Bungle Bungles Day one

  05/09/2011
  Did a quick tour of Halls Creek before we left and were impressed with the way the town has smartened up, obviously a lot of money has been spent improving the Aborigines lot. No sign of booze until we drove past the town boundary where we saw evidence of bottle parties in the bush, just off the highway. Mounds of bottles and broken glass which made us think they haven’t cured the booze problem, just moved it.
  We are camped at Turkey Creek roadhouse, ready to be picked up early in the morning for our adventure into Purnululu National Park and the Bungle Bungles.

  06/09/2011
  A bit of a mix up over the departure times as at first we thought it was a 5 30am pick up only to read in our notes that it was a 6 30 start. Reverted hastily to plan A  as Jane met Bruce, our guide as she was going to the shower at 5 30! A hastily packed rucksack, no breakfast and off we go, just us 2 and Bruce in a 4WD Landcruiser.  The turn off from The highway is the start of a one and half hour journey across country and a very rough ride to Bellburn bush camp, through several river crossings and steep jump ups.  The camp has a kitchen/bar/dining room surrounded by very small but posh cabins, with accommodation for 60 people. Once we dumped our gear in our cabin we drove off to the nearby landing strip to pick up couple who had been flown in from Kununurra, 1 hours flight away. They turned out to be an older couple out here on holiday from the U K. From Bellburn International we were taken to the first adventure of the trip, Mini Palms Gorge. This entailed a 5K hike along a dry river bed, very stony and hard work, quite difficult and very hot. Most of what we saw  and what we will see is difficult to explain , It’s just awesome and hopefully the photos we took ( 100’s of them) will do it justice.
 A packed lunch in the bush and then off on the next excursion  The Echidna Chasm, just a 2K hike over similar ground. Echidna Chasm  is a fault line in the rocks, which tower 200feet. Gaps in the chasm at their narrowest are no more than a metre wide and  continue for about 1 kilometre. An amazingly colourful and huge geological range of soaring cliffs,     difficult to describe,   have a look at the pictures.
  Another long rough drive along part of the Spring Creek track, back to bush camp for a shower, a few beers and then dinner.
  Later we sat on our little deck outside our cabin with a bottle of Merlot, which appeared at the bottom of our rucksack. Just us, the bugs and the quiet. The bugs are something else, flying, buzzing, crawling, all colours and sizes, but we don’t care. We were visited by a Tawny Frogmouth, an owl type bird that landed on the canopy frame. What a day   sound asleep by 10 o’clock!!