The Bungle Bungles

We left Kunnurra on another hot day, (we are getting very used to the heat now, have not worn a jumper since Alice Springs!)

We were heading to Turkey Creek, about 198 kilometres away, also known as Warmun and once we got there we were going to decide if we stay a night or just drop the van off and drive on to the Bungle Bungles.

Once again there were plenty of sights to see on the way, including more termite mounds that had changed shape drastically since Darwin, they reminded me of broccoli.

The roads were also slightly different and would turn into one lane without much notice except one sign that said prepare to stop which was not too far from the bridge itself, which means a road train would not be stopping in a hurry, especially seeing as the speed along the hwy is 100kms.

The broccoli mounds.

We got to Turkey Creek at about 1pm and it was so small and so un-exciting that I didn't even take any photo's! 

It was just a roadhouse with a small caravan park attached, the caravan park didn't look too shabby but we decided we would still have enough time to make it to the bungle bungles, so we un-hitched and left our van in storage for $5 a night.

There is also a community across the road but you need a permit or an official invite to go in, unless looking at the art shop on the outskirts.

It was still another 60 kilometres on sealed road to the bungle bungle turn off, then once we got to the turn off another 53 kilometres to the camp site!

Once again we were lucky because the bungle bungles had also been closed from heavy rains at the same time as El Questro, so far we had not been affected by the weather, we have not even seen a drop of rain since darwin, so unlike us Melbournians to have such luck! 

It did say there was a chance of rain the day we headed out but skies were blue and we had our fingers crossed that it wouldnt change too soon.

The first part of the track is through a cattle station and is extremely bumpy.

And it stays that way, or get's worse as you drive on, it was a little wet on parts of the road but no major water crossings, it did get steep in parts as well and at some stages we were sitting on 10 kilometres p/h and hoping the bundy was not going to fall apart, whenever you think you have seen/driven on the worst tracks another pops up all the more challenging.

After about an hour and a half of driving we were wondering if we were ever going to get there and getting extremely frustrated to the point where we almost regretted going, 'how many rocks can we look at?' was the topic of conversation but we had already come this far we certainly couldn't fathom doing a u-turn and heading back.

Then just to add to our painful drive the bundy started to make creaking noises every time we hit a bump, which was practically every 10 seconds, so that meant we had to go even slower , so by the time we reached the ranger/visitors hut we were not 'happy campers', frustrated campers, yes.

It had taken almost  two and a half hours to reach the hut, making it about 4:40 pm by the time we got there and although it had clear signs saying they were open until 5:30 pm there was not a soul in sight, we had to try and find the right change to pay our fee's, about $32 all up, even though we were tempted not to pay at all we did the right thing (although regretted it later when we saw the camp area.)

After you get to the hut there are 2 campsites you can go to, when we got there one was closed and by the time we got to the turnoff we forgot which one it was and ended up driving 8 kilometres to the closed camp site, had to turn around and drive another 20 kilometres to the open campsite.

We really didn't know whether to laugh or cry so instead of admiring the beauty around us we just bitched about how hot it was and how much of a pain the day had been, we couldn't wait to see the ocean again!

The camp site didn't do anything to perk us up either, there is one outhouse that you would really not bother using because the flies seemed to have taken over in there and even after driving all that way it was still another half hour to see the bungle bungles, surely they could have put the campsite closer, sheesh, that's the only reason people go there!

Yes it was just one of those days and we were missing our swimming holes/showers/pools, especially in the intense heat, we raced around to cook tea before the sun went down, and the only good thing about the day was the satay chicken we had for dinner.

We tried to find a nice patch of grass and in the end were happy with patches.

We decided we did not want to stay here 2 nights so we were up with the sun to go check out the bungle bungles and see what the sandstone domes had to offer, first we went to piccaninny creek to do a few walks and see cathedral gorge.

The ranges from a distance.

Whoops too slow Brent!

Our spirits were a little higher today, especially seeing as we finally got to the view the bungle ranges!

The dome trail was the shortest walk but we decided to go to cathedral gorge via piccaninny creek and then see the domes on the way back.

The creek water was filthy.

There were thousands and thousands of these tad poles swimming around!

And once again we spot another monitor, an angry one at that!

He was HUGE!

Cathedral gorge was huge, we walked around for a while just yelling and singing because the acoustics were so eerie!

It was also nice and cool near the gorge.

