1 May 2010. Today we're off to visit the Bungle Bungles. Here we are just off the highway entering private property which we have to cross for more than 50 kms to get into the Purnululu World Heritage National Park. Just around the bend we met two German girls traveling around Australia and Wolfgang could not refuse them a lift.... we spent a delightful day in their company..... (Click on any of the following photographs to enlarge)
The track across "Mabel Downs" station (half a million acres) was a rough 4WD road with creek crossings.... you had to be wary of what suddenly appeared on the ridges where it was only wide enough for one vehicle....
Midway through a river.... taken through the windscreen....
The awesome Bungle Bungle Range comes into view..... these beehive shaped domes are the world's most exceptional example of cone karst formations. They are made of sandstone deposited about 360 million years ago. Erosion by creeks, rivers and weathering in the past 20 million years has carved out these domes, along with spectacular chasms and gorges, creating a surreal landscape.
The domes have striking bands of orange and grey.... the dark bands indicate the presence of the cyanobacteria which grows on layers of sandstone where moisture accumulates. The orange bands are oxidised iron compounds that have dried out too quickly for the cyanobacteria to grow.
We set off on the Domes Walk with our new German friends, Katharina and Sarah......
We head up the Cathedral Gorge walk...... (the park is closed in the wet season as water rushes down these chasms....)
These deep water holes are gouged in the rock when boulders spin in the holes when torrents of water flow through the gorge.....
Getting closer to the Cathedral.....
Inside the Cathedral..... In one of the trees we saw a tree snake.....
Looking back towards the entrance.....
This is the awesome Cathedral amphitheatre..... note the size of us...
Sarah and Katharina......
The Piccaninny Walk with the unusual stream bed .... the grooves are caused by pebbles being agitated by water in the soft sandstone.....
Views from the Lookout......
As we drove back in the evening we saw these two dingoes..... there were Brahman cattle on "Mabel Downs" close by.....
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