Bungle Bungles National Park

In one of the remotest corners of Australia stand the Bungle Bungle Ranges, a series of mushroom-shaped domes formed from alternating layers of coloured sandstone.

The ranges were originally part of the seabed of an ancient sea. Over millions of years, the seabed was forced upwards to form a cake-like block which then split under further upward movement. The forces of wind and water began to carve the fissured plateau into isolated segments. Eventually, the formation was eroded and smoothed into the present-day Bungle Bungle Ranges. The horizontal stripes are caused by lichen, which encrusted alternate layers of the orange rock.

The ranges and the surrounding Kimberley Plateau are home to desert- and oasis-dwelling creatures, including the lilac-crowned wren, which is one of the rarest birds in Australia. Since the Bungle Bungle Ranges are fragile and easily damaged, they are now protected by law from climbers and souvenir gatherers. The northwest corner of the Bungle Bungle region was made a national park in 1987.

The isolated Bungle Bungle Ranges stand inland, away from the coast and major rivers. They were once almost inaccessible because of the rugged, inhospitable terrain of the Kimberley Plateau, but a major highway was completed through the region in 1986. Now tour groups regularly delve into the territory, which until recently was known only to the resident Kija Aborigines and a few ranchers and explorers.

Native rock paintings, which are thousands of years old, adorn cliff faces and overhanging rocks in the region, attesting to the importance the range must have had for the indigenous people. Aboriginal lore tells of characters such as the giant Rainbow Serpent creator who was responsible for making mountains and valleys. Legend and reality are intertwined in the Bungle Bungle Ranges, an unearthly corner of the Australian Outback.

Geology

To the north of what is now the Bungle Bungle Range, uplift occurred along the Osmond Fault to create the Osmond Range, and to the west took place along the Halls Creek Fault. Streams and rivers eroded these ancient highlands and at their edges slopes were steep and the energy in the streams and rivers was high, allowing them to carry large boulders and dump them at the foot of the scarp. Such boulder conglomerates can today be seen in the walls of Echidna Chasm.

Most of the rocks in the Bungle Bungle Range, however, were formed from sand deposited further from the highlands by lower-energy braided rivers flowing across broad plains in open valleys. As more sand accumulated, the older channels consolidated to form sandstone.

The distinctive beehive-shaped landforms seen today have been produced by uplift and erosion during the last 20 million years. Contrary to its solid appearance, the sandstone is extremely fragile. The weight of overlying rock holds the sand grains in place, but when this is removed, the sandstones are easily eroded and the rounded tops reflect this lack of internal strength. Water flowing over the surface will exploit any weaknesses or irregularities in the rock, such as cracks or joints, and rapidly erodes the narrow channels that separate the towers.

Geological features

The less permeable layers in between are covered with a patina of iron and manganese staining, creating the orange bands. These outer coatings (the rock beneath is a whitish colour) help to protect the lower parts of the towers from erosion.

About 250 million years ago, after the area was uplifted, a meteorite hit just north-east of Piccaninny Creek. All that remains today is a 10 kilometre circular structure on top of the Range. The same erosional forces that produced the Bungle Bungle and its sandstone towers have removed the crater.

A range of attractions

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Travelling time:
5 hours from Kununurra and 4 hours from Halls Creek.

Facilities
Camping at Walardi or Kurrajong Camp (both sites have toilets and water). Petrol and supplies available from nearby Turkey Creek.
Please note: The park is open only between 1 April and 31 December (weather permitting).

What to see and do
Hiking, photography, camping and nature observation.

• Scenic Flights
  Scenic flights over the massif by helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft are available within the park or from Halls Creek, Kununurra or Warmun. This is the best way to gain a perspective of the Bungle Bungle's massive size and spectacular scenery.
• Walks
  The most visited site is Cathedral Gorge, a fairly easy walk. However, some people take a couple of days and a backpack to explore nearby Picaninny Creek and Gorge, camping overnight. If you do this, make sure you are well prepared. The deeper you go, the more spectacular it gets, but for your safety you must tell a ranger before setting out.
  On the northern side is Echidna Chasm, a narrow gorge totally different from those on the southern side.

Nearest CALM Office
Kimberley Regional Office is at Messmate Way, PO Box 942, Kununurra 6743. Phone (08) 9168 4200, fax (08) 9168 2179. Rangers are based in the park.

Practicalities

From the highway it’s a rough 55-kilometre, two-hour, 4WD journey to the ranger’s residence (tel 08/9168 7300), where the entry fee must be paid in return for a map. From here you can go to either of the two basic camps in the park. Kurrajong Camp is 10km to the north and gives access to Echidna Chasm, a one-hour return walk into a slender chasm a thousand metres long and half as high. Frog Hole is another, wider chasm with a pool at the end, while Mini Palms involves squeezing into yet another narrow gorge to a cave at the end, as part of a walk that takes at least two hours – take plenty of water and a torch. At any point on these walks you can look up and see palms clinging to the rock walls hundreds of metres above you; the scale of the clefts is underlined when you realize the palms can be up to 20m high.

Wilardi Camp (25km from the ranger’s residence) is where tour groups stay. From here a track leads on to a cleared patch of ground used as a car park on the south flank of the plateau, site of the striped domes for which the Bungles are best known. The weathered, beehive-like domes have horizontal bands of silica (orange) and lichen (grey), together forming a fragile crust over the powdery interior, and are a most unusual sight. From here a half-hour walk leads into Cathedral Gorge, a huge overhanging amphitheatre with a seasonal pool whose rippled reflections flicker across the roof above.

Piccaninny Gorge is a hard, thirty-kilometre return walk for which you’ll need large quantities of water. The ground underfoot is soft sand and shade is negligible during the day. Although there is a pool near the end, if you plan to walk up the gorge, leave very early in the morning and turn back long before your water runs out. There is an emergency hand-pump close to the car park.