Bungle Bungle

Since the best of The Kimberley is out of our reach in our 2WD campervan, SR and I decided to splurge on a full-day, 4WD trip into one of the most spectacular parts of the region: Purnululu National Park. This park, which encompasses the Bungle Bungle mountain range, is a World Heritage Site because of its extensive "beehive" dome rock formations, which really are a sight:

 

Remember the stromatolites from previous posts? Much like those, these formations are distinctive because of the presence (in the black bands) or absence (in the red-orange bands) of cyanobacterial colonies living in the rock surface. So cool.

It was really fun to let someone else do the driving (through countless streambeds and over the kind of corrugated mess that would tear our campervan to shreds) to these amazing sights, and to be regaled with information all the way rather than reading it from our guidebook. This particularly broke my heart. Looks like this froggie perished while looking up at the sky wishing for rain.

One really special part of this day for me was the visit to Cathedral Gorge. I'm not sure exactly when it was, but I think I was in high school or college when I read a National Geographic Adventure magazine article by someone who had traveled to the wild remotes of Australia to see Cathedral Gorge, which was featured in a full-page, unbelievably gorgeous photo spread. At the time, I tore out the article and added it to a folder I used to keep of places I wanted to travel to. And here I was, approaching the gorge myself, all these years later.

I also loved the dramatic Echidna Chasm, in an area of conglomerate rock (as opposed to the sandstone in previous pictures):

At the Echidna Chasm parking area, there was a side path to a viewpoint over the Osmand Range. Why not? The signage from this spot explained that all of this land in the eastern part of Purnululu has traditionally been extremely important to the local Aboriginal groups, who lived in pockets of "monsoon rainforest"--spots where creeks run all the way through "The Dry" (season--as opposed to "The Wet"). This area was heavily grazed until it became a national park a few decades ago. Satisfying to know that it is now protected, is slowly (hopefully) returning to its natural state as grazing has discontinued here, and that Aboriginals are beginning to repopulate the area. It's inaccessible to tourists, which I think is the right thing...but on the other hand it kills me that the term "rare monsoon rainforests" is thrown out there and I can't go see it! I guess it's good in some cases, though, to let the mystery be. I didn't mention it in my previous post, but the other good/interesting part about reaching The Kimberley is that we are finally encountering Aboriginal people--who are to Australia as Native Americans are to the States: horribly, violently oppressed and obliterated and marginalized native people who now have a really difficult, tense relationship with the European settlers who have decided they own the place. Not this one, at least.