Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles)

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Purnululu National Park (2003). The Striped Beehive Domes Of The Bungle Bungle Range, Banded Orange And Black Sandstone Unknown To The Wider World Until The 1980s, Reached By 4WD Track Or Scenic Flight From Kununurra Or Halls Creek In The Remote East Kimberley · Kununurra, Western Australia

Purnululu National Park protects the Bungle Bungle Range, a cluster of beehive-shaped sandstone domes banded in orange and grey that most of the world did not know existed until a film crew spotted them from the air in 1983. The domes sit in the remote East Kimberley region of Western Australia, roughly 110 kilometres and two and a half hours by rough 4WD track off the Great Northern Highway between Kununurra and Halls Creek, with no sealed road access at all. The banding comes from sandstone layers laid down over twenty million years, some rich in iron oxide, others coated in black lichen that survives only where moisture lingers longest. Walking tracks reach into Cathedral Gorge, a vast natural amphitheatre, and Echidna Chasm, a narrow slot that lights up red around midday. Most visitors never walk in at all, instead seeing the striped expanse from a scenic flight out of Kununurra, since internal distances and heat limit a short self-drive visit. The park is UNESCO listed, sacred to the Jaru and Gija people, and closed by the wet season for roughly half of every year.

The East Kimberley, reached by 4WD track off the Great Northern Highway between Kununurra and Halls Creek, or by scenic flight, Kununurra, Western Australia, Australia

The park closes completely for the wet season, roughly November to March or April, depending on how long the unsealed Spring Creek Track takes to dry and be regraded - there is no fixed reopening date. In the open season, April to October, the gate and ranger station run daylight hours only, entry from around 6am, with a requirement to be out of the back-country well before dark. Camping bookings go through the state parks system in advance, not at a gate counter. Scenic flights from Kununurra run year round on a separate schedule and are the only way to see the domes during the closure.

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