Yowyungoo Gorge, Mungulu Hills WA @ ExplorOz

Yowyungoo Gorge, Mungulu Hills WA

Submitted: Saturday, Jul 05, 2008 at 00:00

Saturday 5th July
Yowyungoo Gorge (Mungkulu Hills)
24 04 2.17 E 123 10 9.82 S

It was a shocker of a night. A storm front moved through not long after going to bed and the initial light patter of rain drops became quite heavy after a while. The constant staccato drum beat on the taut canvas of the tent was enough to keep one awake by itself without the appearance of lightening flashes. Then it dawns on you that you sitting on the top of a nice metal car with a metal fly pole at the top saying “strike here”. Not much sleep had. The wind rocked the vehicle quite a lot. It calmed down about 3:00 a.m. but I’m a tired boy this morning. I’ll try and reseat that tyre first off using the untested “butane” method.

Threatening skies and passing showers

It was a very quick pack because of the threatening rain. I used a can of butane on the de-seated ATR to great effect. The tyre just popped up onto the rim. I took the opportunity to put it back on the trailer thereby saving the new tyres for later.

Once again we ploughed our way west through the spinifex. We reckoned on being about 10 km in straight line distance from Birrill Rockhole which is at least 2-4 hours in these conditions. As luck would have it, after only 3 km or so of slogging through old deep spinifex, we came across a wide section of recently burnt scrub, the spinifex only just returning. This made going a whole lot easier so pointing our nose in the direction of Birrill we made very good time. About a kilometre short of the rockhole, we found the track. It was in fair condition and easy to discern. From here we took a left turn and headed south for approximately 800 metres coming a cross a star picket and to its left a large rockhole surrounded by greenery. We’d found Birrill.

Birrill Rockhole

The upper rockhole at Birrill

The rockhole itself sits at the junction of two shallow and rocky gullies. It is a largish in size being about a metre deep and 8 metres long. That it was a major watering point for the local wildlife was obvious. Also obvious were the black marks of seeping water on the layers of sandstone nearby. It is obvious that not only surface runoff feeds this waterhole that water is captured over a large area during rain and then seeps through the layers of rock draining out near the rockhole. Walking back along the rise of the main gully, we found another smaller rockhole with much clearer water. The rocky terrain deterring the camels from drinking here unless absolutely necessary. We had a look around the area taking plenty of photos and video before heading out and onto the track west.

Looking into the sourthern Mungkulu basin

What a difference a track makes. The track is in good condition not seeing a lot of use, it was still easy to follow. It won’t be long before it disappears tho and already the spinifex was beginning to encroach. We wound our way through the dunes and spinifex towards the Mungkulu Hills with the grey sky threatening behind us. There is a prominent abutment of red sandstone that announces your arrival at the Mungkulu Hills and it is here that the track splits in two. The surrounding hills form a U shaped basin that you look westwards across. The left branch appears to head west past the abutment and down into the basin. The other track continues around the eastern side of the hills eventually passing through a large gap to the north east of the basin and then veers left and runs along the northern walls of the Mungkulu. A few kilometres later, the track branches again and you head in to Yowyungoo Gorge.

Showers falling in our wake

The drive into Yowyungoo is short but deceptively leaves you thinking you area approaching a deep wide gorge (which you are). This is not Yowyungoo though as this narrower cleft in the ranges is a kilometre further to the west. The final approach is along the narrow rocky creek which brings you to a small camping area at the mouth of the gorge shaded by some spindly acacia. The walk along the gorge is something though. On sheltered overhangs high on the walls are spectacular examples of rock art. The fossilised remains of ancient seabeds form steps up the cliff walls. At some points from a high vantage, you would look down across 10 or more different examples of fossilised sea floors, the sandy waves quite apparent as each different

Approaching Yowyungoo Gorge

level is exposed. In one spot there is a large sandstone boulder, the flat surface of which displays the remains of ancient marine life (possibly sandworm burrows as near as we reckon), their intricate patterns looking as if they’ve actually been carved into the rocks.

About midway down the gorge is a long rock pool that covers the entire floor of the gorge floor forcing you to climb around it. At the end of the gorge is a deep, dark pool of water watched over by numerous aboriginal paintings. On the western wall of the gorge, there is a spectacular cave which overlooks the southern end of the gorge. The layers of sandstone about its entrance providing another feature. It was a photographic paradise and I’d shot a couple of hundred frames in no time.

Yowyungoo art

Fossilised Marine creatures

We decided to stay and camp here for the evening managing to find to level enough areas for the vehicles. It will be an interesting turn of events in the morning to back the trailers out of this restrictive area. At sunset, the local dingoes provided a chorus and the not to distant bellowing of a bull camel persisted for many hours.