time for one last attempt to capture the sunset before the weary hikers head home for the day:
At the end of the day, after a hearty three course meal at the outback lodge, we retired to our upmarket eco-tents: Day Two brings us to the southern part of the park, with up close contact with the iconic beehive domes that make the Bungle Bungles famous. Our group were more than happy to tackle the tough terrain: As the bus trundles (bounces!) along the beehives start to beckon:But first we must hike to the magnificent Cathedral Gorge:

And then starts the march of the beehives:


Finally we drive back to camp for an afternoon tea, and our bus bouncing back over the rough track to Turkey Creek; en route, a bus breaks down, fortunately not ours. We stop to rescue as many of the stranded passengers as our bus can hold - a last chance to capture sunset in the Bungle Bungles: