covering 1 to 4 August
Well here we are in Halls Creek after spending 3 nights in the Bungles staying at a DEC campsite at the southern end of the Bungles.
We drove from Kununurra on Thursday morning and headed south on the Great Northern Hwy. Rob departed last night after we had a great send off and dinner at the Pump House Restaurant. Dinner and drinks were on Rob to celebrate the end of our Gibb travels. Thanks Rob. We already miss your keen sense of humour, your cooking prowess and your can do attitude.
After a 50km drive into the Bungles from the Great Northern Hwy - it took us 2 hours on what can be described as one of the worst roads we have driven on even after the Gibb. The early part was very corrugated and then we crossed two ranges which resulted in the road becoming extremely windy and undulating. Most of the drive was in second gear sitting on 20-30km per hour. It was an experience I will remember for a long time. I am happy to admit that the car and trailer handled it ok although one of the covers on the shock absorber loosened and has dropped down. So that day was very much about driving into the park, finding a campsite (DEC required bookings being done through their Kununurra office) and then it was a further15 km drive into the site. We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves after setting up camp.
Friday 2 August 2013
Today was very much about exploring the southern side of the
Bungles. The area known as Piccaninny is where we explored – it takes about
30 minutes to drive to the carpark from our campsite at Walardi and we were in
location by about 8.30am.
From the drive in to the car park we could see the beehives
which the Bungles are known for. All very stunning. We walked the Domes walk
first a 700m loop, then connected with the Cathedral Gorge track which is a 2
km round trip walk. The Gorge is simply stunning and opens out into a cathedral
like gorge. We then continued onto the Piccaninny Creek walk and continued to
the Window. We walked up a creek bed which was very rocky although the rocks
were quite smooth and made for easy walking. The domes were all round us and
the scenery was quite stunning from the dried river bed. From the Window we
decided to walk to the Whip Snake Gorge which is a 10km return trek from the
start. On our return from the Gorge we turned off to have a look at the Piccaninny
Creek lookout for some stunning views. It was at this site that Paul ran into
their (both Paul and Sue Hewitt) long time friends Peter and Marg Hunter and his brother Eric and his wife.
Paul knew that they were travelling up to Cape York and then coming over to the
Gibb for a stint but he did not know their exact movements. To think that we
ran into them at a particular point and at a particular time is just amazing.
Anyway it was catch ups all round with photos being taken.
On our walk
Drive in to Bungles
Beehives
Cathedral Gorge
Picaninny Creek walk
Whip Snake Gorge
The Window
The Window
Bungles pose
Paul, Marg and Peter Hunter, and Lindsay meet at Piccaninny Lookout
We departed the car park around 1.30pm and headed back to our camp. It was a hot day with the temperatures hovering in the low to mid 30s. The breezes in the area were very welcome as they were cooling. We rested and recovered from our walk which we estimated was about 12 km in length. A few cold tubes and a bottle of red were just the treat we needed to ease the aches and pains from our walk.
Saturday 3 August
Today we headed to the north side of the Bungles. You do not realise just how large an area mass that they occupy. Some 50km by about 40km. Anyway it takes some time to drive into position and we drove about 35km which took us about 40 minutes. The northern side is very different to the southern side which is the more well know site with the Beehive type topography. The northern side is very much about sandstone and conglomerate rock faces with the escarpment being somewhat taller than the southern side.
Anyway we walked into the Echidna Chasm after viewing the Osmand Ranges. These ranges are 1.8 billion years old compared with the Bungles that are a mere 360 million years old. Quite stunning and humbling. The Chasm was just spectacular and nothing that I have seen before. We did not gain this appreciation from our earlier aircraft flight over the Bungles from Kununurra.
After the walk back out we then walked into the Mini Palm Gorge which again proved to be a stunner. The photos will attest to this. More Australians should be viewing this scenery.
Entry to Echidna Chasm
Walking into the chasm
The Chasm walk
Entry to Echidna Chasm
Taking a breather inside the Chasm
Rockfall but the walk continues
More of the Palms
View of Osmond Ranges
Walk into gorge
Trails ends Mini Palms Gorge
Lunch at Mini Palms Gorge and a soldier's five
We finished our walking in the early afternoon and headed back to camp. It was interesting to note that the temperature in the northern end of the Bungles was 25 degrees but it was 31 degrees by the time we got back to our camp. Anyway we settled in for the afternoon with a few chores to undertake - Paul needed to check out the shock absorbers and do some tightening whilst I needed to download photos.
Today the 4th of August was all about heading out of the Bungles and driving to Hall Creek. From here we have set up our trailer in the local caravan park and tomorrow we head to Wolf Crater. We will leave the trailer in the park and drive down early tomorrow returning late afternoon.
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