Discovered in 1983, Bungle Bungle Range is a fascinating tourist destination located in the Western Australia. The Purnululu National Park is around for around for more than 350 million years. It has been revered by Aboriginal custodians for more than 40,000 years. However, this range even though now listed as a destination in World Heritage list is a secret till 1983. Today, this range is like a big maze of orange and black sandstone dome appearing like beehives. Purnululu is derived from the Aboriginal tribe, where the word translates to sandstone, and the Kija custodians has given the name. The Aboriginal tribe used to speak two different dialects Kija and Djaru and both of them are responsible for the culture that has developed in the Purnululu National Park.
Location:
The location of the maze is in Kimberley and one can either hike, 4WD or camp discovering the wildlife, rock art, craggy gorges and multiple pools. Sitting in the east Kimberley, the national park circumferences the entire 100km from Halls Creek and additionally 250km from Kununnura. The 4WD tours leave to both the towns, and you can hire a helicopter if you’re interested in self-driving. You can travel along the Great Northern Highway and sprawl through the cattle country before it turns narrow and rough.
Features:
Despite being so close, the Purnululu National Park covers 240,000 hectares, and it won the World Heritage award in 2003. The landmark named after a cattle station is in the southern part of the Purnululu National Park. The beehive towers are hundreds of meters high sheltering palm fringes, rock pools, cavernous gorges. If you take a helicopter, you’re going to witness a beautiful scape with sandstone formations forged over the years because of the river sediments. What makes the place beautiful is the orange, black and gray stripes forming alternating bands.
Things to do:
In the other side of the Purnululu National Park, you can go for a hike to Cathedral Gorge. What makes the place more elevated are the incredible acoustics. You can try playing the echo from various places and start testing the vocal chords to hear the trails in the Piccaninny Creek. Camping overnight here is an enjoyable experience as at night you will be surrounded by the orange and black stripes with stars over the head. In the northern side of the Purnululu National Park, the Creek gets rough and also narrower offering a different experience. It appears as if the southern and northern parts are different towns of the various countries because of the geographical characteristics.
Places to Visit:
By walking 2km, one can reach Echidna Chasm where you can just stare up the beauty of the sheer rock walls which tower a hundred meters on both sides. Also, try the 5km hike to Palms Gorge, clusters of Livingstonia palms and an Aboriginal classic fertility cave as well. Aboriginals who have been living in this place for many years have left their occupational traces in the Purnululu National Park with rock arts and burial sites found across.
