Around the West in 90-Odd Days: Days 14 - 21 Adrenalin fueled adventure in the Bungle Bungles

July 17 (Day 14) – We finally crossed the border and headed straight for Lake Argyle –the man-made water storage facility which holds 21 times as much water as Sydney Harbour. It stretches for 741 square kms. We also dropped into the Argyle Downs (Durack) Homestead Museum, which was a thrill for me currently reading about early Australian pioneering in “Kings in Grass Castles” by Mary Durack.

We headed to Kununurra the following day to catch up on shopping and washing. We also needed a replacement tyre after one on the car suffered a puncture and was looking much depleted each day. A visit to the bank was interesting – I found a wall with signage but no door. Then I noticed a doorbell in the wall which I duly pressed, and a panel of the bank frontage slid open. I guess they noticed on the CCTV I wasn’t armed. No eggs in the supermarket - and we left all our ducks at home! We’ll have to settle for pancakes with our bacon. Are there any eggs in Canberra? How wide is this hen strike?

A phone call to Jayco informed us that the bumper fix would have to wait for Broome – over 1,000kms away. That’s a short distance up here, but we won’t be there for another 2 weeks at least. Dave did an admirable job of attaching the bumper in its rightful place with many lashings of rope.

I was very excited to finally see a real live boab tree. Why they are in the top west corner of Australia is an intriguing mystery. They also appear in Madagascar and a few other parts of Africa. Countless pictures of boab trees to follow.

July 19 (Day 16) – We headed south to the Bungle Bungles (Purnululu). And have since spent four days hiking incessantly, mostly in temperatures above 30 degrees. All of it is awe inspiring, as will be seen from Dave’s photos. The Echidna Chasm, where sunlight reaches the very bottom of the gorge only momentarily at midday was spectacular enough, but we managed to turn it into an adrenalin filled danger sport. The chasm consists of several very long narrow corridors, opening into larger rooms at various places. We made it right to the end, a dead-end room, before turning to go back down one of the narrowest corridors, about 2 feet wide at ground level. The only thing more interesting than traversing back down a 2 foot wide corridor where the walls ascend vertically for hundreds of metres, is encountering a deadly brown snake coming the other way. I had my snake bite kit strapped to my waist, but it suddenly seemed cold comfort when confronted with an actual snake, especially when, after an unfortunate incident 9 years ago at the nearby Mini Palms Gorge which saw Dave inadvertently step on a snake’s head, we were acutely aware there is a snake in the area on a vendetta against him. There was now a bottle neck of people on each side of the snake – and we were the front line of where he wanted to go. He seemed as scared as we were, so Dave inched his way slowly past, having the advantage of a long tripod to hold between him and the snake. I took the option of making like a tree and being rooted the ground while the snake passed me. The lady next to me opted to do the same, but as it slithered abreast of us she started whimpering, and despite my suggestions she make no sudden movements and reassurances that, while extremely venomous they are ‘mostly bluffing’, she lost her nerve and fled back up the tunnel, causing the snake to rear in fright. Fortunately my feet and legs were much stiller and quieter than my racing heart, and it ignored me and followed her. We felt a bit for all the people still in the dead-end, but as far as we know, nobody died that day. On Friday we hiked nearly 20kms – following Piccaninny ‘Creek’ up the gorge to a permanent waterhole, Black Rock Pool; so named because it is a pool located amongst black rocks. Much of the trudging was through sand and loose stones, so we were both blistered on the feet, but Dave’s post-infection knee and my post-fractured knees all held up to the challenge admirably. We even managed another 10kms the following day up Whip Snake Gorge; which ironically did not contain any snakes, though Echidna Chasm does.

Very basic facilities here; only bore water taps and pit toilets. We, however, to the envy of our fellow campers, have the luxury of an ensuite tent with a hot shower, courtesy of brother Paul’s portable gas instant hot water shower system (it works, Paul!). Words cannot describe the relief of having a proper shower after covering oneself in suncream and hiking all day in very hot weather.

We pack up camp in the morning and head for the Gibb River Road. Next stop – El Questro!