Purnululu – Bungle Bungle

17, 18 August

After enjoying the longest we have stayed in any one place it was time to move on. Too much more to see and do. We did however do a little more sight-seeing around Kununurra before heading for the Bungle Bungle National Park.

We did also tend to some things in Kununurra the day before that were pressing, such as haircuts, minor repairs, tyre purchasing. We also spent some time touring some of the local places such as the Hoochery, the only Australian owned rum distillery and the Sandalwood factory.

We also treated ourselves to some local produce such as red papaya, mango, Boab chocolate and silver cobbler. For the uninitiated silver cobbler is the fancy name for Cat Fish. Believe it or not it was quite tasty washed down with some Houghton’s white classic.

On the way out of Kununurra we had a look at the Ivanhoe crossing (the old road to Wyndham) and watched a couple of cars venture over it. We decided seeing as we weren’t going that way at the moment we would give it a miss. We went over the Diversion Dam (the dam on the Ord river that forms Lake Kununurra, not to be confused with the other dam on the Ord that forms Lake Argyle) and stopped in the Lions Park at the base.

We stopped off at the Zebra gallery where we learnt about the Zebra rock, where it is mined, how old it is, and what beautiful pieces it can be made into. We also fed the fish (archer, cat and bream) and long necked turtles from the pontoon down on the lake.

Next stop a Police breathalysing in the middle of nowhere!! We were actually at Turkey Creek, a small dot on the map so it did seem a strange place to be breathalysed. There is a small aboriginal community there with an art gallery (Warmun), one of the four major Aboriginal Art Centres in the Kimberley, so we stopped off to look at the art there.

Our arrival into Punululu was quite dramatic. The sun was on its way down so was shining onto the escarpments giving them a stunning red hue.




By the time we reached the Kurrajong camp site in the northern section the sun had gone down so it was another one of those finding a campsite by torch light episodes. The site wasn’t too bad but there was limited shade and we were close to the drop toilet so every now and again the smell wafted our way.