The drive from El Questro to Broome was a long one. It was over 1050km without the detours and side roads. It was also one of the drives we were most anticipating as it would take us past some of the sites we were most excited to see. These are some of the reasons we pushed into WA to begin with.
Bungle Bungles
The Bungle Bungles were the first stop on the itinerary and also number one on our list of sites to see. After taking some (good) advice, we eventually decided against staying in Purnululu itself, staying just on the edge of the park. The road in is rough, 50km of rocks, corrugations and creek crossings. The drive in took us almost two hours on the way in and one particular creek crossing had such a sharp entry angle that the rear of the caravan would have dragged for sure. Damage we didn’t want or need.
The park itself is divided into two sections, which you explore separately. There is quite some distance and driving between them so it’s either one long day (like us) or ideally explored over two to see the whole park in all its glory. Once in the park, the drive is mesmerising and we made a number of stops to just admire it.
The Southern Section
First we saw the Domes, a short walk that really highlights the rounded domes (or bee hives) that the Bungle Bungles are so famous for. The Domes walk leads you onto the Cathedral Gorge walk. By the time we were walking this, it was very warm, with the rocks radiating heat and much of the path along sandy creek beds.
The walk takes you up a gorge towards a softy rounded gorge end, which was said to resemble a Cathedral. There were some stagnant pools of water, with fish still surviving, with the path and erosion of the wet season flows clear on the rock. The end was beautiful and we were fortunate enough to have it to ourselves. We all just sat and relaxed to take in the space. There were some other longer walks available to do but at this time of year they needed to be started very early in the morning.
The Northern Section
We made a few more lookout stops on the journey to the northern end of the park. It should be noted that the northern end is very different. It lacks the dome formations and felt less dry, with different plants as a result.
Mindful of the heat, we wanted to see Echidna Gorge and hopefully then complete the Mini Palms walk. We had made good time and were starting the Echidna Gorge walk at the perfect time; as the sun was directly overhead. It shined deeply into the gorge and was noticeably different between the start and end of our walks. Echidna Gorge is a narrow slit of a gorge, with a palm lined creek starting the walk before you enter the gorge. The gorge narrows progressively, shrinking so that you can touch both sides. It’s a deep rich red, with nooks, crannies and crevices along its length. The gorge ends at a small rockfall, but it was under maintenance and we could go no further.
We tacked on the lookout at the start of the Echidna walk and it gave and spectacular view along the river. You could see the vegetation change along its banks and the vast size of the area around the park. Unfortunately, it was too hot. We wisely decided that doing the mini palms walk, started in the afternoon heat was not a good idea. We reluctantly packed up and headed out, with one final lookout visit before we left the park. You can tick Purnululu off in a single (long) day, but to experience it best it really needs two. We knocked off the big ticket items, but left wanted to have explored a little more.
Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater
We visited Wolfe Creek after it was suggested by an ex-colleague of Abby’s not to go there based on the movie. As we have never watched it we decided to go! A couple of hundred kilometers down the Tanami Desert Road, it’s not a small undertaking. But after seeing the photos of the crater it pretty much became a non-negotiable.
The Tanami has a reputation for being a bit of a car killer. The section we drove had its moments, but was generally a decent ride. The same could not be said for the 20km section into the crater off the Tanami. We’d read the warnings about the road conditions but even those could not prepare us for the last 6km. It was without doubt the worst road of the trip so far. Thumping along at 8km/h was painfully slow, ridiculously uncomfortable and left us questioning our sanity. That last 20km took 50mins.
All was forgiven when the crater (and its campground) came into view. It’s beautiful. The campground was so quiet, we felt like we had it to ourselves. It was the kind of place that anyone who has ever imagined bush camping in remote Australia would look.
The crater is remarkable. From a distance, it looks like a plateau on the vast flat plains in the area. Once you climb the crater wall the true magnificence of the place is revealed. Looking down into that crater from the rim is something we won’t forget. The meteorite hit with such force the bottom of the crater is below the ground level of the area. It’s clear the middle of the crater will hold water at times of the year and a little eco-system has developed.
There are trees, grasses and prolific birdlife in the crater centre. The walls are traversed by wallabies and are home to a very rare and unique lizard. We were fortunate to see it all on our walk around the rim. We weren’t brave enough to walk down the 50 percent gradient crater walls to see the middle. But it wasn’t an issue as the view from the top (looking in and out) was more than enough for us.
Geikie Gorge
Geikie Gorge was the main attraction to a stop in Fitzroy Crossing. Besides our need for fuel and supplies, this is the local attraction of note. It’s a very different gorge to the others we’ve seen. It felt more like a river as the high walls were quite distant from one another. Even the bigger gorges in places like Katherine were not this wide.
Boat tours and recreational boating were available, but having done our share of boat rides, we opted to do the relatively short walk down one side. The walk was good in that it took you most of the length taken by the boat tours and gave the opportunity to see not only the gorge and the water flowing through it but the special geology of the area. It was unique in that regard.
The most amazing thing for us though was the high water mark. Standing above the current water level and looking upwards towards the rock face showed a distinct line. This line was metres above our heads. When combined with the width of the gorge, the volumes of water passing through become unbelievable. The visitor centre showed the flood levels in previous years and since the highest exceeded the top of the roof a Kimberley wet season must be something to behold.
Sites Missed
The weather finally forced us to miss something on this trip. It was with so much disappointment we skipped Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge. It was a smart decision, but we talked about it for almost a week afterwards. How far was too far to go back?
Tunnel Creek in particular was a huge disappointment. A gorge in a cave. We had also been given the heads up about a “secret passage” that if carefully navigated would open into a cavern full of crystals and stalactites and stalagmites. It would be something completely different to the site
Windjana was more of a stopover site, but we’d heard it was absolutely filled with freshwater crocodiles. A trip to see the crocodiles basking at sunset came recommended from everyone we asked.
We had gotten more than 10 weeks through the trip before our first disappointment. We cannot complain at that. Besides Abby has already started plotting how we might see these sites (and some others) in the future when we have saved some money again.
Derby
We arrived in Derby early, disappointed and wanting to stay dry. The town had a bad reputation with opportunistic petty theft ‘rife’. It turns out the negativity is overblown. We enjoyed our stop, the weather broke, and we were able to tick off all the local attractions.
We saw the massive tides from the jetty, visited the Prison Tree (an incredibly old Boab), saw the pool built by soldiers, checked out the foreshore artwork, worlds largest cattle trough and generally enjoyed our day in town.
This was the end or our western journey. After leaving the east coast in August, we had finally hit the west coast. Not the plan on the day we departed