Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
HI Guys, it has been 4 days since my last entry. We have been busy and out of reach which has some advantages.... We have been to Fitzroy Crossing, Geikie Gorge, through Halls creek, off road at Spring creek, Bungle Bungles, the Grotto outside of where we are now which is Wyndham on our way to Kununurra. Can someone answer Hughie......why the Bungle Bungels, why not Bungles? But it did get us thinking, there's Woy Woy, Wagga Wagga, Doon Doon, Bli Bli, any others you can think of?I am sorry about the last entry as it was soooo long and I will try to make this one a little shorter so I don't lose you half way through the journey. I have to also apologise for my spelling mistakes, no spell check here and I have found that it does make me very lazy when it comes to thinking about what I am writing and also my fingers typing in the dark don't always find the right keys. They are my excuses and I am sticking to them.
So, Fitzroy Crossing. What an interesting place. Nothing much there apart from the rivers and a very s***ty shopping centre where I paid the most for a coffee that I have ever done and it was a s***ty coffee! Where is poppies when you need it? Fitzroy Crossing has a service station, a 'town centre' and that's about it. We were going to go straight through but we came across an oasis in the middle of the 'town'. Oh I forgot to mention the indigenous football match. These guys play on gravel mixed with prickles from hell with no shoes! Their feet are like elephants hide! They feel nothing! This oasis of a caravan park was so beautiful we decided to stay for an extra day. Mum, pip, Hugh and I took a walk down the river bed and that was about all one can do in Fitzie! Geikie Gorge was a 'must see' recommendation. We decided to take the risk and brave the threat of a flash flood that has gone over 20 meters high over the river bank. It was an hour trek whilst mum and a friend took the easy option and went in the river boat. They saw lots of crocs where we weren't as lucky. The picture will tell you what we saw better than I can describe. The story of Geikie is the same as most of the gorges that we have seen. They are all around 360 mil years old and are home to a lot of bird life that we never seem to sight. We did have a little excitement for the day when dad got told off by the head ranger. He was very official and liked telling dad that he could fine him on the spot if he so chose to. The concern was that we had the dogs in the air-conditioned cars and he was about to leave and take them to the caravan park while we went on the walk. He stated that the dogs will bark at the passersby and upset the native wild life entering the vicinity! Never mind the trucks and hoards of people and the boats carrying 200 odd people up and down the river speaking on the mic and the tourists that are running up the paths and down the river bank. The puppies in the locked air conditioned cars will upset the baby joeys so please leave now! We had minutes of amusement after he left.
Our next stop was a pull 'in' or 'off', not quite up on the lingo yet. It is a free stop off the road for caravans and travellers. They usually have BBQ facilities, toilets and shady trees. Not always are they great but this one at Spring creek just outside of the Mabel station was a lovely spot. We are not equipped to stay at too many off roads because we don't have a generator but dad has come to the rescue and we share his. Matt and Lisa would be proud. We really roughed it this time. Creek water heated on the fire in a Billie for our shower out of a bucket! Yep, serious, under a tree with all the critters coming around and dingos howling and singing at night. We stayed there 2 nights; it was actually really nice, absolute peace! Mabel station is the entrance to the Bungle Bungles. We set off at dawn for a solid day of serious trekking. It starts with a bone shattering 2 hours of corrugated dirt road with a few running creeks to negotiate through and of course the pot holes, oops forgot the bloody big Brahmans and families. Did I mention that it was 2 HOURS! As you can see by a select few pics we went on 5 treks, the Cathedral, Piccaninny river bed, the Bee Hive domes, Echidna and Little Palms Gorges. The origin of the Bungles name is in contention. Some say that is was a miner that was searching for gold and he bungled the mine, others say it is an aboriginal name but no clan has been able to decipher what it means. So it is a little bit of a mystery but the aboriginal name for it now is Purnululu. CALM and two aboriginal tribes manage the park and from what we have seen they are doing a great job. The tribe elders live in the bungles and still live traditionally so we are told.
The Cathedral was so amazing; we travelled through a lot of different terrain to get to the massive open spance of rock and sand. We sat for a little while and just tried to take in the silence and the awesome grandeur of what nature has created. Picaninni creek bed just went on for ever so we cut that short and the Bee hive domes looked just like their name sake. We then had to travel for another 30 minutes to get to the other treks. This part of the Bungles was very different to the ones just seen. Look at the picture above and you will notice the black bands over the orange sandstone. The black bands are bacteria which have formed a crust that holds the bungles together and iron oxide creates the bright orange colours. The Echidna and Little Palms were to be our last treks in the bungles. We started off with Echidna, it was a series of tight squeezes and each getting tighter through massive slabs of stone that leave just enough room for a person to fit. When we reached what we thought was the end we spied a little opening and went through. Well, more tight squeezes with climbing included. It was beautiful to say the least, it is hard to try an capture what we were surrounded with...look at the pics. When we got back we were running out of time and thought we would fit in the last one. looking at the guide it says 3-4 hours and 5 kms! Well, we only had an hour and a half at the most. We took the plunge and decided to pace it out. We were like mountain goats on speed. you will notice that there aren't as many pictures of Little palms. It was like the Simpsons when Homer is eating donuts and says..."can't talk, eating" That was us, can't take pictures too busy getting there! We are paying for it today! Hiking river beds with stones as the base is like walking on hot rocks. Careful where you put your foot and don't leave it there for too long because you will slip and that will be your ankle. It really was worth the hike and when we got there the smile on my face says it all but it doesn't show my face 2 seconds late when I realised that we had to do it over again on the way back! We did that in 1 hour 10 minutes....impressed?
Because we decided to do the little palms at the last moment it left us late for the journey home and we also missed our invitation to the BBQ that the title holders were having. They are actually allowed to burn off bush. They create these fires to flush out goannas and the like to get their food. There are some questions about how often they burn and if it is necessary the amount of burns they are conducting. It not only destroys the wild life habitat but it is also creating a change to the landscape that the bush is not able to cope with, they are burning too often for the bush to regenerate effectively. Any way that is my soap box, getting down now. Didn't tell you how they burry their people in the days gone. They would put the body on a termite mound and the termites would eventually entomb the body. That is why the termite mounds are also considered sacred.
I have not kept my promise, sorry. When you look at the pictures by slide show, the ones I have done in portrait are not entirely displayed. Look at them individually if you are so inclined, it really is a magic place!
Fav things, The brahmans, they are very calm, and cool creatures, the trip out of the bungles, I drove it, it was too much fun, We both agreed that even a company commodore would not be able to make the journey in. The sight of the town shopping centre in Fitzie;it really is quite funny and I have the pictures to prove, the changing landscape, the endles blue sky and did I mention that it is 30 degrees with a light nip in the night air. Just cool enough to put the blanket on. Am I making you jealous yet?
Ok bye for now xxxxxxx you all
- comments