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Day 100 Fitzroy Crossing -> Mary Pool Rest Area
Today 183kms / Total 14924kms
Only a short day today, across savannah plains that were full of wattle (yellow acacia) and other wild flowers that seem to be enjoying the cloud-free skies as much as we were.
We stopped for morning tea at Ngumpan Cliffs and these lovely little blue flowers caught my eye. The yellow in the background is a low wattle shrub…
…seen here with the escarpment in the background.
After a break, we set off again and hoped we’d have a better day than the driver of this rig.
It would seem that it was caused by an electrical fault. As far as we know, no one was injured, but it all looks like a write-off for the semi and its load.
We arrived at the rest area at Mary Pool by lunch and quickly claimed a spot as this is a very popular overnight camping place. By sunset, there were more than 60 caravans and motorhomes parked here. We were ‘fortunate’ to find ourselves serenaded by a singer with a guitar and battery powered amplifier who sang both types of music (Country AND Western) for two hours at a volume loud enough to be heard everywhere in the rest area. We took a walk to enjoy the more peaceful areas of the Mary River riverbank. We wonder with a rather vain hope that one day we’ll come across a touring opera company or someone singing Schubert lieder or even G&S at a rest area. :-)
The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music C&W (Late afternoon, Mary Pool)
Day 101 Mary Pool
Today 0kms / Total 14924kms
As we were running a day ahead of schedule for our booked stop at the Bungle Bungles, we decided to stay here another night. It was a very pleasant place after all the overnight campers had gone, and it gave us a chance to catch up on some reading as well as finally tackle a job I’ve been putting off for about a month or more – fixing one of the gas strut attachment feet for the pop-top.
Those who have been following our epic treks will recall that before last year’s journey, I had a ‘tradesman’ re-gas and refit the gas struts that hold up the pop-top section of the caravan. To put it mildly, he made a right pig’s ear of the whole thing and it only became obvious when the strut + foot units started coming away from the roof (out of sight, out of mind?). Pete and I fixed the first one in Bourke and I now have done two more. I’m waiting for the last one to let go any time now… I suspect the only thing holding them on was the silicone sealant and wishful thinking. Other than my normal ability to justify procrastination, the other reason I hadn’t attempted to fix it was the number of signs in all the caravan parks we’ve stayed in proclaiming (usually in CAPS), ‘No fixing of cars or vans in this park’. No such signs in a Main Roads Rest Area!
Raising the roof! A hydraulic jack has many uses, one being to allow the refitting of the gas strut. Ray’s custom spring support came in handy.
Day 102 Mary Pool -> Bungle Bungle Caravan Pk
Today 217kms / Total 15141kms
Leaving Mary Pool. Despite all the talk of huge Barramundi in the lake to the right of the causeway, we never actually saw anyone actually catch anything.
The only item of note today was a large 15mm (1/2”) star fracture in the windscreen on the passenger’s side. The stone was flung up by a B-Triple (prime mover + 3 trailers) and was on a reasonable stretch of bitumen. I’ll keep an eye on it and see if there’s a windscreen repair shop in Kununurra. I hope the cold nights / warm days don’t cause it to start wandering across the screen.
We arrived at the brand new Bungle Bungle Caravan Park (opened in May) that is on the entrance road into the Purnululu Nat Pk (AKA Bungle Bungles). As the road into the Nat Pk is 4WD only and is not suitable for towing anything except off-road camper-trailers, this would seem to be a good place for our sortie into the Nat Pk tomorrow. While the caravan park seems to have most essentials (water, power, showers, etc), it still bears a remarkable resemblance to a construction site with back-hoes (AKA JCBs), gravel trucks, etc. all roaming around making lots of noise and DUST.
We have an early start planned tomorrow as all the park literature and fellow travellers say to allow 2~3 hours for the 60km (35mile) drive into the park.
Day 103 Purnululu Nat Pk
Today 193kms / Total 15334kms
After reading about them, seeing pictures about them and hearing friends’ tales of being there, we are finally in one of the more iconic of Australia’s many natural attractions. This is a big-ish park with up to 40kms between walks. Note that the distance travelled today (193 kms) was solely getting into, around and out of the park. Our average speed today was about 35kph due to the condition of the roads. It has to be said in defence of the road that the park has only recently reopened after the wettest wet season in about 20 years.
As the road into the park is very ordinary, we allowed a couple of hours to get to the park’s Visitors’ Centre from the caravan park. This was about right, with numerous creek crossings (we lost count on the way in) to negotiate.
