Day 9 – Purnululu National Park

Spring Creek Rest Area to Purnululu and back – 106km offroad

WA National Park Pass – $13 per vehicle however we bought an annual pass which was 50% off with our RAC cover, so $60

Spring Creek Rest Area – free camp no shower

After the world’s bumpiest ride into the national park, we arrived a little more on edge than we would have hoped! At the visitors centre we realised just how big Purnululu (or the Bungle Bungles) is and then leapt into a mild panic about if we would have enough fuel to make it back to the fuel station. Many mathematic equations later we decided we could just about manage the 300km plus journey back to the pump and set off toward Cathedral Gorge and the Bungles.

The Bungles are giant beehive shaped rock formations with a distinctive dark grey and orange stripe. Without boring you with the details, it has something to do with sandstone, iron and algal and the result is pretty cool. The area is listed as a world heritage site and it is a popular helicopter flight destination.

The Cathedral Gorge walk begins by skating around the edge of the domes walk, then up a river bed and ends at the most amazing natural amphitheatre. We tried a million different ways of photographing it, but none could truly capture the size.

Once I’d threatened singing Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of my lungs to test the acoustics, Matt swiftly ushered me off back to the car park via the other side of the Dome loop.

Next, we drove to Echidna Chasm. Echidnas gorge walls are around 200m high, but in places just 1m wide. The trail involves walking over millions of rocks and past boulders that had fallen from the gorge walls. I kept looking up and was petrified. I definitely felt like I should be wearing a hard hat!

Day 10 – Tunnel Creek

Spring Creek to Windjana Gorge – 538km

WA Park Pass – $13 per vehicle or $60 for an annual pass with RAC 50% discount

Windjana Gorge National Park Campsite – $13pp

After a long, long drive, we somehow found ourselves wading through croc infested water in a pitch black cave.

Tunnel Creek is a 750m long cave, with a (you guessed it) creek flowing through. To enter the cave, you have to climb over several big boulders. We were the immediately greeted by these two little guys…

After that, all day light disappeared and to be honest we felt a little uneasy about the whole thing! We spent a little while debating whether to continue with our phone torches as the only source of light when we heard a group of people climbing in behind. Safe in the knowledge we weren’t alone, we delved onwards into the darkness!

About half way, the roof had collapsed and light flooded in, revealing hundreds of bats hanging from the roof above and more in the trees outside. Watching them fly in and out of the gap in broad daylight was amazing. Especially with the light illuminating their wings.

Day 11 – Windjana Gorge and Broome

Windjana Gorge to Broome – 358km

WA Park Pass – $13 per vehicle or $60 for an annual pass with RAC 50% discount

Beaches of Broome – 6 Bed Dorm – $30pp

We now wake up with the sun, so miraculously we were up, showered, fed and packed away before 7am. Due to the time of year, Windjana gorge was basically dry. In our initial plans, we had intended on spending half a day here doing a 7km walk through the gorge but instead, spent an hour or so wandering on the river bed and watching the hundreds of crocs in the little water there was left.

As it was so early there were very few out of the water yet, but you could see the ripples in the water and hear the snap of jaws every time a bird dared get a little too close to the water.

The drive to Broome took around 4 hours and on arrival, we checked into our hostel (which by the way was the poshest hostel I’ve ever seen!) As we were now back in civilisation, we treat ourselves to a lunch time beer before heading to the world famous Cable Beach to meet a friend from Darwin.

The white sand beach is 22km (14miles) long and has the most beautiful turquoise waters. The water was warm but the waves a little rough!

Post swim, we headed to the Broome night market. It was very cute with live music but also much smaller than I had envisioned. The chicken cashew curry however was spot on and it was washed down with a pint at the Irish bar whilst watching the rugby. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Day 12 – Broome

Beaches of Broome – 6 Bed Dorm -$30pp

Today we went hunting for dinosaur prints! Yes, you read that correctly. Real life, actual, fossilized dinosaur foot prints. The are 130 million years old and can only be seen at very low tide. The low tide of the day was 2.1m and later in the week it was down to 0.4m but we didn’t have another day, so decided to give it a go anyway and did manage to find couple!

I felt like a kid climbing over the rocks searching for them, but it did feel truly amazing and kind of surreal.

The day was wrapped up with another sunset, watching the sun go down over the sea at Cable Beach.

Fun fact – you can ride camels on Cable Beach. Wtf.

Day 13 – Driving Day

Broome to Port Hedland – 609km

Black Rock Tourist Park – $25 unpowered

Yep today was boring as hell. We have started taking pictures of the road on our Go Pro. Here’s what some of our drives look like…

Day 14 – Karijini National Park, Dales Gorge

Port Hedland to Dales Gorge – 335km

WA Park Pass – $13 per vehicle or $60 for an annual pass with RAC 50% discount

Auski Roadhouse – $20 unpowered

We arrived at Karijini to discover all of the campsites were fully booked and we would have to drive over an hour back the way we came that evening. This is why you should pre plan… whoops!

Anyway! We decided to tackle Dale’s Gorge that afternoon and began with the Gorge Rim Walk. After following the edge of the gorge for a km or so, we made a steep decent down the Gorge wall to follow the mainly dry river bed back up the we we had came to Fortesque falls.

The falls are one of Karijinis only permanent water falls so unsuprisingly it was insanely busy. The fall is gradual and runs over step like, orange rocks. Due to the direction of the setting sun, I struggled to take a decent photograph, so here’s one I stole from the internet and another I took from the climb back up the gorge wall.

Next, we followed the trail to Fern Pool which was much more serene. If we had time, I’m sure I could have quite happily spent a while floating here.

Day 15 – Karijini National Park, Weano and Hancock Gorge

Auski Roadhouse to Paraburdoo (via Weano Gorge) – 292km

WA Park Pass – $13 per vehicle or $60 for an annual pass with RAC 50% discount

Paraburdoo Caravan Park – $25 powered

You could be forgiven for thinking that by now we would be sick of gorges but each one is so different, it is difficult to feel that way.

After walking both the rim and gorge floor of Weano, we decided to head down to Handrail Pool. In order to access the pool, you must walk through a very enclosed section of rock with a stream running through which is very slippery. For safety, a handrail has been installed. I can only assume that is where it gets its name!

Next, we ventured to Junctions lookout which is the area in which four gorges meet. I had no words for a moment or two.

Last but absolutely not least, we took the Hancock gorge trail. It was by far the most interesting walk we did in Karijini. It began with steep steps and a walk a long the gorge floor before reaching a wading pool. We were then confronted with a neck deep, 20m pool to swim through.

Unfortunetly, I forgot to bring my Go Pro and had to leave my phone and backpack at that point so I dont have any photos of what was to come so the below aren’t mine. (But are way cooler than any I could take anyway)

At the other side of the pool, we climbed for a little, then the gorge walls enclosed and we made our way through another section not dissimilar to the Handrail pool, just six times more slippery and minus the handrail. It then opened up slightly to reveal the most amazing pool surrounded by high rock walls. It was so deep people were jumping from 5m or so above.