18/05/12 – A bit of a bungle

3-2-1 - BUNGLE!

Another day, another river crossing.
Luckily not us in the driving seat this time!

Bungles from Picanniny lookout

Given the antics of the day before, it was very opportune that we’d booked onto a 4 wheel drive tour today, and didn’t have to worry about any driving of our own! John (aka Radar) was our tour guide for the Purnululu National Park, also known as the Bungle Bungles.

Picanniny Creek

Cathedral Gorge

Bungles in duplicate

It took 2 hours for us to get the 53kms into the National Park, so think more river crossings, boulders and huge corrugations. Needless to say, were happy to not be doing it in the Beaut! Learnt more than we needed to know about the surrounding cattle station operations and the wealth of the caravan park owner, but good to have some entertainment for the long drive. First stop in the park was at the Southern end, where we walked along Piccanniny Creek and then into Cathedral Gorge, all the while getting amazing views of the beehive domes the Bungle Bungles is famous for. Breathtaking stuff.

Impressive crack - you can't tell
I'd climbed halfway up it to get
this shot...

Our best attempt at an artistic 'canvas' shot

The afternoon was spent in the Northern end of the park, where Echidna chasm was the highlight (despite no echidnas being seen). Were treated to a hearty soup followed by a delicious stew once back at the caravan park – potentially the first time in the whole holiday that we had neither driven nor cooked for ourselves, so a massive treat!

Echidna Chasm

 Key Learnings:
  1. The aboriginee dream time story says that the Boab tree was an incredible bragger, always boasting about how it was the most beautiful thing in the bush. Every other plant and animal got fed up of hearing this day in, day out, until eventually Mr Cockatoo had enough so picked up Mr Boab, turned him upside down and then stuck him back in the ground – this meant he couldn’t speak any more and is the reason for the strange appearance of the Boab Tree.