The access road to Purnululu National Park and the Bungle Bungle range is about 100km north of Halls Creek and it was an easy drive on paved road to that access road. From there to the Park Visitors Center is another 56km and we had heard all kinds of horror stories about how bad this twisty gravel road was. But to our surprise the road generally was in ok shape and had some very interesting scenery though we did not get any views of the Bungle Bungle Range at this time.
After selecting a camping site we booked a helicopter flight for tomorrow morning at the nearby bush airfield and headed off for our first look at the Bungles themselves with a short hike called The Domes.
The Bungle Bungle Range is a large sandstone massif that was not really popularized even amongst Australians until a film crew made a documentary about the place in 1983, before that it was a location known only to local aboriginals and stockmen.
The most well known feature of the Bungles are the beehive domes, these are sandstone dome structures that have horizontal stripes making them look like the classic cartoon beehive. They are predominantly on the south east section of the range and have been formed by the sand and wind that blows in from the Tanami Desert (the prevailing wind is from the south east).
Our afternoon hike gave us a tantalizing introduction to the beehives of the Bungles and we finished the day keenly anticipating our upcoming helicopter tour of the spectacular rock structures.
We camped the night at Walardi Campground, a very dusty bush camping location. The only facilities were pit toilets. This campsite is available through online booking only, has 37 sites and tonight was full.