The Bungle Bungle trip by car

The much anticipated tour into The Bungle Bungle had finally arrived. The area we see as the Bungles is only part of the 45,000 hectares of the said range of the 240,000 hectare of Purnululu Nat Pk.
The range is 350millions yrs old. The beehive formations are as a result of erosion over the millions of yrs since then. The colour differences are the dark grey & orange layers. The dark grey band is cyanobacteria, a single cell organism that represents some of the oldest forms on Earth. The alternating  orange is iron oxide that also protects the fragile sandstone.

To stay in The Bungles, we had to leave the van somewhere & live in a tent for 2 nights. We had 2 chilly 6*temp nights. Just as well I'd done some prior reading as we, unlike some , were prepared with doona's, jackets & warm pj's :)

Driving down to the Bungles had some interesting moments like this1 - a truck with 4 trailers passing us & another van in front of us. I've got to admit this is somewhat different!! (the truck was sick of being behind the slower van in front of us.

We had 21 water crossings to get into where we wanted to be. The deepest being over 30cms deep - up to the step board of the 4WD. The 52 km rocky road takes on average 2 - 3 hrs to traverse. Our trip was 2 hrs. The slow trip was interrupted by beautiful views of the Osmond Range that we had to cross.

The wildflowers made the gorgeous views look more magical.

We went to the southern part of the Bungle Bungle range, 12 kms from Piccaninny Gorge. That's the closest camp ground to there.
Piccaninny gorge has The Domes walk & Cathedral Gorge. there's also the 12 km Piccaninny Gorge walk, but that's an over night camp out in the cold.

 This is the stoney bed of Piccaninny Creek.
Unfortunately some of the domes were in front of the western sun, creating shadows on them, but I hope you get the general idea of the beauty of them.

Cathedral Gorge is a side entry from Piccaninny Gorge. The high sandstone cliffs, with the sun reflecting off some of the walls looked a picture as you walked into the Cathedral.

The Cathedral area is quite large, has a massive waterfall after rain & over 100mtr high cliffs.

The pics really don't do it justice. Most of these pics are at ground level & only some of the area.
It go's up 100mtrs with orange & black jagged cliffs.

 The cracked rock goes up the entire height of the whole cathedral

 Looking out

Walking into the Cathedral was along a small creek. These 'potholes' are being created by circling rocks & water as it tumbles through the creek. There were many of these such formations.

We had to pack up our belonging & change camps to 15 kms away to see the next spectacular gorge - Echidna Gorge. Driving there was again all beautiful. Youdidn't realize you'd travelled another 15kms. 

Echidna Gorge & The Chasm is on the Western side of The Bungle Bungle Range.
You drive past 10kms or more of these fantastic rocky cliffs

This is the entry to The Chasm.

 'How good is this' Rod says
Here there are the Livistonia Fan Palms, some times growing in cracks & crevices,1/2 way up the cliff faces.

Th

The Chasm is more than 100mtrs long inside. The walls are over 100mtrs high & the sun shines on parts of the walls, creating a glowing effect on the rest of the facing wall & surrounds.
Inside the walls are sometimes less than 1 mtr in width.

These pics will never do what we say any justice, so I hope you get some sort of idea from them :)

 Looking back out

 Theses few are inside the main chamber area. The gorge goes for anothe 75 mtrs further in. so we went to have a look

Walking further into the gorge we had to clamber over fallen boulders that managed to find their way down the narrow crevices.

 This rock is lodged between the 1 mtr width space

 Mor boulders to climb over.

 Looking back towards some light coming down

 These 2 pics are looking sky wards. You can see ferns 1/2 way up & other vegetation growing near the top

 Back to the main arena area - you wait for the midday sun to light up the area. Only a narrow line slowly creeps across the floor.

 Looking skywards again

This is looking towards the entry again

You return the same way you go in, but you see different things as you're looking forward & not always upwards

 This is just outside the entry area

Further out in the stoney creek bed that we had to walk along, you get these magnificent views

These following pics are part of the 10km drive to & from the camp ground. They are part of  the western side of The Bungle Bungle Range.

Voila (french accent) - I hope you had just as much enjoyment seeing this great place as we did :)))))))