Bungle Bungles - WOW!
After a disturbed night where neither of us could sleep very well, we got up at 5am to be ready and waiting outside our Caravan Park for the bus from East Kimberley Tours to pick us up for our overnight tour to the B
ungle Bungles in Purnululu National Park. We were picked up along with other people from ours and other accommodation in Kununurra and taken to the airport which is not far away. The plane we flew in was a small one with only five of us on board filling not only all the passenger seats but I was in the co-pilot’s seat. We saw amazing views of Kununurra, the inland coast and Ord River irrigation area and the Bungle Bungle range massif itself. We were met at the airport by Lisa, our tour guide in an air-conditioned 4WD bus and taken to the Bellburn Camp to have a yummy cooked breakfast. After we’d eaten we went out straight away in the big bus again to do our first walk for the day into Mini Palms Gorge where the dwarfed Livistonia Palms can be viewed from a platform. It was quite a difficult 5km walk with much 
of it being on dry creek bed with rocks and pebbles of various sizes to make walking very difficult because your feet keep rolling over on the rocks. It was hot weather and a lot of the time we were without any shade but the tour operators provided water for us to take and also morning tea of a juice and an orange which we stopped and enjoyed in the cool of Mini Palms Gorge. Once we had walked back out we went to a spot where there are sheltered picnic tables and Lisa gave us our lunch packs. We had a lunch box with separate compartments with cold meat, salad, cheese, hardboiled egg etc & there was bread & butter if you wanted it as well as another juice drink, water and an orange. We all felt refreshed after eating such a decent lunch and having a rest then Lisa took us on our next walk into Echidna Chasm. This was a shorter walk; only 2 km a
nd was not as difficult as the first but still very tiring in the heat. The chasm was spectacular and went for quite a long way. It was also very cool since the rock faces are very tall and not much light filters in the top. Both walks involved some climbing over conglomerate boulders and sliding through narrow gaps between rocks. You can see in one of these photos that there is a big boulder of conglomerate stuck between the walls of the chasm. NB. For those who don't know; conglomerate looks like concrete with rocks in it and it is basically a mixture of sandstone and rocks. Sandstone is what the Bungle Bungles is composed of and once the protective outer layer is broken away, it has very easily damaged sandstone that can be rubbed to create fine powdery sand. We didn't do that but the Tour guide showed us; obviously they don't want tourists all rubbing the sides of the rocks to wear it down doubly quick! 
ungle Bungles in Purnululu National Park. We were picked up along with other people from ours and other accommodation in Kununurra and taken to the airport which is not far away. The plane we flew in was a small one with only five of us on board filling not only all the passenger seats but I was in the co-pilot’s seat. We saw amazing views of Kununurra, the inland coast and Ord River irrigation area and the Bungle Bungle range massif itself. We were met at the airport by Lisa, our tour guide in an air-conditioned 4WD bus and taken to the Bellburn Camp to have a yummy cooked breakfast. After we’d eaten we went out straight away in the big bus again to do our first walk for the day into Mini Palms Gorge where the dwarfed Livistonia Palms can be viewed from a platform. It was quite a difficult 5km walk with much 
of it being on dry creek bed with rocks and pebbles of various sizes to make walking very difficult because your feet keep rolling over on the rocks. It was hot weather and a lot of the time we were without any shade but the tour operators provided water for us to take and also morning tea of a juice and an orange which we stopped and enjoyed in the cool of Mini Palms Gorge. Once we had walked back out we went to a spot where there are sheltered picnic tables and Lisa gave us our lunch packs. We had a lunch box with separate compartments with cold meat, salad, cheese, hardboiled egg etc & there was bread & butter if you wanted it as well as another juice drink, water and an orange. We all felt refreshed after eating such a decent lunch and having a rest then Lisa took us on our next walk into Echidna Chasm. This was a shorter walk; only 2 km a
nd was not as difficult as the first but still very tiring in the heat. The chasm was spectacular and went for quite a long way. It was also very cool since the rock faces are very tall and not much light filters in the top. Both walks involved some climbing over conglomerate boulders and sliding through narrow gaps between rocks. You can see in one of these photos that there is a big boulder of conglomerate stuck between the walls of the chasm. NB. For those who don't know; conglomerate looks like concrete with rocks in it and it is basically a mixture of sandstone and rocks. Sandstone is what the Bungle Bungles is composed of and once the protective outer layer is broken away, it has very easily damaged sandstone that can be rubbed to create fine powdery sand. We didn't do that but the Tour guide showed us; obviously they don't want tourists all rubbing the sides of the rocks to wear it down doubly quick! 
