We had set off by 630 from Turkey Creek, which is only about 50km from the Purnululu turnoff. We stopped to let some air out of the tyres, then off we went! The landscape here is incredible...beautiful, but dry and arid. The ground is covered in a carpet of soft looking spinifex called 'bundle bundle' which is possibly where the Bungles name originated? On closer inspection this attractive ground cover is needle sharp and cannot be walked through...ouch! Even the air here is dry, static electricity giving us little shocks...
Purnululu was only really 'discovered' as a tourist attraction in the mid 1980's, and given world heritage listing in 2003. Of course this place has been important to aboriginal people for over 20,000 years.
We set up camp then headed to the northern end of the park. The temperatures here are cooler, around 25 degrees, but walking in the dry sun feels so much hotter! Today we walked to Mimi Palms gorge, a 5 km walk on a fairly rough track, over boulders and up a steep embankment, until we found ourselves looking down on a beautiful palm filled narrow gorge.
On the way back Charlie and I took a wrong turn (well we actually missed the turn off) and ended up having to walk even further....
We were feeling pretty hot and tired after the walk...and almost didn't attempt the next one. In fact we agreed to just do the start, then head back. The walk through Echidna Chasm took us through a long and very narrow chasm, only 1m wide in some parts..and over 200m high! The boys thought it was fantastic...a natural maze which seemed to go on forever. Needless to say we were glad we made the effort!
Sat 7th August
Today we visited the southern part of the park. Our friends in Adelaide had described their helicopter ride here, so we thought we would stop by the helipad and make some enquiries. The boys were beside themselves with excitement about the possibility of a helicopter ride (and so was I) so we booked a flight for later that afternoon.
We then visited 'the domes' and Cathedral gorge. This part of the park is where the beehive shaped rocks are, with their distinctive red and black stripes. The cathedral was a magnificent, huge gorge, reminding me of a natural myer music bowl. There were several people wandering around ( yet another tour group) when suddenly a man started playing a didgeredoo. The magic sound filled the gorge and every single person stood still and listened with amazement.
Unfortunately Charlie had a nasty fall on a rock and hit his cheekbone...which also filled the gorge with an entirely different sound..
We headed over to the helipad, all ready for lunch and our helicopter flight.
Cazz and boys xx
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