4 Stray Katz: Rainbow over The Bungles

Due to the extreme heat we decided on a short, action packed, two nights at Purnululu National Park. The man at the park visitor centre was excellent and gave us an awesome plan to ensure we saw the highlights of the Bungle Bungle Range in our limited time. The World Heritage Bungles are famous for their sandstone banded domes, carved out by erosion over the last 20 million years. A bacteria causes a dark band which creates a striking stripy effect on the orange iron outer layer of the domes. The are so vast and their beauty was hard to capture in photos from the ground.

On the first afternoon, after traveling for nearly 4 hours from Kununurra, we could only muster enough energy to wander the dry, rocky creek bed near camp and watch the setting sun change the colours of the famous domes. That evening a storm passed by and the lightening show was impressive. We only got five minutes of rain though, just enough time for us to frantically pack everything away and close all the windows before it stopped!

The next day was action packed! We left camp at 6.15am, headed for Cathedral Gorge. After a 1.3km walk in (around some very impressive domes) we reached the gorge, which is a natural amphitheatre. We were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves and the kids loved listening to their voices echoing within the rock. We saw some lovely wildflowers, including a rare white grevillea that grows only in this park.

Building rock cairns.

The beautiful black and orange domes of the Bungle Bungle Range

The 'Domes' walk

A spectacular view

Cathedral Gorge

After a detour back to the van, and a nap for all of us, we journeyed to the northern end of the park to explore Echidna Chasm. The walk takes you right into the 180m high chasm, with the rocky walls (made from smooth river rocks and compacted sand) less than a metre apart in some sections. In some parts boulders had fallen and lodged themselves in the chasm, in other parts the boulders had made it to the ground and we had to climb over and around them. It was a great adventure and the kids loved it. It was also quite cool in there as the sun only reached the ground during the middle of the day.

The beginning of Echidna Chasm

Getting narrower in the chasm

We made it to the end of the chasm

Jackson was very proud of his rock cairn - check out the dusty face!

This boulder was wedged in the chasm just above a ladder.

After a few hours in the chasm we climbed the nearby Osmund Lookout. The panoramic view was spectacular, particularly as we could see another storm approaching. We watched it come closer then decided we had better head back, a few drops later we thought the storm had passed. Heading back to camp we actually drove right into the storm and it started bucketing down. It was incredible to see as some sections of the Bungle range were in sunlight whilst one section had a huge dark rain cloud over it. The rainbow this storm produced was one of the best I've seen, Emilia was very impressed (Jackson missed it as he'd fallen asleep). The rain stopped just as we approached another lookout so Emilia and I ran up. The light and colours on the range were breathtaking and the photos do not do it justice. We were so pleased to have seen the Bungles during this effect. After a quick stop back at the van for drinks and munchies we watched the sunset from another lookout, satisfied that we had experienced so much of this magical place in such a short time. We were super impressed with the kids who had walked nearly 6km! We were all exhausted and Emilia fell asleep after the first sentence of their bedtime book. It had been a memorable visit.