Kununurra and the Bungle Bungles
I spent the morning of my last day in Darwin trying to figure out a way to get to Broome. Since I had no luck finding a traveling companion, I finally decided to take the Greyhound Bus to Kununurra and hook up with a tour already in progress going to Broome. I decided to forgo travel on the Gibb River Road as 4WD rentals and tours are just too expensive for that trip. I spent the afternoon at the Darwin museum with some of the last remaining people from my tour group. One of the main attractions at the museum was Sweetheart. He is a very large stuffed crocodile that died during an attempt to transport him in the 70’s. Sweetheart apparently had a bad habit of attacking boats.
On Wednesday, I caught the Greyhound Bus for the 12 hour trip to Kununurra. The route was arid grasslands full of stunted trees and red rocky hills on the Great Northern Highway. There were a few remote communities where we stopped for breaks along the way. Once in Kununurra I checked into into a YHA. The next morning I woke up and got ready to meet my tour group at 10:00 am. While I was checking my email, the hostel got a call saying that the tour vehicle had gotten water in the gas tank and would not be able to pick me up that day. They would be along on Friday instead to pick me up. Now all of a sudden I had a free day in Kununurra to fill. Kununurra is a very small town that doesn’t offer a whole lot in the way of entertainment. It is mostly used as a staging area for some of the national parks in the area. I decided to try to find a place to get one of my bags fixed as it had developed a rip. Along the way I would get to see some of the town. I finally had success at a boat shop that repaired boat canvases. They told me to leave the bag and come back at the end of the day to pick it up. I returned to the hostel and found on the message board that someone was offering a lift down the Gibb River Rd. He had a 4WD and was staying at the hostel. He would be leaving on Monday. After speaking with him, I decided to chance it, and I cancelled my tour as I really wanted to see the Gibb River Rd.
I now had three days in Kununurra to fill. Just after cancelling my tour, I met a group of girls (I never plan these all girl groups. It just always seems to turn out that way) who were renting a 4WD vehicle to go see the Bungle Bungle. They were happy to have one more person to go with them to lower the cost of the vehicle, which as I have said, are Very VERY expensive here. So Friday morning the seven of us piled into a 4WD Toyota Landcruiser to head toward the park. The group consisted of four Germans, one Dutch, and one Israeli. Two of the girls did all of the driving as they were over 25 and I can’t drive a standard very well (especially with my left hand and over rocks and through rivers). The vehicle was a troop carrier style with a front seat and sideways facing seats in the rear. We made it to the park entrance and then had to bounce our way 70 km down a dirt road. Even though it is now the dry season here, there was still plenty of water to cross on the road. Some of it was quite deep. We spent the afternoon hiking to and around the Bungles. The Bungles are hard to describe. They are a series of red sandstone formations that have been eroded into lots of dome shapes. They look to me like people standing on a rock looking at you. That night I finally got to use my tent. I was happy as I had paid to ship it to Australia and hadn’t got to use it. We set up the tents and ate supper. As I didn’t have pots or pans I just ate instant noodles with water boiled on one of the girl’s stove. We then joined a group of grey nomads (Australian retirees traveling around the country in campers) around a fire. One of the girls had brought a guitar and played and sang for us. She had a very beautiful natural singing voice. While this was going on I stared up in amazement at the galaxy of stars overhead. There was no moon, no clouds, and no light so it was perfect. The fire, the singing, and the stars added up to make a very hippie style night (minus the mind expanding substances and free love).
On Saturday we got up early and went hike in Echidna Gorge. This was a fascinating hike that entered a very narrow gorge surrounded by high red cliffs. The gorge was definitely not for someone with claustraphobia. We left the Bungles around noon and made out way back to the hostel. The sum total for the rental and fuel was a bout AUD$620 for two days. See what I mean when I say expensive. Luckily we were able to split it seven ways.
I woke up today to find out that I didn’t have a room for Sunday night. They are full here. I finally found a place to stay at another hostel in town. I also managed to reconfirm that I do indeed have a lift down the Gibb River Road. Finally, I am now in the process of trying to get a replacement driver’s license as I want to rent a car in Broome and I have discovered that I don’t have a copy of my license.
Side Notes: Some people may be wondering what it is like to travel with six women. Let’s just say it can take a mind numbingly long time to make a decision. Also once a decision is made, it still gets discussed ad nauseum. Once or twice like on the decision of where to place the tents, I finally just had to state what I was going to do and they could do what they liked. Other than major decision time, I enjoyed the trip and traveling with girls does give one a different perspective on things (even if we did have to make lots of bathroom stops).
Tags: Australia, Bungle Bungles, Travel
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