Day 53 Purnululu/Bungle Bungles Echidna Chasm

We are so grateful to be here seeing this amazing landscape area, we were told that only 2 weeks ago due to the huge wet season here in the far north that we would not have made it in as the river crossings would have been to high.

We awoke early and after breakfast we made our way to Echidna Chasm to be there as the midday sun brings the chasm walls into an incredible red orange fiery display, they are up to 200 meters high and narrow to one meter in places the walk features prehistoric Livistona palms which looks so amazing against the red of the rocks.





We took a detour to Osmond Lookout on the way.

















We had lunch once we returned to the car and then made our way to Piccaninny where we intended to do the Creek Lookout walk, however once we had completed it the walks to the Cathedral Gorge and The Domes were side tracks from our path so we decided to do these this afternoon. We were going to do these last two walks tomorrow however this means we can make our way to Fitzroy Crossing in the morning as it is a 460km drive and the 55 km to return to the highway from the Bungles will take about 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

To get to the Creek Lookout you walk through The Domes a unique landscape of towering sandstone beehive domes. The Banded domes are the most exceptional examples of cone karst formations in the world. The grey banding is a coating of cyanobacteria , which has grown on areas where moisture accumulates. The orange bands are due to the colour of oxidized iron compounds which have dried out too quickly for cyanobacteria to grow. The domes are made of sandstone deposited about 260 million years ago. Erosion by creeks rivers and weathering in the past 20 million years has carved the beehive domes shapes and formations along the Piccaninny Creek and the striking gorges and chasms has created a surreal landscape. From here a turnoff to experiencing the grandeur of Cathedral Gorge with its natural amphitheatre formation.Cathedral Gorge is the most visited site in the park, a moderate 2km Class 4 return walk with additional km's to reach the Creek Lookout.

Piccaninny Creek, 2.8km (return) walk to Piccaninny Creek Lookout, along a dry exposed creek bed featuring large rock potholes.

We completed this long walk as we watched the last light hit the Bungles is truly breathtaking experience.