We're back in Kununurra after spending three fantastic days in Purnululu National Park, otherwise known as the Bungle Bungles.

The Bungles were on our list of things to see when we came to the Kimberley region, but, as we came across from the Northern Territory and also want to travel the Gibb River Road, travelling to the Bungle Bungles was going to require some backtracking of a considerable distance. There really is no easy way, so after two nights at Wyndham we headed south to spend four nights at Purnululu and then backtrack to Kununurra for supplies before hitting the Gibb River Road. All we can say is that it was definately worth the 700km round trip to visit Purnululu National Park!

The park itself is located 53 km off the main highway along a rough, rocky, corrugated dirt road. There are a number of creek crossings, most of which are very shallow, but one in particular has a soft sandy bottom which makes you think a bit. At the start of the track into the park there is a sign stating that only "high clearance four wheel drive vehicles with low range gears are allowed in the park". But, as there is no-one to check on the vehicles going in, and because some people are idiots, there are all manner of soft-roaders driving around in the park, including a Ford Territory. You obviously don't "need" a proper four wheel drive to visit the Bungles, but as there were a couple of under-body plastic panels laying in the middle of the track, it is definately a smarter option. We didn't find the track too bad after other roads we have travelled recently. We set up camp in the northern campground and used it as our base to explore the park. The campgrounds have basic facilities, a couple of drop toilets and a tap supplying bore water, but it's good to see the area has not been developed to the extent of other outback national parks, such as Uluru.

After our first chilly night in the Bungles (it got cold there, down to 7 degrees over night) we drove to the Mini Palm Gorge and Echidna Chasm area to do some walking. The Mini Palm Gorge walk was a 5km return trip, walking along a dry river bed, crawling over and squeezing between huge rocks to get to the palm-filled gorge. It is a great walk and a great view at the end. After a quick cuppa we drove a short distance to the carpark at Echidna Chasm. This was an awesome place to visit. The walk is only a couple of kilometres, and is easier going than Mini Palms Gorge. We started the walk along a dry creek bed which wound it's way into a gap in the rocky mountain. We soon found ourselves walking through a very narrow slit in the rocks, sometimes only as wide as our shoulders, but it was so high to the top of the chasm that it was hard to tell how high the walls were. One of the photos I took attempts to show the scale of the chasm, you can just make out Kathy at the bottom of the photo, with the massive walls of the chasm towering above her. It is awesome, words and photos do not do it justice, so I guess you will just have to go and see for yourself!!

The next day we drove 17km to the southern end of the park to see the famous domes that feature so heavily in the tourist brochures of the Bungle Bungles. Needless to say, the dome shaped rocky range is a fantastic sight. We walked through a small area of the bee hive-shaped rocks and then detoured through a gap in the rock to visit Cathedral Gorge. This gorge finishes with a huge bowl-shaped chamber at the base of a (now dry) waterfall. The chamber actually undercuts the rock to form a roof, the whole thing creates an area that is eerily quiet and any sound you make echos throughout the gorge, much like being in a huge church. Once again, it is very impressive what nature can do with water and rocks, and photos can not do it justice. Day three found us relaxing around the campground and catching up on the domestic chores (as in hand washing all our dirty laundry - no washing machines there...). Today we left Purnululu National Park and drove the 53 km back to the highway, enjoying the beautiful scenery and ignoring the corrugations. Then it was a straight-forward trip north along the bitumen again to Kununurra, where we stopped for the night.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Bungle Bungles. We saw some of the best scenery we have encountered so far on this trip around Australia, we met some great people and enjoyed listening to the Dingos howling in the distance of a night. Well, unless they started at 1am and kept at it for hours and hours... which they did one night and kept Kathy awake, but I slept through the whole thing. It was well worth the effort required to get to the Bungles and we'd recommend it to anyone.

Tomorrow we will leave Kununurra and begin our drive along the Gibb River Road. We have stocked up with food, diesel and water and are ready to go. We don't know how long we will take to drive the Gibb, there is a lot to see and we are not in a hurry. :)