Advertisement
Published: July 29th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Day 20 – Thursday 19
th July – Purnululu National Park
We had left the safari tent window flaps half open to catch the magical early morning pre-dawn light. The birds were all squawking and chattering and we managed to persuade our delightful children to go to the camp kitchen to make us a cup of tea. We all slept like babies for most of the night, apart from when the local dingoes started howling like wolves (or should that be dingoes?), which was pretty eerie. Luckily the kids didn’t get scared and want to be rescued from their own tent (we didn’t know how close the dingoes were and how aggressive they would be in their own territory in the dark).
Breakfast was at 7.15m, after the main tour group had left for the day. Muesli and cereal, fresh fruit, yoghurt, bread rolls, sausages, tinned spaghetti (why not??) and scrambled eggs. Yum. And no arguments about who should do the washing up. Even better, there was no trailer tent and gear to pack up either, just a few clothes and toiletries to stuff into a bag. It was a very leisurely morning.
There were three other
things to visit and walks to do in the park and we started with the Dome walk, which is a short loop walk into and around the famous Bungle Bungle domes. Next came the 3km Cathedral Gorge walk through striped domes, pebbles, potholes, towering cliffs and honeycomb cliffs that lead to an amphitheatre. Spectacular stuff. Finally we walked along the Picaninny Creek to get the classic shots of the Bungle Bungle. Took heaps of photos. It really is an incredible, awe-inspiring place and we are so glad that we made the 2 day detour to experience it.
All Bungled out, at 2pm we left the park. Three inhabitants of the car wearing one ear plug each to see if it would help with the nausea on the bumpy, windy road back. And guess what? It did. So remember this tip next time you are feeling the worse for wear on a bumpy windy road. Not sure if it helps for hangovers though.
Back at the caravan pack we rewarded ourselves with an icecream , refilled with water and hit the road again at about 4pm, aiming to get as far North as possible so we would be close
to El Questro for tomorrow. The plan was to get to Wyndham, home of the Big Croc and a port north of Kununurra, so we could fill up with decently priced diesel before starting along the Gibb River Road, where remote fuel stations charge up to $2.30/l. We arrived in Wyndham just as the sun was setting, but just after the petrol station s had all closed. No 24 hour fuel stops in the outback! Before it got dark we drove to the Five Ways Lookout and just caught the tail end of sunset, overlooking the five waterways running in and around Wyndham – the King, Pentecost, Chamberlain, Durack and Salmond and the Gulf of Cambridge. As it got dark we could even see the flames of a distant bushfire on the other coast of the gulf. Breathtaking views, once again. As it was dinner time we opened up the back of the trailer and knocked up a pan of pasta and reheated the rest of the stew – very gourmet!
Wyndham was fully closed for the night and we will have no time tomorrow to do any of the touristy things Wyndham has to offer so we decided
to head back out of town, south, towards the Gibb River Road. We found a free bush camp in a place called the Grotto and set up for the night. The plan for tomorrow is to arrive at El Questro at around 8am to try to secure a private campsite on the property. Check out time is strictly 10am and you can’t reserve the private campsites, so the idea is to be the first person to check in for the next day. Let’s see what happens.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0605s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb