The Bungle Bungles National Park, or Purnululu National Park as it is officially called, is mentioned whenever the Kimberley is mentioned. Purnululu National Park was established in 1987 and skyrocketed to world fame in no time at all. The Bungle Bungle range is one of the most spectacular and memorable places I have seen, and I have seen some awesome places, believe me.
I flew over Purnululu National Park in Australia years ago, and recently I also drove there and spent three days in the park. My verdict: a flight just doesn't compare. (That's a flight in a fixed wing plane. The scenic flight that you can do from within Purnululu, in an no-windows wind-in-your-hair helicopter, now that's a different story.)
Two Days/One Night Leisurely Bungle Bungles Exploration
* Leave Halls Creek after breakfast. Arrive and register at the Bungle Bungles
Visitor Centre. (4 hours)
* Pick your camp site at Walardi. Have lunch.
* Drive to Piccaninny Creek car park and walk into Cathedral Gorge via Domes
Walk (1.5 hours)
* Head towards Piccaninny Creek. If you have some time left you can follow the
creek bed for a bit. Otherwise look for the turn off to the sunset lookout.
* For the wealthy: take a helicopter flight in the morning (arrange that from
Visitor Center when you arrive).
For the broke: drive to northern part of the park and take the Mini Palms Walk
(2 hours). Enjoy the Echidna Chasm Walk (1 hour) before or after lunch.
* Leave Bungle Bungles and return to Halls Creek.
Two Nights/Two Days Leisurely Bungle Bungles Exploration
* Leave Kununurra after a leisurely breakfast. Choose a scenic spot along the
park access track for lunch. Arrive and register at the Bungle Bungles Visitor
Centre. (6 hours)
* Make your way to Kurrajong campsite and set up camp.
* Enjoy sunset from Walanginjdji Lookout.
* Next day: After packing up your camp do the Mini Palms Walk (2 hours).
* Have lunch at either Echidna Chasm or Mini Palms car park. After lunch enjoy
the Echidna Chasm Walk (1 hour)
* Make your way to the Walardi campsite and set up camp.
* Enjoy the sunset from the site near the Walardi campground.
* In the morning walk into Cathedral Gorge via Domes Walk (1.5 hours).
* If you feel like more walking and have the time walk up Piccaninny Creek for
a bit.
* Have lunch somewhere along Piccaninny Creek, or at the Piccaninny Creek car
park.
* Leave Bungle Bungles and drive to Halls Creek or Kununurra.
Three Days/Two Nights (or longer) Bungle Bungles Exploration
* Leave Halls Creek after breakfast. Arrive and register at the Bungle Bungles
Visitor Centre. (4 hours)
* Have lunch at Echidna Chasm car park, before or after Echidna Chasm Walk (1
hour).
* After Mini Palms Walk (2 hours) make your way to southern part of the park.
* Spend the night at Walardi, enjoying the sunset from the site near the campground.
Either:
* Get going early and walk up Piccaninny Creek to Black Rock Pool. Have lunch
there.
* On your return walk watch the sunset from the lookout.
* Spend another night at Walardi.
* Walk into Cathedral Gorge very early in the morning (before everybody else
gets there).
* After that pack up camp. Leave the Bungle Bungles.
Or:
* Walk into Cathedral Gorge very early in the morning (before everybody else
gets there).
* Continue your walk along Piccaninny Creek to Black Rock Pool or further. Spend
the night camping along Piccaninny Gorge and return the next day. (Or stay in
the gorge for two nights to explore the whole system).
* Leave the park when you are ready...
If you are coming from Kununurra make your way to Walardi when you arrive. Start your one or two day Piccaninny Creek hike the next morning as described above. Visit Echidna Chasm and Mini Palms after another night at Walardi.
The turn off to the park is 251 km (156 miles) from Kununurra, or 107 km (66 miles) from Halls Creek. From the turn off it is another 53 km (33 miles) to the park entrance. This last stretch of road is strictly four wheel drive. Don't even think about taking anything else. It's a rough road with a lot of corrugations, creek crossings, steep climbs and tight corners. Depending on the state of the road it will take you two to three hours for this bit. That brings the total driving time to five to six hours from Kununurra, and three to four hours from Halls Creek.
But that's only the park entrance. Say you are trying to "do" Purnululu Australia in a day trip. You have to be aware that it is another 27 km from the entrance and Visitor Centre to the domes and to Cathedral Gorge. And the roads in the park are only slightly better than the access road. The speed limit in the park is 50 kph, but I doubt you will be tempted to go any faster anyway.
The main tourist season in the Kimberley starts in June. It's always good to get in early to avoid the masses. If you want to do some of the longer walks you will appreciate the fact that there is still a lot of water in the rock pools, it saves you carrying it all. It gets cold during the middle of the dry season. For some reason the nights in Purnululu National Park are colder than anywhere else in the Kimberley, and camping is the only option if you want to stay over night. In May the nights are still bearable, but between June and August they can drop below zero! The weather will warm up again in August/September but by then all the water will be gone, the land will be all brown and dusty.
