2006/07 Australia trip - Piccaninny Creek |
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Friday July 7th
We had a noisy start to the morning when a couple of dozen corellas occupied the tree next to our campsite, particularly when a falcon landed in the same tree. They went completely nuts, flying around in circles, shrieking at the falcon. Eventually the falcon got tired of this and took off, only to be hit broadside by a diving corella.
We drove back to the Piccaninny Creek parking area in the morning, this time to hike up the creek itself to the Piccaninny Creek Gorge. It’s an overnight hike to the head of the gorge, but we thought we could at least make it to the beginning of the gorge 
and get back in a day. The creek winds between cliffs and domes, and it’s a scenic trip the whole way, but there is no trail, as such, just the creek bed to follow. For a few months of the year, the creek is a torrent of water, but in the dry season it is empty except for a few isolated pools that are quickly drying up. The dry creek bed is a mixture of rock, soft sand, and shingle. The rock is by far the easiest to hike on but the rive
r bed has been heavily eroded with deep potholes, channels, rapids, and waterfalls, so you have to be very careful. Some of the channels are shoulder deep, and the rock around them may be hollow.
The creek area had yet another kind of termite mound. These begin in the cracks in the cliff and the termites keep building until they find a flat area and then they build their skyscraper, maybe ten feet high. Sandie was almost born again when she met this Virgin Mary termite mound. I resolved to look for the Elvis termite mound and eventually found it: it’s from the days when he still fit into a drape jacket and drainpipes.
For most of the trail we were walking through typical “beehive dome” scenery, with the dark stripes in the rock coming from cyanobacteria. The picture to the left shows where an earthquake has sliced one of the domes.
In contrast to the short trails, which are festooned with markers and arrows to make sure that bus passengers don’t get lost, this trail has no instruction except “follow the creek bed”. We followed it in blazing sunshine for about three hours to the beginning of the gorge, had our lunch in the shade gazing at yet more great cliffs and domes, and then plodded back, trying to stay in the shade as we had been well fried on the way in. We saw four people on the trail, two of whom were giving up because of the heat, and two others that were hauling tents in for an overnight trip. My heel spur had been getting progressively worse and this was probably my most painful day, but it was worth it, a unique experience shared with just a handful of people.
We made it back just before dark and caught the last few rays of the sun on the cliffs as we drove back to the campground.
Saturday July 8th
Our time was up at Purnululu, so we said goodbye to the Bungle Bungles and set out on the two hour drive across the track back to the highway. The track seemed much quieter than on the way in. I suppose the Bungles are like Yellowstone, so far from the major population centres and airports that people setting off at the weekend don’t arrive until Monday or Tuesday. All the adventure tour buses were gone except for the one with the broken axle which was still languishing at the side of the road.
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Bungles exit road (6.44) |
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We stopped at the last river crossing for tea. This is the prettiest and also the widest water crossing on the track but it’s quite shallow and easy to get in and out of. The others are narrower but they can be much steeper and deeper, so that the front end of the camper goes under. While we were there a few trucks crossed successfully and then a motorcyclist came down and walked across to test the depth. Shaking his head he turned around and left. I guess a BMW flat twin with its low slung plug leads is a bad choice for water crossings.
My thoughts on the Bungle Bungles are that they are definitely worth a visit and they are much more than just the beehive domes. The difficulty of road access is overstated, possibly because the tour companies want people to use their buses and helicopters. Even if you do get stuck there is plenty of traffic on the track and someone will come along and pull you out.