Western Australia at the end of our journey

We drove south from Kununurra to Turkey Creek where we left the caravan at the roadhouse and drove out to the Bungle Bungles with our tent to stay for a couple of nights. It was a 4x4 track that can take several hours to cover the 60kms into the Purnululu National Park but we were fortunate in that the track had been regraded as they were building an airstrip and needed to get some heavy plant in. It took us just under 2 hours to drive to the campsite after leaving the bitumen. As we got close to the campsite however, it started raining! Its been stinking hot for the past month or so with very few clouds and we were looking forward to sleeping under the stars but the rain persisted. It stopped the next morning and it was good walking weather I suppose.

Camping in the Bungle Bungles The navigator is still swatting for her exams bless her!

Here are the beehive shaped hills that we saw from the air a couple of days ago.

Bungle Bungles

Up close, the colouring you can see that the banding is caused by different coloured sandstone. The Red is a thin layer of iron oxide and the grey is a thin layer of cyanobacteria that only attaches itself to the harder sandstones. Well that's what the blurb said. The grey bit sticking up is a termite mound. They are called the Ghosts of the Bungles as they do look a bit like ghosts.

Ghosts in the Bungle Bungles

We walked along Cathedral Gorge, which is quite narrow with very tall walls until you get to the end where it opens out into an enormous bell shaped area with a pool in the middle. The acoustics are amazing, just the place for a concert but a bit tricky getting the instruments in.

Cathedral Gorge

Some of the other gorges we walked in had palm trees growing in them. These were tall palms but looked small compared to the towering walls of the gorge.

Echidna Gorge

Whilst driving between the walks we often saw flocks of budgerigars fly out of the bush by the side of the track. We weren't fast enough to get a photo of them though. The cattle on the station near the park entrance didn't mind having their photos taken though. These are Brahman cattle that suit the climate better than the regular Herefords we saw further south. Their ears seem to be put on upside down and they have a long flap of skin on their chests and a large hump on their back.

Brahman cattle.