We wake at stupid o’clock (about 5:30), we’re not adjusting well to WA time. We’re all awake so we figure we’ll hit the road early and try and leapfrog Halls Creek and head to Fitzroy Crossing. It’s about 400km so it will be full day of driving. Overnight it has rained and it is actually pretty cool for up here. When we leave at 7:30 the car is only reporting 24°, this is the coolest I think we’ve seen since Uluru.
Since starting to plan this trip, the Bungle Bungles has been one of the highlights. The trouble is it is a 90km (2hr) dirt road in that is suitable for 4WD only, so no van. The initial plan was to leave the van at the van park near the highway then drive in, but that would mean walking during the middle of the day. Given the temperatures we’ve had that’s not a good idea.
We as we approach the turn off, the car is only reporting 26, unheard of. We take the turn off and decide to check out the park. As we drive the 1km up the road, we pass a van with a family that we did the Lake Argyle Cruise with us. We pull over and they tell is the van park is open and so is the National Park. It’s 8:45am, the temperature is the coolest we see it in weeks and the van park only wants $20 a night for a powered site. I think a lot of little duckies have lined up for us to make the trip in.
We unhitch in record time (and power up the van to get the AC on!). I take 10 PSI out of off the tyres and drop the airbag suspension pressure right down and we’re off
It’s 55km of dirt to the start of the park, then another 29km to the walking tracks I want to do. They say it takes about 2hrs to get in.
On the way to the park we travel through the cattle station Mabel Downs, there are about 8 water crossings, but only two are remotely difficult. At times the road is pretty narrow and twisty, so we are happy we don’t meet any oncoming cars, only the odd cow or two. So far the temp is only up at 28.
About 15km into the park we start to see those famous beehive formations. They are damn impressive.
We arrive at the car park. It’s 12:00 we have a quick bite and saddle up, the walk should only be 2hrs, although the temp has now hit 32, it will be warm, but doable.
The place I wanted to see is called Cathedral Gorge. We start walking and the path winds down and beside a mostly dry creek bed. About half way down we come across some other walkers returning. They advise us that they needed to wade through waist-high water (and they are tall people) to get up to the end. Huh? I don’t remember reading that in the brochure. Sure enough, a few hundred meters up the track the path goes through a creek and it looks pretty deep. We study the situation, it’s too much for Caitlin given we’re not geared up for swimming. I eventually find a way around on the other side, and we only need to walk through a shallow section of the creek, so only our shoes are wet. All good…. Until, about another 400mtr along, there is another water hole to pass and this looks deeper. Damn. I do find a way through, but it means climbing about 4mts up a rock wall and it is pretty steep. I make it though and quickly get to the end to judge the rest of the track and the final destination. But it’s too much to risk with the kids. The day’s getting hotter so elect to backtrack. We’ve seen a lot and it has been pretty impressive, so while slightly annoyed, it’s still been worthwhile. We return via the Domes and when we get back to the car everyone is really hot, I couldn’t imagine doing it on any other day we’ve had over the last few weeks.
the first creek crossing 
the second water crossing. 
We swore we saw a snake in the water, but it was just some grass.
I enjoy the drive back, and we return to the van park not long before dusk, a quick bevie and some wallabies are having some dinner. The caretakers who are going to look after the basically closed park over the wet season pop over for a coldie and as we’re the only ones here we have a chat.
Again there is a light show off in the distance, but it’s unlikely we’ll get any action out of it.
Pity you missed Cathedral but you weren’t tempted to check Echidna Chasm…..but you’d need the time to take in both. It was on a trip to Kununurra in 1986 and I was told to take a ‘scenic’ flight to the Bungle Bungles. I thought the locals were having this east coaster on…but I took their advice. At this stage, the Bungles were virtually unknown. But wow…what an amazing and peculiar sight…those beehives from the air are outstanding and like nothing else. Australia is a great land…truly great
I did actually see Cathedral myself, I just could get the kids in there. I’d also packed by camera in the bag for safety so didn’t have it with me. I though about doing both, but in the end it just wasn’t practical in the heat. I’m just really happy I got to see what I did as it was looking very unlikely a few days before that it would happen