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Published: August 8th 2007
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Waiting For the Sunset
Beer (or Wine), cheese and crackers - Mandatory! After we got the all clear from a few people that the road was ok, we headed into the Bungle Bungles for 3 nights. It is a World Heritage Listed National Park with the road to the visitor centre is 53kms from the highway, and takes around 90 minutes when the road is good, 2 to 3 hours when the road is good and the wife is driving and up to 4 hours when the road is ‘degraded’.
The road is quite rough in places with several water crossings, most no worse than a 300mm mud bath (we saw one Troppie ‘renter’ with mud all up the sides of their vehicle and across the roof - Germans!). There were lots of twists and turns, corrugations and washouts, with the most dangerous feature being the sharp crests when you had no chance to see what was coming until the front wheels and the centre of the car had crossed the brow. Kept you awake, and gave everything a good shake down. The biggest water crossing on the way in was about 600mms deep, 75 metres across and full of large river boulders and rocky outcrops. After some coaching from others Bruce
Beer Stew and Cook
We used the Camp Oven for the very first time and were stoked with the results. A good feed before 'State Wars - Return of the Damper' drove across in one go, and did very well. We were well equipped to handled this type of road, and the sign at the entrance clearly said 4WD only, but some people will give anything a go, especially if they have just rented it. There was a couple in a Ford Territory who came up to the water crossing, parked on the side and watched. There was a tour bus on the other side of the water crossing, they had stopped for morning tea to watch the entertainment, so I think the Ford driver got a bit scared about the crowd forming up to watch his unmodified vehicle attempt to make the crossing. After waiting for 15 minutes we gave up seeing if he would cross, we never saw him in the park so assumed he did not. The last we saw of him was the total ear bashing he was coping from the woman in the passenger seat. Typical Ford drivers, could not hack the pace. Other cars made it, like a Mitsubishi Outlander (rental that dropped off a rock and reshaped the rear) and a Hyundai, towing a trailer. Very few vehicles had even taken the time to
Layer Cake Beehives
Although not the best light for to bring them out, the Bungle Bungle ranges are built of layers of differing structures, the grey layers caused by bio-organisms. lower the pressure on their tyres ripping up a heap of dust and not helping the conditions of roads much.
We stayed at the Walardi camp site, which is a bush camp with a couple of long drops. No showers, bore tap water and lots of shade available. There were others that camped near us, that came in on the same day and were also staying 3 nights, so we got to know them quite well, and they are now in Kununurra as well. There are a couple with 2 daughters from Alice Springs, and 2 groups of people (one with kids) from Melbourne. The other Melbourne couple were originally from Germany and France (Bruce discussed the Rainbow Warrior). It was great sitting around and sharing camp fire stories with people. That is what I love about camping. Bruce enjoyed the beer and wine.
We used the camp fire for cooking on 2 of our nights. The first one was Bruce cooking a traditional (just started) Beer Stew. We used the Camp Oven for the first time, the flavours were fantastic, one of his best. There was a damper making competition between NT and Victoria, and we got to
Cathedral George
Huge casim at the end of the gorge, renouned for its amphitheatre. sample the proceeds. Was not bad for their first attempts either. Victoria won, but it was close. Because we were from SA, we weren’t allowed to judge.
The best way to see the Bungle Bungles is by foot. So walking was the way it had to be. The roads in the park are not as bad as those to get to the park, so moving around is quite easy. For future travellers, keep an eye out for the high speeders.
Cathedral Gorge is a 3km return walk along creek bed to an amphitheatre at the end. There is a shrinking pool of water there, not too inviting to swim in though. On the way were saw a crew from some Melbourne outdoor show following the Variety bash, so watch out, you may see us on TV. The presenter is a sports personality we couldn’t remember the name of. Bruce got talking to the parks people and they agreed the young blond thing that was his off-sider was there because of her..... well.....you know. There were some people also there from Sweden (or Switzerland) who yodelled for the film crew in the amphitheatre. We heard the yodelling as we walked
View out of Cathedral George
The trek in/out is not difficult. and it sounded like 5 or 6 people, with another 50-100 clapping. We were very surprised to find one yodeller and only 5 or 6 people clapping. Such is this amazing place. On the way back from Cathedral Gorge you do the dome walk, which is through the magnificent beehive like domes that are most common to most people when they think of the Bungle Bungles. I was disappointed in the dome walk, I sore more from other areas of the park, but you did get up close with the domes.
There is Walanginjdji lookout, which is great for a sunset view, so in typical Bruce and Amanda style we went to see the sunset, with Biscuits and Cheese, plus beer in tow. You had the perspective from both angles, the actual sunset itself, which was good, then the sun setting and changing the colour of the Bungle Bungle Ranges, which was even better. When the sun came out the ranges were at their best.
Next day (after being woken by the Cockatiels’ at 05:30), we decided to tackle the Mini Palms Walk, which was a 5km round trip, a ‘moderate’ walk through a rocky creek bed, and
Echidna Chasim
Very special place. Well worth the trek in. climbing over some large boulders. Well that is what the sign said. It was quite difficult, with 3km in the creek bed with a mix of soft sand like - small river rocks, to some very large river rocks, then climbing over boulders the average height of a person and a few hundred tonnes each. You finally reached a lookout after a very steep climb, which considering what we went through to get there, was a little disappointing, but we can say we did it. Bruce was asking around the Parks’ staff for the person who made the sign. He thought it (they) needed fixing. We were both very hot and bothered by the end and the temp was well below average.
The last walk of the trip was Echidna Chasm. The lady at the visitors centre said it was her favourite and we could see why. It was a short walk along more large river rocks, but this time it was worth it. There was a 100m+ high chasm, that at times was so skinny only one person could fit through (some almost needed pushing to make the squeeze - no points for guessing who), and it went
Echidna Chasim
Very special place. Well worth the trek in. for over 500m twisting its way through the rock. It was very spectacular and both our favourite event of the trip into the park.
For the trip out it was determined, by majority of 1, that Amanda should drive. So off I went. With some side ‘coaching’ from Bruce I made it all the way to the large river crossing before I chickened out, although Bruce tried to convince me to give it a try. There were 7 other cars in front of us, and we were the last. I did not want to be the one to get it wrong. Bruce took the car through the river crossing and then I continued driving the journey.
Back on the bitumen (although the West Australian/Federal Government could fire a few more dollars on the roads) we have made our way to Kununurra for a well earned shower, bit of rest time, and some more sightseeing. Bruce found a pretty good supply of Coffee here at the Boab Book Store, so he is pretty happy. We're are here until Thursday, then heading on the Gibb River Road. It is a public holiday in WA on Monday, so everything here is
Echidna Chasim
Mind your head. closed.
They have an endless supply of water here, thanks to the damming of the Ord River some 20 years ago. So we could wash the car and Kamper and get rid of all of that red dust. Able to use water like this was a bit weird, but did not take too long to get back into the swing of it.
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Ric and Jules
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Bruce, take the wildlife off your face.
We're thouroughly enjoying living this trip vicariously through the Hore's eyes and words (never thought I'd admit to that). Keep writing and come back safely. Appreciate seeing more photo's added.