Bungling North

Possum took the wheel and in double quick time we were once again sitting around our campfire planning and burning the allocated firewood. It appeared an unpleasant odor had also followed us and an all out investigation revealed Amanda’s shoes to be the Culprit. We had no choice. Chris’s chair also had given unsatisfactory service and was sacrificed for the comfort of all.


The following morning we broke camp, resisting the urge to burn Chris and Jane’s tent. They did however use an unconventional method to remove their stuff and headed to the north end of the park. Mini Palms.

This walk was short only 5kms return and half in the shade. Well within the range of Amanda’s thongs.

From here we headed over to the planned lunch time viewing of Echidna Chasm which as I pointed out to the tourists resembled a giant vi _ _ na. I’ll let you be the judge.

After a little monkeying around waiting for the sun to get overhead it was time to leave the bungles.

Possum managed to leave the park almost uneventfully only having a mirror clipped once by on coming traffic. Damn tourists!!!

To the Elbow?!?!

At about 11am approaching the full heat of the day we set of for the Trek up to the elbow.

Things started off well and we thought it should take 2-3 hours to reach our destination

Further and further we went, walking, walking, walking deeper into the Bungles.

Eventually something had to give. My thong came apart, Amanda’s too small shoes were giving her blisters (and didn’t smell too flash) and Jane’s heel was giving her grief. It was time to turn back. Did we make it to the elbow? Our bungle was we had no map but we did walk around plenty of elbows.

The scent of cold beer at camp guided us back to the car.

As the pace back was a little slower we decided to send Amanda ahead to crank up the air con in the car, with strict instructions not to touch the lollies.

The burning question for us all was did we actually make it the elbow? Google Earth research indicates not quite.

Simons Bungle Bit

After waiting for Chris and Jane to load Tones of Nickel and a few thousand cows onto ships our calendar was finally free for the Bungle trip.
We hauled ourselves out of the princess bed at the rude time of around 8 after another intensive night of planning over an ale or two and hit the road.


250 km later we left the highway to start of the remaining 70 kms of which is 4 wheel drive country. We only had a Holden however it comes fitted with an Isuzu engine so with the help of refreshments to keep the dust down we continued on.

After almost being run off the road by a tourist filming the drive in without watching the road we finally got to our campsite.
It was really only a site, with a rather pleasant long drop (if there is such a thing) and a shared fireplace.
Chris and Jane were faced with the problem of seized zips on their tent that had to be overcome with a small incision. This created the illusion of a tent giving birth during the exit procedure.

We planned deep into the night and awoke to near freezing conditions (13.5 degrees) the next morning to a bacon and eggs breakfast before embarking for the south end of the Purnululu National Park, Western Australia also known as the Bungle Bungles.

Our plan was to do the shorter walks first and have lunch before tackling the mother of the parks treks, Piccaninny Gorge!! First up were the Domes

Followed by the Cathedral track and the moment I had been waiting for… lunch.