25 June to 1 July – Derby and Bungle Bungle National Park

25 June - check the sights of Derby – mostly art galleries, plus some good historical photos at the hospital, a D shaped jetty on very high stilts & expansive mud flats – Anne bought a carved Boab seed. Car fixed so move everything back into our car.

Derby sunset at Marita's

 26 June – goodbye to Marita & Derby for now. An interesting drive with some flat grassy land & scrubby bushes, a few dry creek crossings, some interesting hills, mountains & cliffs, followed by sections of bigger shrubs & trees -  to Mary Pool - Mary River camp ground. This is a free camp with toilets only but heaps of travellers staying in the wonderful tree filled park on the banks of the river.

Mary Pool camp site

27 June – woke early to the raucous calls of crows & cockatoos & other assorted birds. Had a short walk along the river watching the many birds enjoy the waterholes. A longish drive to Purnululu (Bungle Bungle National Park) but all bitumen so easy going. Advised not to drive right into the park as the road is in bad knick so will take a heli tour tomorrow & bus/walking tour after that.

28 June – wow what a great ride – my first helicopter ride & what a beauty. Only 40 mins but travelled the length of the Bungles & along part of the Ord River. Fantastic & spectacular scenery, red & yellow cliffs above green gorges & valleys beside wide open plains as far as the eye can see plus the amazing beehive formations – truly stunning.

Bungles

Ord River

Bungles

29 June – after 1.5 hours of bone rattling corrugations, rocks, creek crossings, floodways & sand our bus reached the Bungles (very glad we didn’t take our Suby on this – there is a bit of a bust up between the owner of the Station through which the road runs & the Gov’t Dep’t running the Park & neither are maintaining the road). Anyway the journey was well worth it. We had 3 walks at the southern end of the Park then another 2 in the north – about 7 kms all up.

The well-known beehive formations were even more impressive from ground level & the termites built mounds in impossible places with mud covered tunnels running down to the base of the cliffs to access their food source – spinifex. Cathedral Gorge in the south was well named – a huge amphitheatre shaped rock face at the end of the gorge with a large waterhole – stunning. Echidna Chasm in the north was also stunning but was a very narrow gorge between two high cliffs – one-way traffic only in some sections – and came to an abrupt end at a vertical cliff. Livistona palms were also a feature of Echidna.

A jarring return trip to base followed by vegie soup & curry washed down with a beer or two as we sat around a huge camp fire with our fellow travellers.

Bungles

Cathedral Gorge - aren't we cute?

Echidna Chasm

30 June – returned to Halls Creek & had a stroll around town before heading out the Old Halls Creek road to find a camp site. Stopped at China Wall – a strange formation of rocks that runs up the side of a hill & looks man-made but is natural (ask a geologist for an explanation). Looked at Caroline Pool, Palm Springs & Sawpit Gorge – all lovely but settled on Palm Springs for the night. We had the picturesque camp site & fire to ourselves & not one car passed between 5.30pm & 6.30am – we felt very remote. We even had a cow munching grass outside our tent during the night.

China Wall

Near Palm Springs

Palm Springs

1 July – headed back to Fitzroy Crossing – we are no longer alone – this is a huge camp site but nice & grassy.