Wyndham and Parry’s Creek

 

Early start on the 31st July, on my way to Parry’s Creek which had been recommended to me as a nice camp site to stay at for a couple of days, I did in fact stay for 3 nights as I was very tired after the Bungle Bungle trip and needed a quiet time to recover.

I first made my way to Wyndham to stock up on food again. nothing much there apart from one very expensive tiny supermarket that had the monopoly for 160km.

Some pictures from a viewpoint there.

 

 

The layer of iron can be seen on the tops of the hills, which erodes much more slowly.

 

They call this “The big croc” at this point I think I had seen all the highlights of Wyndham so I continued to Parry’s Creek camp site where I was not disappointed.

 

The camp site was very large with loads of space and only $15 a night for a powered site, I could have had unpowered for $8 but my the van batteries as well as my own needed recharging and this was an ideal spot to relax walk and read a book for a couple of days. 

 

There was a small shop a bar and restaurant, they had a pizza night one evening and a fish and chip night another, very reasonable prices, that was 2 nights I did not need to cook. The fish was local caught barramundi and was excellent. I met some very nice people there as well.

 

There was a small boab tree forest with a nice 2.5km walk around it one side flanked by the creek.

 

 

 

 

 

A nice monitor lizard he must have been at least 1.5m long, he just sat and posed for the camera.

 

 

The billabong was further down the creek and was full of wildlife. Not all of it good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 3rd August I moved on with a certain sadness but refreshed to the nearest town Kununurra which was about 160km away.

Bungle Bungle

The Bungle Bungle or the "Purnululu National park” to give it it’s correct name is a most amazing sight.

Where the name Bungle Bungle comes from is not clear. The Kija Aboriginal people, who have lived here for over 20,000 years, called the area “Purnululu, the Kija word for sandstone.”

Bungle Bungle may be a mangled version of that name, or maybe it stems from the name of the bundle bundle grass that grows in the region. (Not that that name makes any more sense...)

The name Bungle Bungle was first given to a nearby station in 1930. And in 1983, when the Department of Lands And Surveys had to call the range something, they named it after the station.

I chose to take an organised day bus trip out to Purnululu from Mabel Down Station camp site where I resided for 3 nights. These are large all wheel drive busses designed for this rough terrain, I would not have been able to do it in my camper van.

 

After a couple of hours rough driving we eventually get there.

 

This is a common sight in the area, these little critters are everywhere it is normal to have to share the showers with them.

 

The sandstone formation of the Bungle Bungle ranges is estimated to be 350 million years old.

The range was formed during the Devonian period. But the Bungle Bungle range isn't part of a reef. It is the sediment of an old river bed. The sediment was laid down in layers, compressed into sandstone and eventually lifted up to form a mountain range.

Originally it was all one big block, with joints and weak areas as a result of the movement. Weathering caused more cracks and the edges wore away in the millions of years of torrential wet season rains, winds, combined with alternating winter freezes and 50 plus degree heat in summer.

 

The Domes Walk is connected to the Cathedral Gorge Walk. It's like a detour or a couple of side tracks. I walked through these tracks to get to Cathedral Gorge.

 

 

 

 

Piccaninny Creek Walk

 

This is a river bed dry at present, the erosion produced by water is very visible on the rock bed.

 

Very ambitious termites living on the top of this mound, they must have a wonderful view from up there. Pity they are blind!

 

Cathedral Gorge is a huge natural amphitheatre. The rock ledges on the left invite you to sit down, and watch, and observe...

 

 

 

Erosion would continue at a much more rapid pace if it wasn't for the easily damaged cyanobacteria coat. This is a very fragile environment, hence you are not allowed to do any climbing. In fact, there are only a few hikes through the range and you are not allowed to leave the paths.

 

Another long bus trip out to Echidna Chasm which is on the other side of the park, To get to the chasm we had to walk through an area called Mini Palms Gorge.

 

 

 

Entering Echidna Chasm.

 

Every now and then you have to climb over boulders blocking the way, or duck under some that didn't quite make it to the floor and are stuck above you, where you hope they'll stay until you're gone...

In the end you find yourself in a gap that's less than a metre wide, with walls so tall that it's nearly completely dark at the bottom.

Pictures not too good as light very poor and fastest sensor speed.

 

 

 

The Chasm walls are all conglomerate rock.

 

 

 

 

Back through the palms to the bus.

 

Another long journey home to Mabel Down, a very long day and we all relaxed with a barbeque (included as part of the trip) and a few beers.

I got back to my van late and as I had not been able to get any power for 3 days the battery had discharged, so no lights and the contents of the fridge ruined but it was well worth it.

Mabel Down Station

 

Mabel Down Station Camp site was only a few km from the Ord River where I had spent the previous night, I arrived there first thing in the morning. Unfortunately they did not have any powered sites available, unpowered was cheaper but as I had camped unpowered the night before  and was not intending to drive I was concerned about my battery.

I booked a coach trip to the Bungle Bungles for the following day and a safari trip on the station for that afternoon.

Mabel Down Station is one of the largest cattle stations in Australia covering 1.8 million acres with 20,000 head of cattle. The road to the Bungle Bungles is across their land  and they have recently opened this camp site and offer 4 wheel drive bus and helicopter trips.

We start the trip with a small creek crossing.

 

 

A bush turkey, they are supposed to be good to eat but are protected. If you wish to taste them get an invite to dinner with a local a aborigine as they hunt them for food.

 

The local Brahman cattle have been bred to cope with the hot dry climate they were developed from South American stock. These animals are grown to a weight of 300kg for a live export trade to Indonesia where they are further fattened mainly by small farmers to about 600kg prior to slaughter which is done in the traditional way when required for consumption.

This trade  has recently caused a lot of controversy resulting in the Federal Government putting a ban on all live exports. This ban has now been rescinded as this would have put many of the cattle stations in Australia out of business. I don’t wish to go into the morality of live exports but if it has to stop, then it has to be phased out over a period of time and alternative markets found for frozen beef. That means competing in the very difficult world market  against countries like Argentina, which is not easy with the high value of the Australian dollar, alternatively the long established Australian beef trade will phase out of existence and a huge industry will be lost.

These cattle have long floppy ears the first time I saw a calf it reminded me of an Anglo Nubian goat.

 

 

After spending a couple of hours driving round the station we had to do a river crossing which was too soft for the laden vehicle. We were all chucked out and had to walk across the river whilst the driver took the vehicle across.

 

 

 

It was an interesting trip, we arrived back just in time for sunset.