Day 34 - Monday 6 August - Exploring Purnululu

Day 34

Monday

6 August

Bungle Bungles Caravan Park  - Purnululu National Park

5.45 and the sun is up just and so were we, ready and raring to go. Our bags packed, bellies full of brecky, we joined our fellow tourers outside reception and were given the day’s briefing. With everyone present and accounted for, we found a spot on the go anywhere truck bus and began the journey into Purnululu National Park. We had a 52km trek to the visitors’ centre and an hour and a half schedule. We soon realised why it would take so long.

The roads our here are crap. They were graded 2 weeks ago, but you wouldn’t know it. The corrugations were hard and threw us around the cab, despite the sturdiness of the vehicle. We were lucky we could go as quick as we did, for regular 4wd the estimated drive time is 3 hours!

We sat back and watched the scenery unfold before us, it is rugged but it has a beauty all of its own. The muted colours of dawn were just awakening and I could tell it would be a glorious day ahead. 

We made the visitors’ centre for 8am and were given a reprieve from the vehicle, stretching our legs and noseying around the gift shop, before climbing aboard once more and taking on the next 27km to the Piccaninny Carpark. This road was far more forgiving and easier to navigate, allowing us to make good time. 

We admired our first glimpses of the bee hive structures, gasps and exhalations could be heard throughout. A lookout, gave us all the opportunity to jump out and take some photos of the panorama before us. We then continued into the parking area and pulled up ready for the day to begin. 

We were given morning tea, plenty of muffins and biscuits to keep us going and coffee for those who wanted it. We were then ready to tackle the 5km walk that would take us to the Piccaninny Lookout and Cathedral gorge. 

The walk to the lookout was fairly easy, flat most of the way, but at times you had to be weary of where you put your feet as the rocks could cause an issue if you weren’t paying attention. I had to remind myself to stop and take the photo, then move on and stop looking around! This was hard to do when there was so much to take in. 

The bee hive domes are as spectacular as I had imagined. The orange and black horizontal stripes are striking. The dome surface is much like rhino skin or a pineapple, lots of lumps. You are not allowed to climb the structures, as they are quite fragile and easily eroded. 

We followed the queue like little ducklings, finally emerging at the top of a crest where we had a great view back over a flat valley and a cluster of domes. I joined the others taking photos before just staring out across the wild and magical landscape completely in awe of mother nature’s handy work. 

We returned via the same route, following the dry Piccaninny Creek bed and then it was on to Cathedral Gorge. The path was laid out with fine white sand that offset the colours of the rock around it. We had stairs and ladders to mind before a round, rock amphitheatre reached out to welcome us and the hundreds of other tourists. 

I found a place to patiently take photos, waiting for the moments that people moved out of shot, a challenge, but managed on occasion. I sat down with Paul and chatted with a fellow QLD chalkie before moving around the inside wall looking for other photographic angels to exploit. This was quite a place. 

We made our return, glad that many others had already taken off, leaving a clear path for photos rather than the back of people’s heads. We detoured off the carpark return and completed the dome walk. Here we could see termite mounds up close. There are hundreds in the park and a lot of the time they look like a cheap as chips, cement coloured, spacfilla job holding the crumbling domes together. 

We did eventually return to spot under the shade sails, where most others were back already enjoying their lunch. We were given our own Chinese takeaway container of salad and cold meat to enjoy and sat back listening to the conversations around us. 

Once lunch was complete, we climbed aboard the bus and made our way back toward the visitor centre turnoff. Trevor did a quick stop at the elephant rocks lookout, where I quickly slipped off the bus for a few quick shots and then we were all aboard once more. 

We reached the turn off for the Visitors’ Centre, but rather than turning onto the road, we continued on, this time heading for Echidna Chasm. The road out was rather treacherous, with a couple of shallow creek crossings, steep declines and inclines in and out of the crossings, soft dirt, rocky patches and plenty of left and right bends.  

 We eventually made our destination at 1.50pm and were given until 3.15pm to be back at the bus. The path into the chasm again follows a creek bed, but this one was pebble lined and required you to put your ankles and knees into 4wd mode. Once again I had to concentrate on the walking, stop to look around and then continue on. 

It was quite incredible just how different this end of the park was compared to the domes. Conglomerate rock is the main feature, millions of stones compacted together to form the cliff faces and large chunks settled on the river bed, where erosion has taken its toll. Livistonia Palm trees are everywhere here. The ancient plant that predates dinosaurs, grow prolifically from the floor all the way to the very top of the cliffs, finding purchase in the tiniest gaps. 

We continued our walk, with the walls becoming ever increasingly narrower until eventually, we entered a dark passage. It felt like something out of Indiana Jones and when I spied a number of conglomerate boulders above our heads, trapped by the width of the walls, it only strengthened this view.  

The walk became challenging, having to navigate around boulders and through unseen crevices, like leaked in from the gap above and you couldn’t help but look up and around. We eventually came to a dead end, the chasm blocked with nowhere further to go and then the return journey was started. You always see different things when you follow the same ground but from a different direction and it was no different inside the chasm.

Once we were spat out, we made our way back over the river pebbles, stopping to check out a bower bird nest and the many Livistonia Palms. Once back at our starting point, we followed another path on to the Osmond Lookout. From the top of this peak, we had a fantastic view of the Osmond Ranges and the valley floor. It was certainly a special spot. 

We followed the crowds back to the bus, partaking in the afternoon tea, fruit and more muffins. We then climbed aboard for the final time and sat back to enjoy the ride home. A page about Mary “Mabel” Cole was passed around, so we could find out a bit about station and how it became named “Mabel Downs”. It was very interesting, with Mary being quite a resource and plucky character, born and bred of tough country and eventually being buried in Alice Springs next to Albert Namatjirra.

We were lucky to make similar time on our outward trek and after a little shut eye the journey was all done and we were back for 5.10pm. What a big day!

The race was on for the showers, both of us lucky to be one of the first in. The warm water was a welcome relief, but I was conscious of others wanting to do the same, so didn’t hang for too long. We returned to the van and I began loading the hundreds of photos taken. This would be a job. 

At 6pm, we wandered over to the camp and stood around talking to the chef, who was busy burning steaks on the open fire. We chatted to other campers and eventually the dinner bell rang and we were off to find a table. We joined Cheryl, Terry, Rosemary, Mark, Helen and Jerry, which turned out to be fortuitous, as we spent the night sharing many laughs and stories. One of those unexpected evenings that you could quite happily have go on for ages. 

We enjoyed our meals, steak, veges and salad, followed by apple crumble, custard and brownies. It was a great way to finish off the tour and I was glad I hadn’t had to cook or clean up for a change. 

By 9.30pm, everyone else had left the dining area and the fire pit was empty and we took it as our cue to call it a night. We made our farewells, swapped details and then we wandered back to the van, glad we didn’t have another early morning wake up call to contend with.