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Published: October 3rd 2009
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Day 156 - Bungle Bungles
There was a rustling in the bushes last night, we had a visitor and although we have no photographic evidence we’re pretty sure it was a bounding one!! We could hear grunting and gruffling and thudding which all points to some sort of Wallaby or Kangaroo. Unfortunately it was so dark that even the moonlight couldn’t disclose the creature’s identity so it will remain a mystery forever!
The tent stayed up, hurrah and we woke up at 5am thanks to the dawn chorus in the trees above us but we didn’t mind. There are three walks we want to do this morning and setting off early gives us a cool breeze to start with.
We say goodbye to Heinz and Frianz who are leaving the Bungle Bungles today to continue their adventure back towards Perth so we wish them a safe onward trip. We were still laughing this morning about the story Heinz told us from his last big trip when he was unfortunate enough to hit a cow not far from Derby. The Nissan Patrol was badly damaged (to the tune of $25’000) and the cow did not survive and whilst Heinz
sat on the side of the road waiting for the recovery truck an Aboriginal chap stopped to see if he could help out at all. Heinz told him that he was fine and pointed to the now deceased cow some 25 metres down the darkening road as an explanation to what had happened. The chap’s eyes light up as he innocently asked ‘How long since this happened?’ to which Heinz replied just a couple of hours. “Ok” said the chap and with that strapped the cow up onto his truck and off he drove! Enough fresh road kill for a while then!
We get a bit reflective about the reason why we choose to make the tough journey into the Bungle Bungles and curiosity coupled with a desire not to miss out are the best answers we can come up with! A visit here was never in our original plan and we never intended to do any serious 4WDing on the trip or even go off the bitumen that much, our budget is just not that robust even though we are! Nevertheless if there’s an opportunity to explore this vast country that little bit more then we’ve tried to
do it assuming the reward at the end of the journey is deemed great enough.
Reading through books like Lonely Planet tells us that the Bungle Bungles were only ‘discovered’ by the outside world in the 1980’s but of course the local indigenous people have lived here for 20’000 years or more, radiocarbon dating processes have proved that although it wasn’t really necessary, it was abundantly obvious. The National Park was established in 1987 and 44’000 people now visit the area each year either by tour, air or self-drive 4WD. In 2003 the park was declared a World Heritage Area recognised for the striking beauty of the range and it now has a reputation for being one of the most iconic outback wonders Australia offers.
Purnululu (meaning Sandstone) is the 239,723 hectare national park in which the Bungle Bungle range stands. It gained its World Heritage listing by being recognised as universally significant for two reasons; it contains incredible natural beauty and is an outstanding example representing major stages of the Earth’s history. These are some very important rocks!
Our morning starts with the Mini Palms Walk into the gorge. We’re expecting a bit of a challenge
as it’s only a 5km return but the pamphlet says to allow 2 to 3 hours and mentions having to clamber over fallen rocks and boulders which should slow me down but not Darryl! We tromp up the dry creek bed passing the ‘Restricted access sign’ telling us there is an area of significance to the aboriginal people so we can’t walk through there. We can see that the trees are lush and green though so wonder if there is a waterhole further in, we’ll never know. Over rocks, under rocks and around rocks we go until we reach a viewing platform which is closer to the inner gorge. A bit further and higher up we reach a second platform with a great view into the high, narrow amphitheatre of the Mini Palms Gorge. We’re a bit surprised how quickly we managed the walk, it was nice doing it in the cool of the morning and of course there is nobody else to chat to along the way because they are all still in bed! We sit for a while on the platform watching the world go by and taking in the tranquillity that surrounds us. We contemplate doing what
others have done and clambering over the barriers to walk through the gorge below us but I think even Jane would have drawn the line at doing that, it was fairly obvious that we were being contained on the walk way for a reason. We took more notice of the rock on the way back through, trying to understand things from a geology point of view. There’s now doubt that what we saw was interesting and it is incredible when you think about how this place was formed over millions of years.
Another couple were near the beginning of the walk as we made our way back and when we return to the car park we see their car has no back window. We suspect they lost it on the journey into the park as we noticed one in the middle of the track yesterday but didn’t know how long it had been there. Another casualty!
We’re now way ahead of schedule for the next two walks! Are we walking too fast or are the estimates way off?! We’ve got a short drive out to the next walks and the road is as rough as but it’s no
surprise! There are a few more cars when we get there but somehow we still manage to walk for a long time without being disturbed or disturbing others which is great! We wander up to the Osmand Lookout for a good view over the Osmand Range and then start on the walk through to Echidna Chasm.
The long and narrow chasm is already having its striking colours highlighted by the sun beaming in, it’s quite glorious really. We manage the two ladders to make it further along the chasm and sit quietly on the log at the far end, again soaking up the peace. It’s a bit of a wonder when we see the size of the boulders that have fallen into the chasm but not made it to the floor, one is precariously balanced above the second ladder! Back in the main part of the chasm we relax on the two benches until we finally hear voices after about an hour! It’s time for us to head back to camp, pack up and move to the next campground which is closer to the walks we are doing in the morning.
We’re a bit sorry to leave our
lovely spot at Kurrajong but we find another one which is just as nice at the Walardi campsite although it doesn’t have Heinz and Frianz there to heat up dinner for us! We relax for the rest of the afternoon and just watch the world go by!
Dinner, well it was interesting! Cold stew and corned beef sandwiches with a twist! Ha ha eh Hun!
It goes dark so early, around 5.30pm! It’s such a shame there’s a fire ban here as it’s a great excuse for everyone to hang out round the campfire but nobody else is about so by 7.30 we were in the tent ready for a game of cards. I’d brought the mini card set but when I start to shuffle them I notice a problem, there are duplicates and worse still there are certain cards missing altogether! Bit of an issue when you’re playing Rummy as it could make the game go on all night! We have a couple of games of Howells Rummy then fall into bed ready for another early start tomorrow.
We’re feeling a bit bungled so night night from both of us.
Dar and Sar
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