Purnululu National Park

Bungle Bungle Range. Highlight of the trip so far. The 53 km road in, and the subsequent park roads, although having some serious corrugations and numerous creek crossings (only one with water at present) was not as bad as I’d expected. I reckon my Forester would get in easily if the conditions were like this.  Though I guess early in the season might be better than later after more traffic.

In the northern end of the park, the rock is conglomerate on a sandstone base. Gorges with tall walls.  We went into Echidna Chasm: starts broad with pandanus-type trees, and gradually narrows. At the top end it’s only 1m wide for some distance, and a couple of ladders to help up a couple of awkward jump-ups.

We went from there to our accommodation, a camp owned by Outback Spirit. A simple arrangement but comfortable ensuite cabins and a central eating/relaxing area with small swimming pool (which I tried out next day).

The southern part of the Range has much finer-grained sediment which is very fragile. Here are the iconic beehive domes. The dark bands are caused by the presence of Cyanobacteria which grows on sandstone layers where moisture accumulates. (It was a bit like visiting the Grand Canyon -couldn’t stop taking photos.

The walk next morning was into Cathedral Gorge. A sunnier and hotter walk but well worth it. At the end of the Gorge is a high chasm with a waterfall (not running in the Dry) and remnant pool. A fault line also runs through the chasm.