Kununurra and Purnululu (Bungle Bungle)

The last week has been fantastic! We have just arrived back in Kununurra after 4 days at Purnululu otherwise known as the Bungle Bungle Range and what an amazing place it is. Another "bucket list" place for those who have never been there and it just makes me amazed at the diversity of this great country that we all live in. However before I get to Purnululu I need to back track just a little to our time in Kununurra.

Kununurra is a very interesting place. Lucie described it as frontier country and she is right. It is hard to believe that this town did not exist 50 years ago and it is really only in the last 25 years that things have taken off. Why ? The Ord River Scheme.

Lake Argyle is the largest artificial lake by volume in Australia. It covers an area of 1000 sq km's and holds the equivalent of 20 Sydney Harbours. What is more incredible is that this lake was created with a wall of 335 m long and 98m high. This dam is the reservior that provides the flow to the Ord River. The dam is names Lake Argyle after Argyle Downs (A property own by the Duracks who were the first family to live in the Kimberly in the 1880's) that was partly submerged.

Kimberly Durack advocated the introduction of irrigation for pasture management, complemented by agricultural crops.  He experimented with lucerne at Argyle before establishing an experimental plot at Ivanhoe on the Ord River. His foresight led to the formation of the Ord River Scheme.

The Durack Homestead on Argyle Downs - relocated prior to the building of Lake Argyle

The photo below shows the infinity pool at the Lake Argyle Caravan Park overlooking Lake Argyle - a spectacular view!

Yes this is a pool in the foreground of this photo!

We took a trip down the Ord River from start of the River to the beginning of the irrigation channels at Kununurra.  Again the wildlife, fresh water crocodiles and cliff faces were impressive. Here are just a few of the sites along the way.

A view from the dam wall of Lake Argyle

The start of the Ord River

Pelican Rock in the foreground. The deepest part of the Ord River  - 15 m.

Another fresh water crocodile on the way down the Ord River

A white breasted osprey 

Amazing rock formations - A World War II Digger

Elephant Rock

Sunset on the Lake Kununurra - The Ord River flows into Lake Kununnura

 Earlier in the day, we were fortunate to be shown around the farming land by Robert Boshammer who has been farming for 25 years in this region using the Ord River Irrigation Scheme. The sight of flourishing crops on black soil plains was amazing. The crops grown included chia, sorghum, chick peas, sandal wood and maize just to name a few. The irrigation system is a series of canals and locks which regulate the flow across the 150 Sq Kms of farm land. They are in the process of opening up stage 2 of this scheme which will create another 70 - 80 Sq Kms of farm land. If you want a piece of the action. 28 acres of land on this scheme - $1.7 million!!!!! When it first opened up, land could be purchased for $1000 an acre!!

The main lock at the pump house

Flood irrigation of chia

A crop of Chia - it looks very like Lavendar

A Sandal Wood Tree (Centre) - a unique tree that requires a host  tree  to flourish as they are parasitic. They are used  beauty products and by the Hindus for religious ceremonies (burning their dead). At maturity - 15 years, the roots and heart wood are harvested. At this stage the going rate $200 / kilo!

The girls alongside the chickpea crop.

 Last Tuesday we left Kununurra to head to Purnululu. The trip took just under 5 hours - 2.5 hours to the dirt  turn off (some 250 kms) then 2 hours to travel 50 kms into the National Park!! It reminded me of Brisbane, yet I have to say a much better place to travel due to the scenery. That said some of the creek / river crossings were interesting along with the never ending corrugations and sharp rocks to avoid!

We had 4 days in the National Park and what an incredible place it is. The sheer size of the cliffs and gorges are amazing and can not be given due credit by words or photographs alone. Rather than try to go into too much detail, below you will find some pictures of the areas that we ventured into. It is important to recognise that while we did all of the walks, we only covered 3% of the National Park!

Echidna Chasm



Echidna Chasm is a narrow gorge, at some points only two meters wide, but with 200m high vertical walls.  Like other gorges in the northern part of the Bungle Bungles it is home to Livistona palms, which survive the dry and hot summer days through the protection by the steep gorge.

The gorge was formed along a joint in the sandstone and conglomerate rocks. The girls referred to this gorge as the chocolate crackle gorge due to the conglomerate rock formations that lined the gorge.

If you look carefully you will see Annabel at the bottom of this picture. 

A conglomerate rock wedged between the gorge walls

Sunset on the Bungle Bungles at the Northern end of the Park

We camped at Kurrajong Campsite which is at the northern end of the Park. A great spot which gave spectacular views of the Bungle Bungle Range at sunset with a short climb up onto a ridge behind the campsite. As already stated - it is too hard to give capture this in photographs! We were fortunate to be there for full moon so the views were great at sunset and then as the moon came up.

The girls really enjoyed meeting the other campers around the campfire at night and hearing their stories. Not to mention toasting marsh mellows!!

Watching the sunset

Unfortunately the colours are not represented clearly!

Our camp!

Full Moon

Mini Palms Gorge

The gorge is largely composed of compacted conglomerate rock. The materials which were deposited by ancient rivers flowing south from the Ormand Range some 360 mil years ago! Again virtually impossible to photograph.

The wild flowers and blossoms are a stark contrast to the red cliffs and dirt.

The Picaninni Gorge Look Out and Domes Walk - Southern End of the National Park

The southern part of Purnululu National Park is the area with the orange and black striped beehive domes that the Bungle Bungles range is so famous for.

The Beehives from the Picaninni Lookout

Cathedral Gorge

The walk into Cathedral Gorge is lined with huge sandstone cliffs until you get to the end of the walk where you find a huge natural amphitheatre with a white sand beach surrounding a waterhole. The acoustics are great and we were fortunate to have this area to ourselves for 20 minutes. I could imagine that this area would have been used for ceremonies by the aboriginals as it really is a very special place to sit and reflect.

To finish our time at Purnululu, we took a helicopter ride over the National Park. An expensive ride, yet well worth it. The girls were very excited to be going in a helicopter for the first time!

This was an amazing trip and one that we will never forget. Today we have come back to Kununurra to refuel and top up supplies in readiness for the Gibb River Road which we will start tomorrow. I am not sure if there will be much work on the blog for the next week or so given that I doubt that we will have much access to the web.

Time for bed now!