Brenton VS Wild

Brenton in front of one of the bungle domes.

Had to get the bundy in a picture!

It took us about two hours to see it all then we were off to do another walk.

After seeing cathedral gorge we drove for another half hour to the other end of the ranges to see echidna chasm.

The walk was a little tricky because it was pebbles all the way! I tripped about 5 times!

It started to get very narrow after the pebble walk.

Looking up was a little freaky!

We thought it was cool at the gorge but the breeze in here was so good!

Looking up!

Heading back to the car, we were not looking forward to the drive out!!

In wet season this is flowing.

Goodbye Bungles!

Urrggghhh the dreaded drive...

After we finally got off the bungle track we went back to turkey creek and picked up our van and decided to drive on, we ended up staying at hall's creek, a very small dusty town that we probably would not have stopped at if it wasn't getting late.

This is our amazing site, $30 a night for this, the caravan park looked like it was built in the 50's and has not been touched since. Another lady at the park had her bike stolen and so we made sure we kept every thing locked up!

A storm also rolled past but for some reason didn't come over the caravan park, it went around it, that's how bad it is, not even a storm wanted to visit the park.

We are glad we went to the bungle bungles, a flight would have been nice, but then we would have missed cathedral gorge and echidna chasm, it started raining the day after we left and they closed the bungles again, we just made it!

We couldn't wait to leave hell's creek and continue on the trip!

xxxxxx

Kunnunurra-El Questro

Kunnunurra is a very small town that we decided to stay in because it was one of the closest places besides Wyndham that we could leave the caravan to head off and see El Questro, which is off the famous Gibb River road.

We found a nice 'Big4' caravan park to stay at which is right alongside the lake and only 4km from town, we went all out and paid $1 extra for a lakeview site (Big4 love to charge for anything and everything) it cost us $32 per night for a powered LAKE VIEW site, we also were under a big shady tree and seeing as the weather was not cooling down shade is a must!

Brenton kicking back.

The view a few steps from the carvan, lot's of fresh water crocs!

Hard to see but we had a couple of lizards crossing the road on the way in to town.

Our car had been making a few weird noises on the way to Kunnuurra so Brenton decided to look into and found we had a few problems.

Hhmm not meant to look like this so we needed to replace them before going anywhere!

As you may assume it's not easy to get anything you need fast here, it's not even easy to get anything you need, Brent went to nearly every car shop in town and it took the guys a few days to find something for him , even then they weren't sure it would work.
After spending a fair bit of time on the car and with me as his trusty (clumsy) assistant we were up and running and were enjoying the surrounds of Lake Kunnunurra, more amazing sunsets, sunrises and another opportunity for brenton to have a fish.

Doesn't this look inviting? You can hardly tell but there is a baked potato somewhere in there!

Rex Hunt at work.

And he officially caught a fish, with a rod!!

Too bad it was a cat fish and not a tasty barra!

Another little visitor we had in the caravan park, just outside of our toilet block.

Brenton managed to catch 4 more fish but it may have been the same one, they were all cat fish, although it was just nice to see him catch one, he was very excited!

 Sunrise on the lake.

The sky was amazing!

After the car was fixed and we enjoyed the sites of kunnunurra we left our caravan at the showground caravan park for storage, only $5 a night and headed off toward the Gibb river road. 

We were lucky because some rains passed through a week or so before we got there and El Questro was shut for a while but re-opened just a day before we got there. 

El Questro is about 110 kilometres from Kunnunurra or if you want somewhere closer to stay Wyndham is about 58 kilomteres away.

Gibb River Road

There was still water over a few sections of the road.

This guy was in no hurry to get off the road, so we waited for him.

It was a rough ride to El Questro on the Gibb river road, they were doing some road works on certain parts of it so we had to wait at one section for 15 minutes for the truck to get off the road.

We made it eventually though, and there were a heap of water crossings!

I was on croc watch...

Before we went and checked out El Questro gorge we went to the township to buy our park pass which cost $17 each and also pay for our campsite, $17 per person, no power. 

After we were settled and our wallet was a bit lighter we headed off to El Questro gorge for a walk and hopefully a swim.

The start of the walk was rocky, very easy ankle spraining terrain.

Lots of obstacles, under tree's, over rocks...

All the while following the blue triangles.

Halfway through the walk we found water, but not enough to swim in!

