Blogs from Bungle Bungles, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

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 ... read more

Just for something different, we were settled in to our new location at Turkey Creek, Warnum, at ten in the morning. With a picnic lunch organised, we headed to Purunululu National Park, home of The Bungle Bungles. It was a six-hour return trip with about one and a half hours there, but it was worth it. The Bungle Bungles are magnificent sandstone domes, with red and black layers of colour. They were discovered in the 1980s and are now a very popular tourist destination. The trip involved several river crossings and horse and cattle avoidance. Livestock on the roadside is a normal feature of travel in this part of the world. Today we also have livestock wandering through the caravan park. Two very big Brahman bulls to be precise. Staff assured us that they are safe ... read more

I was up early and had breakfast before I was picked up at 8:30am for my day tour. Picked up a few more people and then we headed to the small airport. I would be flying with Alligator airways. We were all given a brief talk about where our tours would be flying over. We were then split up into small groups. My pilot only looked like he was about 15.....yikes! We were taken over to our plane and then given a safety talk. The plan only seats about 7 people, 8 including the pilot. I was seated directly behind the pilot. I wasn’t really nervous at all until we got into the air. It was quite a windy day and being that the plane is so small I could feel all the little bumps and ... read more

Wednesday 29th June and today we were heading for Halls Creek. It’s another fairly lengthy journey and not a lot to see on the way. We have heard some bad reports about Halls Creek, both the caravan park and the behaviour of the locals although our recollection from last time didn’t support negative views of either. True it’s not the most attractive place in the world and true the caravan park lacked some of the glamour of many that we’ve stayed at. But, once again, Halls Creek is conveniently placed on our onward journey towards our next chosen stopping place, The Bungle Bungles. In the meantime, though, we were able to secure a powered site at the Halls Creek caravan park and to find a garage with reasonably priced diesel which accepted another discount voucher. The ... read more

Day 4 Left Halls Creek around 9:30am after stocking up on milk, bread & eggs at the local IGA and hunting down 2 real cappuccinos at the bakery (yes, real ones, not like Scottish pretend ones ! The Halls Creek campground was ok for one night but glad not to have been staying any longer as the facilities were quite grubby & dirty. Offered our friendly German couple neighbours who were on a 4 week holiday driving from Perth to Darwin, our discount voucher book which included a coupon for 10% of helicopter trips to the Bungle Bungles (we already got another voucher). In return 5 mins later we were asked “did we want a 10m roll of alu-foil, that they had spare !” No need for eBay or TradeMe when you are camping. Approx 1 ... read more

Day 155 - Bungle Bungles 5.30am appears to be our new wake up time, three days on the trot suggests that’s the go for WA! The sun is always up bright and early which brings the birds out so we have little or no chance of remaining asleep when the dawn chorus orchestra kicks off! A quick check on our mobile phone brings the astonishing news from the National Finals back home (via Emma!) that The Dogs Bollocks team have indeed taken the top honours within The Wild Bunch with their slingshot dragster Ramraider! If you read yesterday’s blog then you will know we went to bed believing that Crazy Chris had finally managed to secure the Wild Bunch #1 spot having made it through the quarter final round of competition and then having the deserved ... read more