BUNGLE BUNGLES AND HALLS CREEK

Scenery on the road from Kununurra to Warmun (Turkey Creek) was quite spectacular - better, we thought, or at least as good, as the bit of the Gibb River Road that we saw;  fantastic hills/mountains of red rock weathered, contorted and eroded into all sorts of shapes, and close to the highway.  With the morning sun shining on the rock, the colours were quite wonderful.  Didn't get any photos, we just kept driving down the road.

Warmun is a closed aboriginal community although they run the roadhouse to cater for tourists and, presumably, bring in some income..  Evidently, there is a back road from Warmun in to Purnululu and certain areas of the National Park are reserved for exclusive indigenous use.

Just after lunch, we set up camp at the Bungle Bungle Caravan Park, a new park opened last season by Mabel Downs Station.  The park is only one kilometre off the highway at the entrance to Purnululu National Park.  Only unpowered sites were available and night time temperatures dropped to nearly zero.  I managed to stay snug with the aid of lots of clothes, two sleeping bags and the doona.  As well, we used a gas heater briefly, just to take the chill out of the van.

The blustery wind we'd had in the morning had dropped by the afternoon, so we took the opportunity to have a helicopter ride over the Bungles - our first ever chopper ride, though with no doors on the craft the wind was so strong I had trouble holding on to the camera, let alone focussing.  Still, it was amazing seeing those shapes from the air and it gave us a good idea of the extent of them.

Next day we set off at 7 am on a small four-wheel drive bus for an all day tour of Purnulu.  Although it's only something like 50 kms from the caravan park to the entrance to the National Park, it took about two hours to cover that distance.  We visited both ends of the park, walked Cathedral Gorge and the Dome Trail at the southern end, then Echidna Chasm at the northern end after lunch.  We got back to the caravan park about 5:15,and dinner in the big camp tent was provided (soup and beef stew with rice), as well as a roaring camp fire. A great advantage of doing a tour like this is saving wear and tear on the car and the driver.  A great disadvantage is being part of a captive audience for the political spin of vested interests, a practice that seems common in the tourism industry. Nevertheless, we had a fantastic day and a half at the Bungles.  They were very high on my list of 'must sees' for this trip and were well worth it all.

The trail into Echidna Chasm was along a creek bed (again!) but by now I'm able to leap gazelle-like along the rocks - at least I think it's a gazelle I'm thinking of.



Echidna Chasm



End of the chasm



Eric asked me to stand under the rock

After the Bungles, we drove about 100 kms along the highway to Halls Creek and booked into the local caravan park, which was fine.  We'd heard tales about 'Hells Creek' but on Saturday morning all we saw were people shopping and going about their business in a perfectly ordinary fashion.

In the afternoon we drove south to check out Old Halls Creek, the site of the first gold discovery in WA.  There's nothing left there but a few plaques on ruins, but I reckon the achievement of the men commemorated below was pretty extraordinary:



Caroline Pool, south of Halls Creek



Roadside wildflowers and spear grass

China Wall, a quartz outcrop

The road south of Halls Creek, the Buntine Highway, loops around in a sort of U shape back into the Northern Territory and up towards Victoria River Roadhouse and Timber Creek.  En route, it passes through what was formerly Wave Hill Station.  People of a certain age will remember the Wave Hill strike by aboriginal stockmen against the Vestey Group.  Those who are younger probably know the Paul Kelly song, From Little Things Big Things Grow which tells the story of this struggle and the ultimate victory of the Gurindji people, many years later, when Gough Whitlam poured sand through Vincent Lingiari's hand.

Currently we're camped at Fitzroy Crossing.  From here we'll explore some Devonian reefs and gorges