Bungle Bungles WA (by Nate) - 18/08/12 to 20/08/12

We have just spent two of the most eventful days in The Bungle Bungles.  It all started when we went off for a walk from our caravan park, which was a quite decent park just off the main highway.  The walk was to a very stagnant creek. As we started to walk back home guess what was blocking our path .... a great big, fat bull with huge horns, who was snorting and staring at us.  He might have been pawing the ground too and there were flames coming from his nostrils. I was thinking I would soon have to take off my red shirt and start yelling "toro, toro".  But we decided to walk around him to avoid the hassle.  After all, I’ve never had any training to be a matador.  So here we were walking through knee deep scrub, constantly looking over our shoulder for a charging bull. We finally found the path and hit it running as the bull was starting to make noises.  

Our second incident of our stay was when we headed off early the next morning to drive into the Bungle Bungles, which is 52k’s over a corrugated, rocky, dirt road. We only made it 10k’s in before we started hearing a scraping, screeching noise from the back wheel.  We travelled on a bit further to only make the noise worse so there was nothing else for it but to turn around and head back.  We had two Chinese men from the caravan park named Pete and Joe (good Chinese names) help us jack up the car and pull of the wheel to investigate the problem. It turns out it was a little stone the size of my thumb nail that was caught between the brake disc and the disc gard.

That problem solved we headed back in.  We crossed eight creek crossing with the deepest being  0.4 metres. It was a bumpy, hilly and  a very rough drive.  We arrived at our first stop Cathedral Gorge, two hours later. We walked though the Bungle Bungle to get to the Cathedral George.  They looked like gigantic bee hives all joined together.   It was quite a hot walk to the start of the gorge then it was a pleasant temperature as we walked though the two towering cliff faces.  You wouldn't believe it, down the end of the gorge there was a live band.  They were playing in a natural ampithearter so no need for the fancy microphones and speakers. Their music was pretty good, quite relaxing while lying down looking up through the top of the gorge into the blue sky .

Our second stop was the Echidna Chasm. We don’t know where it got it’s name from as it looked nothing like an Echidna  It was awesome walking though a narrow passage with walls on either sides around 100 mtrs tall. I thought it would never end.  We would reach a cavern only to find another opening that would lead us in further.  Finally after climbing up two ladders and scrambling over large boulders we reached the end.  That had to be my favourite natural formation on this trip so far beside Uluru.  We then took the dirty, dusty, bumpy corrugated road home.   

Driving in the Kimberley's

Boys checking out their 4wd magazine; which they are now right into.

One of the obstacles along the road

Not much room to get around there

Don't worry, its only concrete. Although, sometimes the real ones also look like they are made of concrete.

Going cross country to out run and out smart an aggressive  looking bull

Not this one. The other one was twice as big, with big horns. It was also black. Honest.

First creek crossing of the day.

Back to campground where me, Joe and Pete fix the car problems. Here I am giving them direction  on what needs to be done.

And another creek crossing

And again

Bungle Bungles

Walk to Cathedral Gorge

The free music in Cathedral Gorge

Cathedral Gorge

Echidna Chasm

Looking out through top of Echidna Chasm

And walking through the chasm

It went along like this for quite a while

Here we have reached the end

Again, looking up through the top of the chasm

Cattle on the road home. Still not as big and as fierce as the bull  we  fled from.

And sunset over the campground