Good Morning Kununurra!
Low 14°c (57°F) – High 32°c
(90°F)
Having packed down most of the outside last night we really only had to
get ourselves ready and pack up the inside of the van this morning. As always being up so early, we were well
ready to leave by 9.00am after a good chat with our neighbours Brian and Ange
who have been a pleasure to camp beside these past few days.
Just out of Kununurra we passed yet another BA load – unsure what it
was but both he and his pilot car were keen for us to get off the road to allow
him to pass.
The spectacular scenery continues and there are some amazing dry river
beds, more dry than those with water but when you look at the size of the
bridges that span them clearly they do carry substantial amounts of water in
the wet season.
We spotted a nice little stop over when filling up with fuel at Doon
Doon – something to keep in mind for a future trip maybe.
Along the way we passed a massive group of cyclists with a group called
“All-Trails” – definitely one to miss I think – I’m sorry – way too hard to see
the country like that!! We also notice
that the termite mounds here are huge by comparison to what we’ve seen so
far. Huge almost round mounds mostly the
deep dark red of the surrounding soil.
One of the interesting parts of the trip included passing the Warmun
Community (also known as Turkey Creek) and Warmun which are
a township and locality on the Great Northern Highway, about 160 km
(99 mi) to the north of Halls Creek. Turkey Creek is the name of a
small creek that runs through the community.
The interesting part is that there are signs indicating that only local
traffic is welcome beyond the highway.
We reached the Bungle Bungles Caravan Park right on 11.00am but had a
little bit of a wait with three or four checking in ahead of us. The park is pretty rustic but serviceable
although somewhat expensive for what it is at $65 for two people. Sure, you get power, water and a nice level
site, but you also get dirt, grass-seeds, soil so compacted that you can’t
drive a peg in the ground, toilets that run out of toilet paper and a very
rough road in – so bad that anything that was loose in the van was on the floor
(cushions, books on the seats, a tea towel that sits on the stove top – all of
which NEVER move an inch any other time we travel), curtains had come loose and
cupboards had rattled so much that there was dust and dirt in every bowl. That’s fine – we can cope with that – after
all we’re in the bush!
We got ourselves set up, had a bite to eat for lunch, waited for Kitty
to settle in the air conditioning as it was very hot, and then set off to check
out the Bungle Bungles figuring Kitty would be much happier in the van with the
cool air. And that my friends, is when
the fun started. As you drive out the
gate there is no sign indicating how far you have to go as the sign is now
about 20 metres behind you and so while we assumed it would require a 4wd type
vehicle being a gravel road, we didn’t read how far it was. We were also unprepared for how terribly
corrugated the road was and consequently how slowly one would have to
drive.
After we had driven almost 10km (and several times questioned whether
we should just turn around and go back) we arrived at a sign stating we still
had 42km to go! Yes you read it right –
the caravan park is actually 50km from the Bungle Bungles and the trip is
actually a 5 hour return journey if you want to spend more than 5 minutes at
the site when you finally get there. I
can honestly only describe the experience as bone shattering and I have no idea
how many people do what we did and just give up and come back. From the three people we’ve spoken to about
it so far that’s 2 out of 3 and the third one had booked a bus tour and ended
up getting car sick.
And the not so ironic part of the story is that right beside the
reception office for the caravan park is a helicopter and bus tour sales office. I think the part that actually made me a
little angry is that there is no information given about this when you book and
the conflicting information on their websites etc also adds to the
confusion. On their website – check-in is
from 2.00pm. On Wikicamps and also on
the confirmation email for your booking, where we looked, it says 12.00pm and
on the door of their office it says 11.00am. Even arriving at 11.00am – by the time people
got set up, had lunch and headed out – at best they would be getting back to
camp around nightfall given it is dark here by 5.30pm. So you are paying a premium cost for a site
at a park that isn’t anywhere near the feature they claim to promote and all
the focus seems to be up-selling the helicopter tours which start at almost
$500 PER PERSON for a 30 minute flight.
Talk about feeling ripped off. I
was so disappointed that I had added this to our itinerary as we would have
just as happily freecamped and saved ourselves the money and disappointment.
For the rest of the afternoon and especially after it had cooled down a
little we enjoyed some quiet reading time outside under the awning.
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