WARMUN (PURNULULU NATIONAL PARK)

The Bungle Bungles beehive domes in Purnululu National Park, Kimberley

At the Lookout at the South End of Purnululu National Park

Cathedral Gorge at Purnululu National Park

Dwarfed by Cathedral Gorge

Ben and Bridget on top of a top at the lookout at Echidna Chasm at the North end of Purnululu National Park

The family at the end of Echidna Chasm

Walking through the chasm, sometimes in close to darkness

The Livingstonia Palms and conglomerite rocks of Echidna Chasm

Tess at the Beehive Domes, Purnululu National Park

Ben and Beth taking a break in the shade on the walk to the lookout

DAY 44 – WARMUN (PURNULULU NATIONAL PARK)                                    Monday, 15^th August

Up very early this morning!  Howling dogs and dingoes kept me awake from 3am!!  There are stray dogs ALL OVER THE PLACE here!! I went to the toilet and came back and there were two of them on the mat outside our caravan door.  Gave me the fright of my life!!

We drove the 52kms to the turn off to Purnululu National Park national park in quick smart time and then started our drive into the national park.  52 kms on a dirt road that really wasn’t that bad at all.  It only took us and hour and a half to drive which we thought we really good since we had been told it could be much worse.  It must have just been graded.  There were 19 creek crossings (so 38 all together!) to the delight of my husband and children – a few came up well past the footboard!  We went first to the southern end where we went on the Domes Walk, the lookout and then to Cathedral Gorge.  It was a very hot walk but once inside Cathedral Gorge it was lovely and cool.  Cathedral Gorge has been carved out from water erosion and looks like a magnificent amphitheatre with a waterhole in the middle.  It was just beautiful. 

We had lunch and then went to the north of the park where we saw Echidna Chasm which is set amid Livingstonia Palms and conglomerate rock.  The chasm is lovely and cool and just gets smaller and smaller until even a grown man has trouble getting through.  It was interesting walking under the chasm where boulders had fallen and then lodged themselves in the wall, ready to fall the minute there is further erosion!!  It was quite stunning – not sure the photos are really going to do it justice!

It was a really long day – we got home well after dark at 6:30pm – but David did such a great job, not just the four wheel driving, but negotiating dingoes, kangaroos, and Brahman bulls on the road on the way home.  Dusk is such a bad time to drive.  I am glad we only do it every now and then.  I think the kids were asleep before their heads hit the pillow and David and I went to sleep at 8:30 pm and did not wake until 5:30am!!!