Bungle Bungles

On our way back to start the Gibb from the west we had three nights in at Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles).  We had heard that the road in was really bad.  But we didn't mind it, a bit rough but ok.  We had some fun with the water crossings, which is always great.  We set up camp in the northern area of the park.  I had been a bit slack and hadn't done enough research and didn't realise that all the really specie stuff was in the southern end, oops.
We attempted to do a couple of the hikes but Jake ended up being sick.  Darn kids interrupting our plans!  So Mark and I ended up tag teaming a bit, so we both got a good look around.  My favourite spot in the north would have to be Echidna chasm.  We timed it well and the light was really pretty, coming down through the crack it looks like a lightning bolt.  We had a look at one sunset spot with all the kids in tow and then on another night Vik and Craig watched our kids and we went on our own.  Was so lovely sitting there having drinks and nibbles watching the sunset and cast beautiful orange glows over the ranges......and then a tour bus arrives!  There went the serenity and our romantic moment.
 Basically all I knew about this national park was the picture of the domes with the stripes.  So far we had seen some nice scenery but not the domes.  Then we found out that it was all down south.  So off we went.

When we got down south...ahhh now we see the domes.  And they were very very cool.  Just like in the pictures but so many more.  The colours in the strips were really interesting. It was really surreal walking in amongst them, its amazing how these natural formations occur. We attempted to all do a hike but Jake still wasn't well so he and I ended up hanging out in the car park.   We did get to see a really cool looking bower bird nest at the car park though.  Then when the others got back I went for a walk.

Charlotte found a snake

Cathedral Gorge, the photos don't do this place justice, its a pretty big and special place.

Elephant Rock, mother and calf

And of course a few shots of the landcruiser getting wet to finish of this blog post.  All in all we had a really nice three nights at Purnululu National Park.

Broome to Kununurra

We left Broome, a little sad as we had enjoyed our stay.  We went straight to Derby to for the day, well an hour or two! First stop was the jetty for a look, not too exciting.  The tide was on the way in and we could see the tide rushing in under the jetty.  We had a picnic lunch, watching the falcons swooping then drove to check out the Prison Boab tree and the big trough.  Good bit of history and education for the kids, and adults!

We drove out of Derby and drove as far as we could be bothered that afternoon and stopped at a random free rest area for the night.  We were treated to another exceptional sunset from WA.

About a third of the way to Kununura near Fitzroy Crossing was Giekie Gorge.  We had a fabulous time here.  First we went on two small basic walks from the gorge.  Then we went on the ranger run gorge trip.  It was just lovely to be out on the river, we really enjoyed it.  We saw a couple of crocs, pretty exciting!  The gorge is really pretty and I enjoyed taking a few pics.  We were also lucky enough to have an interesting guide who loved to chat about the mighty Fitzroy river, much to Marks delight.  Love meeting all these characters around this country.  We had one more overnight stop at a rest area before we went to Kununurra.

Morning tea on the A frame

The height of the floods

Floods right up to the top of the shelter

We arrived in Kununurra and stayed at Kimberlyland on the lake.  A nice enough park, bit dusty but pretty much like everything in this area.  We set up and began organising our crap ready to go in the tent for three weeks.  We also randomly ran into our friends from Alice, Pete, Sam, and kids which was nice.  I got a surprise when this guy yelled from across the road and realised who it was, small world!  Other than chatting to these guys and packing we basically only went to the rodeo.  Of course Charlotte loved the rodeo, even spent her birthday money on a cowgirl shirt.  The rest of us had fun, rodeos are always a laugh, but I do get a little worries about those bulls.  One cowboy got a bad charge to the leg and limped away!  Dangerous pastime.  That's about it for Kununurra, to the Gibb we go.  Back tracking to Fitzroy Crossing now we have stored the van in Kununurra.