Some were nice with quiet water flowing over a firm sandy bottom, while some…
…were a bit ‘exciting’ with lots of mud and sharp drops into the crossing of 40cm (15”) or more.
Our extra mud flaps were modified by one of the crossings to a new jaunty 45° angle. Fortunately, a generous and well-placed application of your humble scribe’s size 10 walking boots restored them to their normal position.
Finally, the unmistakable contours of the Bungle Bungle Domes came into view.
After talking to the helpful lady at the Visitors’ Centre, we had decided to do the Domes walk, then split up and I’d do Cathedral Gorge while Sue did the Lookout. After that we’d drive to the other end of the park and tackle Echidna Chasm.
As previously mentioned, the park is a large place and it took us the best part of 40 minutes to get to the Piccaninny Gorge Car Park. Once there, the first thing that struck us was that the Holly Grevillea was everywhere and in flower.
Holly Grevillea, The Domes, Purnululu Nat Pk.
The colours and striations in the rocks were spectacular.
The stripes in the rocks are caused by the presence or absence of cyano-bacteria when the rocks were laid down 350 million years ago.
The amphitheatre at Cathedral Gorge was huge and impressive. Note ant-like people at the far side of the water.
These holes have been formed by the continuous scouring actions of countless stones in the washing-machine-like action caused by the water flow each wet season.
On the way out of Cathedral Gorge, there was a Goanna trying to find lunch on a small sandbar in the creek coming out of the gorge. It was about 1.5m (4’6”) long.
We then drove around to the northern end of the park to attempt to get to the end of Echidna Chasm while the sun was shining on the walls. According to the lady at the visitors’ centre, the best time would be between 12 and 2pm. What she didn’t really explain, was that it was a good kilometre walk up a creek bed walking on river rocks.
That’s Sue in the middle of the ‘path’ – great ankle busting potential.
While the scenery made the walk worthwhile, the sun decided to leave early so we never saw the internal walls of the chasm illuminated.
The further into the chasm you go, the narrower the gap between the walls becomes. It’s really easy to touch both walls at once, while the walls extend straight up for 50m (160’).
The reds in the rock walls are brilliant.
The Livistona Palms in the chasm are a remnant from the days when Australia was a lot wetter than it is now.
References to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ are always welcome, even in national parks, although I never knew Bottom had a car…
A few more photos of the park…
More palms at the entrance to Echidna Chasm.
And again.
A delicate little red flower (rufus unknownii), but only about 10mm (1/2”) high.
Near Cathedral Gorge.
In The Domes.
Osmand Lookout near Echidna Chasm entrance.
On the way home, we were driving directly into the setting sun and through dust from the other traffic. Visibility was atrocious.
Coming into a creek crossing, we encountered this mob of cattle. Not visible in this photo was the bull with huge horns who looked like he wanted to debate ownership of the creek crossing! It’s not really apparent in the photo, but the approach to this creek was very steep and slippery.
The creek crossings (all 48 – we counted them on the way home) were getting very cut up, mainly by the big 4WD tour busses. This one had turned into a mud hole that a hippo would be proud to call home.
Crossing #47 was Fletcher Creek, a tributary of the Ord River that flows near here. This one was about 200m wide and about 20cm (8”) deep, but had a nice firm bottom and no nasty unexpected holes. The track turns half left at the sandbar just ahead of the vehicle in front of us.
We would have to say that it was a most enjoyable day, and we got to see something we’d only seen before in magazines. However, we’d have to have a slight gripe and say we were a bit disappointed that there were no Cathedrals at Cathedral Gorge, and no Echidnas at Echidna Chasm. :-)
A very full day was rounded off by a lovely hot shower, and a soup and curry dinner around the campfire back at the caravan park.
Day 104 Bungle Bungle Caravan Park -> Lake Argyle Caravan Park
Today 325kms / Total 15659kms
Not much in the photo department today. We drove north through Warmun / Turkey Creek that had been just about wiped out with the floods earlier in the year. Along with the reconstruction of the community was also a lot of major road works, especially at river and creek crossings where the approaches had suffered from erosion.
By lunchtime, we had arrived at the intersection of the Great Northern Highway and the Savannah Way. Over the last 100 kms or so we had encountered a lot of road trains. Most were mining vehicles with 4 hoppers, but there were others…
…like this 4 trailer tanker heading towards Wyndham.
We reprovisioned in Kununurra, then set course for a further 75kms to Lake Argyle and the caravan park near the lake.
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