The amazing Bungles!! I should just stop there because like a photo, words will not be able to properly express the awe of this place but I'll try anyway.
Alien forms of beehives with banded red and black stripes on domes surrounding a dry river bed that looks like a thousand meandering snakes cut into rock. Does that help? Ha!
The Bungle Bungles are properly called Purnululu National Park and I've been wanting to visit these since I started exploring adventures for this trip. The iconic shapes are like nothing I've ever seen and obviously earned their World Heritage ranking for good reason. Flights over the area are meant to be a special way to see the domes but having done the hikes, I can't imagine a better way to appreciate their immensity as we're encompassed in their depths and surrounded by the alien forms.
We stayed two nights on the North end from Kurrajong Camp and then two nights at the Southern camp of Waladi. This was a good way to do (not that it was on purpose) as the northern end with beautiful gorges and cliffs, lets you appreciate the scene before moving on to the more iconic dome shapes. Echidna Gorge hike is a must especially timed for the sun to hit centre gorge at noon. Then Mini Palms hike lets you rumble over boulders to reach the inner sanctuary.
The must hikes from the South side are Picaninny Creek lookout, Cathedral Gorge, and the Dome Loop. We did wake early one morning to do the longer 12k hike to Whip Snake Gorge as well which lets you get deeper into the dry river bed and a gorge to yourself.
Oh and the sunsets here? Unreal! The light brings the cliffs alive and the lookouts give you 360 degree views of this sacred land.
Along this trip, it seems Matt and I have become Twitchers in some right as we are overwhelmed by bird watching. Our second camp at Waladi was abundant in winged visitors. We had a daily visit by a beautiful blue winged kookaburra, an overnight stay by a tawny frogmouth to wake to two of them, as well as cockatoos, bush quail, honeyeaters, and robins! We did get to see the double barred finch deep in Whip Snake Gorge - a bird only found in this area.
Then leaving the park, we ran into our lovely friends, Sally and Keith! We joke that stalking must be occurring as since Finch Hatton Qld, must have crossed paths at least 6 times! We always have a good swap of stories and then move on till the next meeting.
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