An easy 198km drive to Turkey Creek and we spotted a flock of Brolgas and some wild horses on the way.
The caravan park was a small one attached to Turkey Creek Roadhouse and only held about 20 vans, with a small toilet and shower block. The local Aboriginal people own the roadhouse and surrounding lands and mostly work at the 3 mines in the vicinity. We were surprised to be able to get mobile and wireless coverage there, even though it was in the middle of nowhere.
We had already booked a 4 wheel drive tour into Pernululu National Park and the Bungle Bungles and were picked up at the roudhouse at 5.30am on a very cold morning, by our guide for the day, Bruce. It was a 2 hour drive to reach Pernululu, driving across creeks and riverbeds and over dusty, corrugated roads.
The Bungle Bungle Range is renowned for its striking sandstone domes, striped with orange and grey bands. It is estimated to be 360 million years old.
Our first stop was the Visitors Centre and then we drove 20km to Echnida Chasm. We walked along a river bed to the spectactular long, narrow chasm which has striking colour variations, depending upon the angle of the sun gleaming into the chasm. The palms waving from the 200m high ridges above make the area great for photos.
Our lunch stop was at East Kimberley Tours base camp, where you can stay overnight if you wish. Lunch ws pretty ordinary and was a salad that looked like it was made of leftovers and tinned vegetables -not even a bread roll!!! Tea /coffee and Arnotts biscuits was the dessert.
A 27km drive out to Piccaninny Creek and Cathedral Gorge followed. Here we walked a trail that followed Piccaninny Creek through striped sandstone beehive like rock formations. There was evidence of waterfalls that cascaded down steep rock faces during the west season and eventually the narrow trail opened into a huge amphitheatre.
Our journey home followed a slightly different route (although we still drove with lots of dust, riverbeds and a corrugated road), to a small hill where we stopped for afternoon tea and to view the sunset. We drove the last 1 1/2 hours in the dark which was a bit of a worry as there were lots of cattle on the road. Bruce entertained us on the way home with bush poetry and stories about the local characters and crocodiles.
The massive Mabel Station has locked its gates and left lots of its cattle to graze by the side of the road for about 40km. Apparently the locals are not impressed as the cattle are continually being hit and killed by traffic, making travelling in that area much more dangerous.
We arrived back at camp at 7.00pm - a long day, but very enjoyable.
Tomorrow we head west to Fitzroy Crossing. We haven't booked anything, so hope we ge a site with power.
Cheers
Rhonda (Sam) and Pete
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