After this we went to a couple of lookouts on our way back to the camp where we arrived at about 4 pm. At 4:30 pm we had to meet at the dining tent to go out to watch the sunset but could buy drinks to take with us first; that is beer, wine, soft drink. Lisa took nibblies to eat such as chips, cheese, dips, crackers etc. and had folding chairs for all of us to sit on also. It was really very civilized and we enjoyed sitting chatting and having our pre-dinner drinks but the sunset was pretty un-spectacular mainly due to all the smoke in the air from controlled burns in the park. When we got back to camp we had time to have a shower and wash off the sweat and dust of the day before dinner which was really a great feeling. Dinner was very nice and there was plenty to help yourself from and there was fire going in a pit outside if you wanted to sit out around it afterwards. I think most of us went to bed by about 8:30o pm after our early start and very physical day and surprisingly fell asleep very quickly in our little tent huts with the single beds.
The next morning we had to be ready to leave for our days activities by about 8 – 8:30 am which was also very civilized. We went to breakfast at about 7:30 and it was the same as the previous day with a choice of cooked, cereals, toast and so forth. We were joined by some day trippers so that our bus was full today instead of the original five of us that flew in the day before. We apparently had about the same amount of walking as the previous day but not as much on creek bed at the Northern End of the massif. Lisa encouraged those who felt they may not be able to do all the walking to skip the first long walk into Piccaninny Gorge so that they could do the Cathedral Gorge walk later on because it was the more spe
ctacular and where we would sit and have our lunch. (It was lovely in there with a big pool of water within a rocky amphitheatre type of rock formation. Just beautiful!) We decided to do all the walks because we didn’t want to miss any of it. Although it was meant to be about the same distance as the previous day; about 9 km it didn’t seem as difficult probably because much less of it was on more stable ground. Again, every step was worth it because the views just have to be experienced to be truly appreciated. The final walk was called the Dome Walk and at the end of it was a pool of water that had heaps of tiny frogs in it. They were so small and would jump in and swim away to another rock if you got too close. Our day ended with this walk and then we went to the airport to get on a plane back to Kununurra. The craft this time was a bigger one which seated about twice as many passengers and had a co-pilot in the seat next to the pilot this time. We did a flight over the Bungles again as well as the Ragged Ranges and Argyle Diamond Mine. Also a very interesting flight and we were all happy to say goodbye to our tour-friends and be driven back to our various accommodations for a refreshing shower.
Overall, it was a great tour and definitely worth doing if you get a chance. No photo or even documentary movie would give the same sense of size, texture and colour that is the Bungle Bungles. We think the one day tour would be rushed, you only see a small amount and it is a long day since you start at the same time but don’t get back until about 7:30pm which is about two and a half to three hours later than we did. My only problem with the tour was that we couldn’t take the laptop and I had to be careful with how many photos I took because I couldn’t’ upload them to the disk on it. I was extra careful today and the message Memory Card Full came up on the plane on the way back but I felt frustrated a few times that I couldn’t take shots that I wanted to. So, another trip like that would need another memory card!
The next morning we had to be ready to leave for our days activities by about 8 – 8:30 am which was also very civilized. We went to breakfast at about 7:30 and it was the same as the previous day with a choice of cooked, cereals, toast and so forth. We were joined by some day trippers so that our bus was full today instead of the original five of us that flew in the day before. We apparently had about the same amount of walking as the previous day but not as much on creek bed at the Northern End of the massif. Lisa encouraged those who felt they may not be able to do all the walking to skip the first long walk into Piccaninny Gorge so that they could do the Cathedral Gorge walk later on because it was the more spe
ctacular and where we would sit and have our lunch. (It was lovely in there with a big pool of water within a rocky amphitheatre type of rock formation. Just beautiful!) We decided to do all the walks because we didn’t want to miss any of it. Although it was meant to be about the same distance as the previous day; about 9 km it didn’t seem as difficult probably because much less of it was on more stable ground. Again, every step was worth it because the views just have to be experienced to be truly appreciated. The final walk was called the Dome Walk and at the end of it was a pool of water that had heaps of tiny frogs in it. They were so small and would jump in and swim away to another rock if you got too close. Our day ended with this walk and then we went to the airport to get on a plane back to Kununurra. The craft this time was a bigger one which seated about twice as many passengers and had a co-pilot in the seat next to the pilot this time. We did a flight over the Bungles again as well as the Ragged Ranges and Argyle Diamond Mine. Also a very interesting flight and we were all happy to say goodbye to our tour-friends and be driven back to our various accommodations for a refreshing shower.Overall, it was a great tour and definitely worth doing if you get a chance. No photo or even documentary movie would give the same sense of size, texture and colour that is the Bungle Bungles. We think the one day tour would be rushed, you only see a small amount and it is a long day since you start at the same time but don’t get back until about 7:30pm which is about two and a half to three hours later than we did. My only problem with the tour was that we couldn’t take the laptop and I had to be careful with how many photos I took because I couldn’t’ upload them to the disk on it. I was extra careful today and the message Memory Card Full came up on the plane on the way back but I felt frustrated a few times that I couldn’t take shots that I wanted to. So, another trip like that would need another memory card!
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