BUNGLE BUNGLES

We had decided to stay an extra day in Kununurra, as Warren got an infection from a cut to his elbow and which had overnight swollen up like a balloon. He had visited the hospital and was prescribed anti biotics so we thought it best to wait an extra day to allow the swelling to go down. I was keen for the arm to be amputated but the medical staff thought that was not yet necessary.

The following day we set off south to the Bungle Bungles. I had to leave the van at Mabel Downs station, as twin axle vans are not permitted in the Bungle Bungles National Park, that meant Jo-anne and I would be tenting for 3 nights. Lucky Lynette and Warren were able to take their van in.

Van dropped and set to go for the 53klms drive in. We had been forewarned that the road was rough and they were right. The road was absolutely atrocious with bone shattering corregations and rocks the size of footballs (ok slight exaggeration) It was narrow as well as twisting and turning and several creek crossings. It took nearly 2 hours to trek in, we later heard that some people took up to 4 hours, I'm not sure why it would take 4 but maybe they hadn't dropped their tyre pressures.

We set up camp at Kurrajong campground which only had drop toilets and no showers. We selected a nice spot to get the afternoon shade as the temperature was in the low to mid 30's.. The campground was dusty and the worst part was no showers for 3 days. Well this is the Kimberleys and outback Australia.

Next day we headed to Cathedral Gorge. We had only travelled about 5 klms when we spotted an overturned car on a sharp corner afer a river crossing. It hadn't been there the previous evening, so was very recent. We did a quick check to make sure there was no-one inside, it looked like they had managed to get out through the passenger door. It had probably happened the previous night as the motor was cold, but there was still fuel leaking from the car.

Wehiked into Cathedral Gorge which was amazing and the acoustics are supposedly as good as the Sydney Opera house. Several ads have been filmed in this location, including the Australian Childrens Choir singing "we call Australia home"the Qantas ad.

Next day was an early start for Lynette, as she was on a 7.00am chopper flight over the Bunble Bungles. Jo-anne and I had decided it was not in our best interests. Lynette survived and got some amazing shots. The Bungle Bungles cover an enormous area, about 100 times the size of Uluru, but unfortunately there are only a couple of areas that can be accessed by foot, therefore you only end up seeing about 1%, unless you do a flight.

The following day we hiked into the Echidna Chasm, again a short hike but amazing, even though the walk was up a very rocky river bed and once in the Chasm at one point we had to climb boulders.

That afternoon back at the campground the wind started to blow. Our tent was copping a battering and we were all covered in dust. By early evening the wind stopped and we thought everything would be ok. About 2.00am it was back and blew for about 2 hours, then again stopped. We got up at 5.30am and packed up before the wind had a chance to blow up again. Now the journey out.

Everything was going well, we had travelled about 40klms, then both Jo-anne and I heard a slight pop and straight away I said "we just got a rock through the tyre". I reckon there are people that walk along these dirt tracks and turn all the rocks up so the pointing ends are sticking up. These rocks are everywhere and whilst you try and dodge most its impossible to miss them all. Anyway, I wasn't sure which tyre had been hit and I coulnd't feel any handling difference so decided to keep going. I have previously learnt that most times the inertia of driving generally stops the tyre from going flat, its only when you stop that the tyre goes down.

We arrived back at Mabel Downs and time to re-inflate all the tryres. Sure enough the front left is now flat. So I pumped it up to 40psi, hooked up the van and then went a had a shower. I was very disappointed to notice that what I thought was a nice tan just simply washed off, it was all dust. When I got back to the car I re-checked the tyre pressure and it was down to 30psi. So I pumped it back up to 40psi and we headed to Halls Creek which was 110klms down the road. After a couple of pressure check stops and one pump up stop we got to Hall Creek without having to change the tyre. A quick fix at the local tyre joint and we are back on the road headed to Fitzroy Crossing.

Next Stop Fitzroy Crossing