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From
the Great Northern Highway turn off you still have to drive about 53 km
to reach the entrance of the Purnunulu (Bungle Bungle) national park.
The Bungle
Bungle area was declared as National Park in March 1987. It is a range
of sandstone domes with spectacular horizontal orange and grey bands.
Only the western and southern parts of the range are accessible via the
track coming from the Great Northern Highway.
The western
part is an area of tall cliffs and narrow gorges, while the southern end
has the banded domes for which the Bungle Bungle are well known.
 So,
after 53 km. of a quite dirty, sandy and windy track and after several
stops to enjoy some great landscapes, we are finally reaching the Bungle
Bungle (Purnululu) park entrance. Bad luck: the 'visitor centre' is closed.
More disappointing,
the north part of the park is also closed due to some recent bush fires
that devastated the region. Well, lets go to the south part that just
re-opened a week ago.
We arrive
to the camp site just before dark, just enough time to set-up the place
and take a wild shower. In fact the sunset is around 17h30! Not easy when
you are in camping. By the way, the sunrise is around 4h30 !!! Nevertheless,
in the morning we are ready before it as we have planned a long walk in
the park.
 The
longest walk is the Picanninny Gorge one, that is going along the (dry)
river. It is about 30 km return. As we did not bought the adequate equipment
that would have been too heavy, we selected a shorter walk, around 20
km, that we can do in a day.
Starting
in the coolness of the early morning is very enjoyable but the return
path, with 45° under cover (when there was some) is more painful. We also
have to take care about the water as the reserve are decreasing drastically
at the end of the walk…
Fortunately
the landscape was fabulous! In the evening we are going to sleep even
earlier than the day before. We are very tired but on top of that we are
really surrounded by legions of flies. It seems it is due to the fires
that were burning in the north part of the park.
The next
day, before leaving for Hall Creek we decide to go for an helicopter flight.
Why do they remove the door from their flying machines ??? Better not
to be subject to dizziness…
Well, for
the landscapes and views, I think comments are not needed, just have a
look to the photos.
The flight
was only 30 minutes, but it was enough time to use a full photo film and
fill in a 8 mb. cartridge of digital images, and leave us with some unforgettable
souvenirs …
A great
source of information on the Kimberley:
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