Purnululu National Park is one of the parks in Western Australia where you have to pay for entry. The one-off fee is charged per vehicle. So no matter how many of you are in the car and how long you want to stay, you only pay once. The additional camping fee is $9 per person per night (as of 2006). You pay at the Visitor Centre when you enter the park. The opening times for the Visitor Centre are 8am - 12 noon and 1pm - 4pm. If you arrive outside those hours you can self register by putting the money for your entrance and camping fee in a provided envelope and drop it in a box there.
Purnululu National Park has two campgrounds. The campgrounds are separated in a generator and a quiet area. They have bush toilets and bore water, but there are no showers. It is also not recommended that you drink the bore water unless you boil or treat it. There are some shared wood barbecues and they are the only place where you are allowed to light a fire. Firewood is supplied from outside the park.
The Visitor Centre has information about the park and the Kimberley in general,
leaflets and books. There is a small shop selling souvenirs and cool drinks,
but you can't purchase ice or food. Make sure you bring everything you need
with you. Public telephones are available at the Visitor Centre and you can
organise a helicopter flight from here. Once you paid your entrance fee at the
Visitor Centre you will continue either north or south:
The southern part of the Bungle Bungles National Park is the area where you will find the orange and black striped beehive domes that the Bungle Bungles range is so famous for. You will get your first impression of them as you drive towards Piccaninny Creek car park (all southern walks start here). The car park is about 45 minutes from Purnululu National Park entrance (or 25 minutes from Walardi, the southern campground).
You are not supposed to stop on the road except at the provided viewing bays, but it's hard because every corner presents you with an even more stunning view of the Bungle Bungles than the previous one. You will learn pretty soon that the beauty of the Bungle Bungles is not easily captured in photos. Standard lenses are just nowhere near wide enough to truly reproduce the magnificent views. And once you get out of the car and start walking between the domes you will be too close, the valleys are too narrow.
The most famous of all the Bungle Bungles walks, which is also one of the easiest: the walk to Cathedral Gorge. It starts at Piccaninny Creek car park, like all other walks in the southern part. The walk is about 3 km return. You should allow at least one hour so you can spend some time marvelling and absorbing the atmosphere. Cathedral Gorge is a huge natural amphitheatre. The rock ledges on the left invite you to sit down, and watch, and observe. The acoustics are fascinating (if there aren't too many people around). The voices are carried around and if you turn your head in the right direction the people on the opposite side sound as if they were right behind you. The Domes Walk is connected to, and you can do it as part of, the Cathedral Gorge Walk. It's like a detour or a couple of side tracks. What you will see is more of the scenery that you also encounter on your way to Cathedral Gorge: sandstone beehives, creek beds, gaps and crevices, evidence of wet season waterfalls and of weathering.It only takes about 20 minutes, so why not?
Piccaninny Creek Walk is misrepresented in almost all information material that you will find about the Bungle Bungles. You'll read everywhere that it is an overnight hike. As a result only very few people even think about it.But you don't need to stay inside Piccaninny Gorge over night! Just walk as far as you are happy to, and then turn around. Easy! This is by far the most beautiful and most rewarding walk in the Bungle Bungles. You will follow the eroded creek bed, sometimes stepping from rock slab to rock slab and sometimes working your way through deep, loose gravel. Most of the walk is very open and sunny, and the further you go the less slabs and the more gravel you'll find... But you will also find jaw-droppingly beautiful scenery: domes and cliffs, chasms and rock pools.If you have the time to spend a full day you can walk as far as Black Rock Pool, a big deep waterhole, nearly fully surrounded by towering black cliffs. It's the most reliable water source on the way (boil or treat it before drinking), it's always shady, and the water is freezing!
Not far from the start of the Piccaninny Creek Walk is a turn off to the right, which will take you to a lookout. Even if you really don't have the time to walk along Piccaninny Creek, maybe you can make time for the lookout? It'll take about half an hour to 45 minutes to get there, and 4.30pm is the time to be there!
The northern campground of the Bungle Bungles, Kurrajong, is only 7 km from the Visitor Centre. The two walks are 12 km further on. This part of the Bungle Bungles looks very different and you don't find the famous domes here. Mini Palms Gorge This 3 km return walk takes you over loose rocks in a riverbed into a narrow, boulder strewn gorge filled with Livistona Palms. The further you go the steeper the track becomes. You will have to squeeze through and clamber over boulders. It's a fun walk, and not too hard because there are stairs for the steepest parts. You eventually reach a viewing platform overlooking a palm filled valley surrounded by 150m high cliffs.At the end of the valley is a cave. Tempting to look at but the climb to get down has been closed to protect the mini palms that cover the floor. (The footprints are proof that many people ignore the signs...)
Echidna Chasm This one is fun, too. And easier and shorter then Mini Palms. Initially you walk through a palm filled gorge, but that soon becomes narrower and narrower, and then narrower still. 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.Unless you can schedule this walk around midday. Then you will see the walls above you glow in striking colours, changing with the angle of the sun.
Walanginjdji Sunset Lookout The northern part of the Bungle Bungles has its sunset lookout, too. It's only 2.5km from the Visitor Centre. A few minutes of walking will take you to an area with several seats, so you can enjoy wine and cheese while you watch the western escarpment catch fire.
http://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/bungle-bungles.html