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The western edge of the Bungle Bungle Range.
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Now I need to warn people straight up, this post is a bit of a Bungle Bungle photo dump. This was our first visit to Purnululu National Park, actually the last time I'd been in this area was back in 1986 and the national park hadn't even been created yet. Since that early trip the national park was gazetted in 1987 and the people had started to trickle in. Really though it was still a pretty wild spot back in '97, there was very little in the way of visitor facilities or creature comforts, a long drop and a patch of dirt to camp on was about the extent of it.
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There wasn't many other punters around on this visit.
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I'm thinking that this is the start of the walk into Cathedral Cave.
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Heading into Cathedral Cave - it was really hot today.
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The drive into Purnululu National Park was a particularly rough and slow one and Sam and I had arrived just before dark last night. Jumping into the Troopie first thing this morning we were keen to explore the park a little. The main interest for us was to explore the various chasms and gorges that dissect the Bungle Bungle Range. The Bungle Bungle Range is actually a very old and eroded plateau where water has eroded the softer rocks over the years and these fractures are what most people spend time checking out when they come up here.
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We headed up this creek towards Cathedral Cave.
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This was the only photo I took in Cathedral Cave - definitely not my best work!
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| Heading back to the Troopie, there were a few stagnant pools of water still around. |
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First up this morning we made the relatively short drive to Piccaninny Creek to head into Cathedral Cave. The walk into Cathedral Cave was only twenty minutes or so from the car park but boy it was hot this morning. The good news on this short stroll was that it wasn't long before the creek we were following up stream soon started to weave its way through the labyrinth of bee hive shaped domes for which the area is famous, these domes providing some welcome respite from the sun this morning. Arriving at Cathedral Cave we found a rancid pool of water with lots of animal tracks around although if you want to see a half decent photo then you'll have to check out my Piccaninny Creek link below, as I didn't get a decent photo on the trip.
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Time to head up to the northern end of the park.
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Purnululu National Park
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The scenery has a bit of an epic feel about it up here I think.
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Purnululu National Park
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Leaving Cathedral Cave we retraced our walk back to the Piccaninny Creek Carpark and set off to explore the northern section of the park. It was around a 40 kilometre drive up to Echidna Chasm, Frog Hole & Mini Palms Gorges and the drive heads up the western side of the Bungle Bungle Range escarpment. The views on this short drive are particularly stunning, it's possible to stop anywhere along the way and the view will take your breath away. There is a nice lookout along the way called Walanginjdji Lookout that is worth stopping to check out as it adds a little height to the view back towards the escarpment.
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The view towards the southern end of the range from Kungkalanayi Lookout.
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And this is the view towards the northern end of the range.
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Purnululu National Park.
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Purnululu National Park
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Arriving up at the Mini Palms Trail just before midday we rock hopped our way up this gorge for awhile. The gorge opening up to a bit of an amphitheatre complete with a forest of Livistona Palms looking slightly out of place in this baking hot oven like environment. After a quick visit to the Echidna Chasm Trail and Frog Hole Trail the heat and flies defeated us and we started the long drive back out to Warmun where we had a sunset helicopter flight booked. Now to give you an idea of how hot it was today whilst having lunch (in the Troopie with the air con on) we heard the ABC radio local news where they were predicting temperatures reaching 49˚ in some of the areas around us.
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Mini Palms Gorge
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Mini Palms Gorge
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Mini Palms Gorge
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Purnululu National Park
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After bumping our way out of the park we arrived back at Warmun in time for our late afternoon flight. This was our first time in a helicopter and what a stunningly beautiful place to enjoy it. Our flight took us back out to the Bungle Bungles, what had taken us hours in the Troopie took only twenty minutes in the helicopter. The helicopter flew us up Piccaninny Creek and Gorge before arcing back north cross the range. Heading back to Warmun as the setting sun turned the country red while at the same time a late afternoon storm bore down on us from the north.
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Purnululu National Park
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Purnululu National Park
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Like I said earlier epic!
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Purnululu National Park
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Arriving back at Warmun we discovered that we had a bit of an issue to deal with. It seemed that the Purnululu Road had shaken around our fridge that much that something had come loose and it was no longer operating....hmm, have I mentioned how hot it was? After having a look at it I quickly realised that fixing it was beyond my skill level and with no hope of anyone here being able to fix it then all the perishable food went into the bin. We'd been planning on heading down to Alice Springs next but now suddenly it was a bit more urgent, instead of a leisurely two or three day trip we now set off to pretty well drive straight through. After grabbing a late meal and fueling up in Halls Creek we set off down the Tanami Road, our view now of the red dirt road illuminated by the driving lights, with the lightning of distant storms lighting up the desert in occasional bursts of bright light. After passing by Wolfe Creek Crater (this was way before the movie), crossing into the Northern Territory and passing the somewhat infrequently opened Rabbit Flat Roadhouse we pulled off the dusty road in the small hours of the morning somewhere north of Yuendumu, not even bothering with the tent we just laid down the ground sheet and slept under the stars.
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The Bungle Bungle Range from the air.
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Piccaninny Gorge - years later I'd slog up here on foot.
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The rising sun was accompanied by a squadron of bush flies so we were up and on our way fairly early today, resuming our journey down the Tanami Road. Our drive today was only really interrupted when we stopped to check out the view from the top of one of the infrequent hills beside the road, although the view was mostly of the dusty road arrowing across the desert plains. Our very quick trip down to Alice Springs finished when we pulled into town in the late afternoon. Checking into some accommodation we washed the sweat and red dust off us and settled in for a nice sleep in air conditioned comfort.
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We raced a late afternoon thunderstorm back to Warmun.
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The Dirt.
Purnululu National Park was pretty rough and ready back in these days, now days there is a lot more infrastructure out there. The road in from the highway is still pretty rough though, think two to three hours to do a little over 50 kilometres. The Tanami Road (or Tanami Track as it was known then) is a reasonable dirt road, although very corrugated for long sections. The crux of the Tanami Road in the wet season is generally Sturt Creek up in Western Australia although rain could close the road anywhere really. Fuel can be an issue on the Tanami Road with the infrequent roadhouses having restricted opening hours, we had enough diesel on board to make it from Halls Gap to Alice Springs although it was a fair haul at 1055 kilometres between fills. We used Hema paper maps on this trip.
Relevant Posts.
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There aren't many hills along the Tanami Road....
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... however we still found one to climb
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| That's the Tamani Road stretching into the distance. |
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