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Our plans for today were dependent on whether the Purnululu National Park had been re-opened. The park is a four wheel drive access area only and can be closed to visitors when conditions are unsuitable. We were all disappointed to hear when we left Perth that the Bungles and Gibb River Road were closed, but although there was no opportunity for the Gibb River Road to re-open before we passed it, there was a chance that the Bungles would reopen today. So we packed up our camp at El Questro and drove 30mins to the main road where the guides could pick up telephone signal to call the rangers and check whether the park had been opened. We all crossed our fingers as the Bungles were going to be one of the main features on the trip and luckily the rangers confirmed that the park had been reopened today so we set off towards the Bungles. We passed by Turkey Creek again in the morning to see if we could book a helicopter flight over the Bungles but unfortunately they were fully booked for the time we needed. So we got back on the bus for a
drive into the Bungles. We stopped at a picnic area along the way for some lunch and shortly after lunchtime we made it into the park. The bus is still playing up a bit as the spare part needed wont reach us for another couple of days so it was a slow drive to the Bungles. Once in the National Park it was a slow speed anyway as the terrain is so rough. About half way to our campsite we stopped at a lookout for views into the Bungles and some refreshing watermelon. Then it was back on the bus to drive deeper into the Bungles. The scenery on the drive was spectacular with it changing significantly every 10mins from rolling green hills to rocky cliffs and the famous black and orange stripy domes of rock. A couple of years previously Nick had been stuck in the Bungles for a few days as a bush fire had started so he used that time to explore the area a bit more and found a rock which he nicknamed Snail Rock, so on the drive in we passed by the now famous Snail Rock. <br id="yui_3_2_0_26_133620754232969"
/>We arrived at our camp in the Bungles at around 4pm so we set up camp and boiled some water for teas and coffees. Whilst we were enjoying a cuppa we were suddenly joined by a friendly Kookaburra who seemed quiet content watching us from the branches a few feet away. Leaving our feathered friend behind we jumped abord the truck to go and watch the sunset from a lookout point. Unfortubatley when we all boarded the bus for sunset there was one person missing. We drove around the campsite for a few minutes before deciding that we couldn't leave without her - especially as no-one knew where she had gone. So we all piled off the bus again and set about looking for her. She turned up shortly after we started searching and it turned out she had just gone for a bit of a walkabout. But by now we were too late to make it to the sunset lookout so instead we started preparing dinner which was chicken casserole and enjoyed a couple of beers. The Bungles are very close to the desert landscape so when the sun goes down it gets cold very quickly and unfortunately there
was a total fire ban in the Bungles so there was no camp fire to keep us warm. Instead Rich taped together 6 candles which we all huddled around for warmth and light. But we all decided that it was too cold to stay up late without any heating, so we were all in our swags by 9pm. There was a large gum tree in the centre of our campsite and Nick (who is half aboriginal) told us that when he was a child he used to have nightmares so his grandfather told him to sleep under a gum tree as the good spirits from the trees roots would rise up through the trunk of the tree and out into the branches where they would then fall on his head and give him happy dreams. We didn't get to test the theory ourselves but we didn't hear any complaints from those that were under the tree.
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