There was lots of shade on this walk, thank god, because the sun was beating down.

Then a swimming spot!

Troy Dan resting near the clear waters of el questro.

The water was freezing but so refreshing!

It was so green, and there were a heap of frogs jumping around.

Everywhere we go we run into one of these guys.

After our walk and our swim we headed back to the camp site.

 Brenton braved the dirty waters next to our site.

Then when we got back we notice a bull roaming around the camp grounds.

After dinner we headed to bed early but were quickly woken by our friend the bull who was rustling some bushes about a metre away from our tent, we were a tad scared that if we made any noise he might stampede us and I think Brenton was more scared when I got the giggles like a 3 year old and could not, not make noise.

We did make it through the night without being squashed and were up with the sun to go on a walk to champagne springs, we just left the car at our site as it was only a short walk to the starting point of the champagne springs trail.

The walk was 10 kilometres and they say to give yourself four and a half hours without a swim, and there was no way we weren't swimming, so we were ready for a 5-6 hour day trip.

              

We headed off around 7am and it was already so hot!

We had a rest after about an hour and half at this huge boab tree

After 2 hours we were wondering if we were ever going to see water.

There were times it was hard to find our blue markers and seeing as I managed to drop our map at the half way point we really needed to find them, it is only a recently established trail and that was obvious, it's considered a moderate to difficult trail and with the sun beating down it's more difficult than moderate.

Champagne springs is named after the thermal springs that bubble from deep inside the earth's interior and surface at the end of the walk and we couldn't wait to see it and hoped it would all be worth it.

There were some great sights on the way, but there were also some times when we wondered if we should turn back.

Hhmmm are we there yet??

After we had been walking for just over two hours we really were ready to give up, we had walked through sand and mud, climbed over rocks and under trees , had to navigate across a creek bed whilst trying to duck under the palms that were growing out of it, we had also finished all of our water so desperately needed to find some a.s.a.p!

And then just when we had lost hope, we could hear running water in the distance....

And this is what we found, aahhhh Champagne springs.....

We were so delirious all we could do was laugh, maybe it was just to avoid crying at the disappointment of what we had found, on the map it described a gem pool and thermal springs to swim in, even a waterfall, so we were expecting clear water and well.... a waterfall, it was green and in some parts very still and sickly looking.

We did splash around a little and managed to find a flowing area with water that we could fill our bottles with for the walk back.

Then just when we thought it couldn't get any worse my hat blew off into the green water!

Brenton saved the day and although green and slimy it survived.

So after our water bottles were full and our spirits not so we began the big trek back to the homestead, it seemed a lot longer on the way back but we still managed to take some snaps, we found a huge bee hive on this boab tree, honey galore!

After another 3 hr walk we found ourselves back where we started, it was around 1:30 in the afternoon and we even passed some people who were attempting to start in the middle of the day, we did give them the heads up but they still seemed happy to keep going, at least they can't ay we didn't warn them.

Yay we made it!

Brenton making some friends at the homestead.

Finally back at the township.

We decided to head off after our big walk, we were going to stop at a few more springs on the way out but when we got to most of them they were closed, apparently a lot of places closed by 12pm to 'help protect the vegetation', at least that is what the sign said, we heard later that it is so El Questro can take their private tour groups in there.

As much as we did enjoy some of the sights here it is overpriced like a lot sights out this way, they charge you for everything and then the fact they don't let you into places after a certain time so they can look after people with more money annoyed both Brenton and I. 

So it was back on the Gibb river road and back to collect our caravan.

He was even in the middle of the road on the way back, stubborn bird.

We had paid for our caravan to be stored for 2 nights so decided to look for a camp area that the caretaker of the park had told us about.

It's not sign posted so we had to use the info he gave us and make do, there weren't too many dirt tracks off the main road and the first one we turned down was the right one and after about a 5k drive we were at Molly Springs.

Molly springs was great, there were tables and places you could have fires and best of all there was a swimming hole, that was believe it or not, free.

On the sign it does say they 'prefer' you not to stay here but we were very good house guests and after all the money we spent at El Questro it was great to have a free night at this magical place.

The water was so clear you watch all the little fish swimming around you.

Snags & Mash for dinner.

After a refreshing night at Molly springs we were back on the bitumen heading towards Kunnunurra, where we stayed for one more night before heading off toward the bungle bungles.

xxxxx