Fri 25/07/14 Travelled approx. 400kms to Mable Downs Station today. Passed through Halls Creek where we fuelled up, lunched and checked out the Visitor Centre. Decided not to drive out to see the Wolfe Creek Meterorite Crater; 135kms each way on corrugated dirt track makes for slow goin' ... so not enough time. Settled for picture postcards for the kids journals instead. We crossed paths with the Vealy Family at the Bungle Bungles; friends from Michael's high school days who are travelling OZ in the opposite direction to us. Shared a yummy BBQ dinner, then James, Benny and LBA quickly vanished into the air conditioned van to engage in some serious 'minecrafting' on their ipods. Which left K&M, Veal & KP outside in the heat to enjoy a chat and cold drinks whilst watching the sunset .... and several large bulls that decided to stroll through camp! A great catch up and good fun meeting in the middle of no-where!! Safe & happy travels guys!

Sat 26/07/14 On the 4WD tour bus at 7am for the 1.5hr, 50km drive on very corrugated, winding track to the Purnululu Visitor Centre. The Cattle Station is made up of four properties: Mable Downs, Alice Downs, Texas Downs and Springvale = 1.7million acres with 50,000 head of cattle. Radar, our driver and guide, explained how one day government officials turned up to tell the station owner that the Bungle Bungles in the middle of his station had been declared a national park. Though it would remain unfenced, his cattle were not to cross 'the boundary' into national park lands, a public access road would have to cross his property and there was no point disputing beacuse it was happening anyway. Eventually accepting he could not avoid the situation, the station owner requested permission from the government to open a caravan park, advising them there was no point rejecting it because he was doing it anyway - thus where we are camped! Lots of simliarly interesting anecdotes were provided over the course of the day - very entertaining. Both Brodie & Lukas had turns riding up front next to Radar. From the visitor centre the Bungle Sandstone Domes were a futher 40 min drive to the south. Here we hiked for 3 hours in the blazing, hot sun to visit Picaninny Lookout, Cathedral Gorge and the Beehive Domes. All quite amazing to behold ... you can almost feel the age of these rock formations. Lunched, then an hour drive to the northern end of the range for a hike into Echidna Chasm. Conglomerate rock here, very different from the other end. The chasm extends back into the range for 1km, and is a narrow joint fracture in the rock - you can easily touch both sides if you extend your arms - very rocky floor - felt like we are in an Indiana Jones movie! We all really enjoyed today, totally worth the heat and sweat. Many of our fellow hikers commented on how well the kids managed the conditions and how well behaved they were; proud parents are we! After the 2 hour 'kimberley massage' drive back to camp, we speedily showered and went to the camp 'big top' tent for a bush dinner of vegetable soup, beef stew and freshly baked bread...perfect for hungry hikers ... even better when you don't have cook it! Kids to bed and then K&M relaxed around the huge fire chatting with other campers for an evening under the stars.

Sun 27/07/14 Treated ourselves to a helicopter ride out over the Bungles early this morning. Chopper takes 3 passengers, so we all had to weigh in to see who could go with who. Girls were allowed to share one rear seat, K had the other rear seat, while Lukas got poll position next to the pilot in the front, doorless seat - which had him repeatedly seeking assurance that he would not fall out! Michael teamed up with another couple that we'd been chatting with around the campfire the previous evening for his ride .... plus all seats filled means cheaper price. Was awesome!! Chopper flies at up to 190km/hr, although it feels like you are going quite slowly. Pilot, 'Bungee', manouvered / rolled the chopper from side to side so we all were able to look directly down in to the gorges etc below. Was really super interesting seeing it all from the air after we had trekked it the day before .... made us realise how little we hiked and / or how massive the range actually is; helicopter so fun! Homeschool under the big top for rest of the day, dinner, then glowsticks around the fire and chatting to other families before hitting the hay. Also, pleased to say, that after being told that the Bungles were 'overrun' with cane toads, we did not see any ... though the Vealys told us they went 'toading' one night and found 30 by a creek .... so I guess they're hidden somewhere.