Purnululu

 
From Kununurra, we drove south towards Warnum and the entrance to Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) National Park. Really scenic drive of rolling hills and ranges covered in spinifex, grevillea and bloodwoods so plenty colour and things to look at. We even had intermittent internet which was enough to do a last minute library borrow for the kids as one of them forgot to renew their books in town.

The road into the national park is renowned for it's corrugations, river crossings and general awfulness. Dual wheel caravans and trailers are not even allowed in. Left the tyres down to 32 PSI and headed in. The scenery was so beautiful even before we arrived to the national park with ghost gums, bloodwoods, spinifex and rolling hllls of sandstone. So many colours. The road itsef was reasonably corrugated and some of the river crossings were rough on entry/exit but we took it handy and didn't have any problems. We camped at the Northern end of the park at Kurrajong and found a nice shady area to ourselves. The campground lies between the main Bungle Bungle range and the much older (conglomerate I think) Osmond range. There's also a ridge of limestone that runs down the middle of the valeey and was just behind the campground so we had a couple of stunning sunsets sitting on its (jagged) rocks overlooking the northern side of the Bungle Bungles. This side is not the classic beehive shapes that are synonomous with this national park but rather a huge long cliff of rusty red standstone interspersed with gorges and canyons. All against a layer of spinifex, silverbox (a silver leafed wattle which is very striking in large stands) and another much smaller and eroded range of dark chocolate coloured Cambrian sandstone plus of course ghost gums, grevilleas and bloodwoods and other fauna as well.

On our first full day we explored this northern end. Started early at Homestead Valley which is a big valley which massive red walls. Walked up through it and had the whole place to ourselves. Beautiful, serene place to be. Then from there made our way to the Mini Palms valley where there are many remant Livistona Palms and you can walk right up into a kind of huge cavern. Really striking and pretty. This was much busier, probably cos its more dramatic then Homestead Valley but we nearly preferred the Homestead Valley for it's wildness. Wandered up the escarpment trail along the edge of the range as far as Echnida Chasm but it was packed at the car park plus we were all a bit hungry, hot and tired so walked back to the car and campsite for a lazy afternoon. 14.5km in total so pretty good for little people in the exposed sun.

Next day we headed to the south and iconic beehive section of the park. And I knopw I've seen a heap of photos (and taken about 600) but honestly it's just a mind blowing place up close. The colours, the abundance, the shapes, the layers, the flora all combine to make this one of the best day walks we've ever done. We decided to do the close to the car park Domes and Catherdral Gorge later in the day and headed up the Picanney Creek towards Whip Snake Gorge stopping at the Picannaney lookout and the Window (which is a small beehive formation with a large hole in it). The walk along the creek is incredible as it's all eroded away (I think its a limestone foundation bed) into little channels and groves, surrounded by the beehive formations of the BUngle Bungles. The beehives are layered rust/dark grey depending on the phase they are in. The dark grey colours are created by cyanobacteria and the rust is from the sandstone itself. very fragile but so beautiful. Whip Snake gorge is immense and we had it to ourselves for awhile. Decided to continue up the creek towards the area called The Fingers where you can overnight camp (definitely on the list) and managed abput 3km upstream before turning around. Only met one other couple so more or less had the place to ourselves, the bowerbirds, snakes and herons at the occasional shrinking waterhole. At one stage we were in a narrow section of the creek and 360 surrounded by beehive formations. Just soooo specactular. Headed back towards the carpark with tiring legs (esp the little ones) and stopped at Cathedral Gorge. It is a very huge cavern caused by some massive rock plates slipping with a waterhole. Unfortunately there was a 4 year old throwing a massive wobbly and a tour group plus others so after the day of having most of the hike to ourselves it didn't feel quite right. Dragged the tired legs back thru the Domes to tick that box but at that stage we were pretty tired. Figured we did about 19km which is some achievement for the 2 girls. Missed an ice cream at the visitor centre by 1 min (arrived at 4:01pm) but did find some emergency treats in the back of the car instead.

On our last day we took it easy and did the Echidna Chasm which is essentially a very narrow (like less then a metre wide) split thru the sandstone. Its a couple of hundred metres tall as well and around midday supposed to spectacular but we went early in the morning when there were no crowds and it was still very striking. Chilled out for the rest of the day and went and got that promised ice cream which made everyone happy.

Probably one of my favourite places of the trip so far ... it's possible I keep saying this but this place is truly special. Hopefully we'll get back again some day and do the overnight walk.