Day 39 - The Bungle Bungles (165kms)

We were up at 5:30am and ready for our day trip to the World Heritage Purnululu National Park (The Bungle Bungles).

The Bungle Bungle Range is renowned for its striking banded domes; the worlds most exceptional example of cone karst formations. They are made of sandstone deposited about 360 million years ago. Erosion by creeks, rivers and weathering in the past 20 million years has carved out these domes, along with spectacular chasms and gorges, creating a surreal landscape.

The domes striking orange and grey bands are caused by the presence or absence of cyanobacteria. Dark bands indicate the presence of the cyanobacteria, which grows on layers of sandstone where moisture accumulates. The orange bands are oxidised iron compounds that have dried out too quickly for the cyanobacteria to grow.

We dropped the caravan off at the caravan park and then continued the 53km drive to the information centre in the Bungle Bungles.

The road was better than we expected but still corrugated and lots of bends and turns and blind corners so the 53km took us 2 hours to get there. We drove past lots of termite mounds and they look like people and have faces. They are so interesting.

We bought our visitor permit then continued to the Southern end.

First stop Elephant Rock for a photo of the two elephants.

Next stop was Piccaninny. The carpark was pretty full as they are holding a Fed Court in the carpark today. It was so unusual seeing an outdoor court with the Bungles as the backdrop. We later found out that someone was claiming that they owned the land so there were lots of aboriginals.

We then walked through The Domes (700m loop walk around banded domes) to the beautiful Cathedral Gorge (2km walk through banded domes, pebbles and potholes towering cliffs and honeycomb rocks that lead to an amphitheatre). This was a trip highlight for Rog six years ago and it didn’t disappoint. We sat inside admiring the size and beauty of the amphitheatre.

There were some aboriginal kids playing and it didn’t take our kids long to go and join them.

While we ate our lunch the kids were learning how to make paint from ochre rocks. They were cracking the rock against another rock and creating a powder then mixing with water to make paint. They made white, orange, yellow and red. They had running races, skimmed rocks and played hand clapping games.

They then took us to show us a tiger snake that had fallen down into a dry rock pool but it was hidden under a rock ledge so we couldn’t see it.

We then walked with the kids to the Piccaninny Creek Lookout (2.8km walk provides views across Piccaninny Creek as it winds south through spinifex hummocks towards the its river).

It was then time for us to say goodbye to the aboriginal kids and make our way out of the Bungle Bungles. Again it took us 2 hours and we arrived back at the caravan around 4pm. We had quick showers then drove 7km down the road to Leycesters Rest Area.

We went for a walk across the old bridge and looked at the dry Ord River.

We had dinner then were in bed at 7pm tonight!