Purnululu National Park

Purnululu National Park, Australia

The orange and grey striped Bungle Bungle sandstone domes at sunset in Purnululu National Park.

Striped beehive domes of sandstone rise from the savannah of the East Kimberley, and the walk in to them is worth the rough road.

The place

Purnululu National Park lies in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, about 300 km south of Kununurra, the main town in the area. Its 239,723 hectares are managed as wilderness, and the main road in is a long unsealed track that is passable in the dry season alone, though helicopter and light aircraft tours also fly in. The reason to make the effort is the Bungle Bungle Range, a plateau of ancient sandstone that has been carved into rows of beehive-shaped towers. Many of them rise around 250 m above the grassland that surrounds them, and their dark and orange bands catch the light in a way that changes hour by hour. Deep, narrow gorges, some 100 to 200 m deep, slice through the plateau, so the towers stand in a maze of walls, slots and sudden drops. The ground underfoot is more fragile than it looks: a thin crust holds the sand together, and it breaks easily under boots. Most people stay overnight rather than make a day of it, because the drive back is long and the light is best late in the day. The park was established in 1987 and joined the World Heritage List in 2003. Its name comes from a Djaru Aboriginal term for the area, and the country is hot, open and very quiet, with colours that shift through the day.

Its story

The story of Purnululu begins long before the park existed. The Djaru people have a name for this country, Bullmanlulu, and the word Purnululu grew from it, so the park carries an Aboriginal name rather than a European one. The landscape is far older again. The towers were once part of a flat plateau of Devonian sandstone, and over a very long stretch of time, wind, rain and sheet wash lifted sand grains away from the surfaces and shaped the rock into domes. The black and orange bands are the work of cyanobacteria, tiny single-celled organisms that formed crusts on the stone, and those crusts help stabilise and protect the sandstone. The exact sequence by which the towers took their present shape is still not fully understood, so the explanations here should be read as the best current picture rather than settled fact. The erosion has been going on for around 20 million years. The park was established in 1987, and in 2003 it was added to the World Heritage List, a listing that recognised both the landscape's beauty and its geological interest. Today the story is one of managing access: a rough road, a fragile surface, and a landscape that depends on people keeping to the marked paths.

What to see

Culture

The name Purnululu comes from a Djaru Aboriginal term for this area, so it is worth treating the park as a living cultural landscape rather than only a scenic one. The Kimberley has a strong Aboriginal art tradition, and the community of Warmun, on the highway to the north, has a thriving art scene, which makes it a good stop before or after the park to buy work directly from artists. The park is managed as wilderness, and the ranger station at the Visitor Centre handles bookings, admission and safety checks. Staff can turn people back if they have not booked, and the park may close when extreme heat or wildfire makes the land unsafe, so accept those decisions without argument. Most visitors simply behave well, and that matters here. Stay on the marked trails and do not walk into Mini Palms Gorge, because the palms there are easily damaged by boots.

What to wear

The sources behind this reading do not record a traditional dress specific to Purnululu, so what follows is general background for the wider Kimberley. Across the region, body painting with ochre and rock art have been central to Aboriginal ceremony, while cloth clothing came in later, after European contact, so textiles are a more recent layer than the painting. Today people in the area wear practical outback clothing: long-sleeved cotton shirts, moleskin or denim trousers, wide-brimmed hats and sturdy boots, worn by rangers, tour staff and campers alike. Kununurra and Warmun show the same mix of workwear and casual summer clothes. For a visitor, the climate decides most things. Pack loose, light long sleeves that protect against sun and scratches, a hat, and closed shoes with good grip, because the trail to Echidna Chasm turns into a scramble over boulders. Bring swimwear for the creek, but change before you return to the road or the community. Covered, modest clothing is sensible at Warmun, where people may be going about their own business.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. The dry season, roughly April to December, is when the track is passable, and the days are dry, with June to August the most comfortable. Only high-clearance 4WD vehicles can use the road in the dry season, and the wet season makes it impassable, so plan for the cooler months and avoid the hottest weeks, when the park can close.

How long. 2–3

Getting there. No scheduled air service reaches the park, so fly or drive to Kununurra first. The last leg is the Spring Creek Track, 53 km of unsealed, ungraded road that branches off the Great Northern Highway, and it takes about 3 hours to reach the Ranger Station and Visitor Centre. Helicopter tours fly from Bellburn airstrip inside the park, and non-landing aircraft tours leave from Kununurra.

Budget. high

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources