G'Day WA

Shortly after leaving Zebra Rock Mine we arrived at the WA/NT border.  Western Australia has very strict quarantine regulations and we'd managed to eat all our fresh fruit and vegetables and honey.  Our car and caravan were inspected and declared OK and we were allowed into Australia's biggest state - about 1/3 of the total mainland land mass.  About 35km along the highway we stopped off at Kununurra to replenish our food stores.  Our next stop is the Bungle Bungle Ranges.

We spent a day exploring the Purnululu (Bungle Bungle) National Park and World Heritage Area.  We drove along the access road from our campground for about 90 minutes to reach the ranger station where we picked up a map and information about things to see.  Only tents and single axle camper trailers are able to camp inside the park.

We headed south to the Piccaninny area to see the amazing striped domes the Bungle Bungles are famous for.  We walked around the domes and then walked on to Cathedral Gorge.  The stripes on the domes are caused by iron (the orange stripes) and cyanobacteria (the black stripes).  The iron and bacteria form a coating which protects the underlying sandstone.  If the coating is damaged, the sandstone begins to erode so this area is very fragile.

We found Cathedral Gorge to be a very spiritual place. With it's high ceiling and sandy floor we could easily imagine ancient ceremonies taking place here.  It was also a lot cooler in the shady gorge.

After walking for a couple of hours we returned to the car and drove to the northern section of the park where we had our picnic lunch at the Echidna Chasm car park.  The scenery here was very different to that in the south, with large sandstone escarpments.

We set off walking again.  Cherryl opted out of the walk to the chasm along the rocky river bed and headed for the nearby lookout to get a view of the valleys while Robert walked into the narrow Echidna Chasm.

We got back to camp at about 4.30pm after a busy day walking though spectacular landscapes.