One of the icon things to see, on the
grey nomad around Australia caravan adventure, the Bungle Bungles really is “a bucket list day”. So if you are one of the
grey army, this is what you need to know.
There are 3 ways to get to see the Bungle Bungles, by air, tour coach or drive.
Grey nomads are mostly taking options 1 or 3. By air you can fly from
Kununurra or from Turkey
Creek. Turkey
creek is just north of the
park and the closest town. There is a caravan
park there so you can fly out and see it all in the one day.
Most however will drive, as they are already towing the caravan with a 4WD already and it is the cheapest option. Besides fuel, a vehicle entry into the
park is $11 for the day. You can leave your caravan at Turkey
Creek in the above mentioned
park or
free camp at 644 in the camps 5 book.
Spring Creek, it is called at it is where this
creek crossed the Great Northern Highway. The
campsite is divided into 2 parts. One beside the
creek for smaller caravans (say up to 20ft) and is
well covered by trees. It has great noise from road trains crossing the
creek bridge (100 yards away). The is a larger area for larger rigs and 5th wheelers on the way in. There the ground is almost level with some level spots. No tree cover and the odd
park bench and rubbish bin. Much better if you need
solar power. It is opposite a road cutting to the
bridge so truck lights and noise are hidden by this cutting. Capacity about 30 caravans so it is quite large. Security wise there is usually someone staying in the
camp spot during the day having a rest, that will keep an eye on your van. This
free camping spot has a long drop
toilet (as in 1) that is
well used by the campers there.
The
park entrance road is almost opposite and just inside the
gate there is another new and very clean long drop
toilet there. About 500 yards walk or a short drive. Located there is also an information board on the
park.
Getting to the Bungle Bungles is a 2 hour drive and 53 kilometers to the
visitor centre in the
park. That is an average speed of 25 kilometers per hour. Read into this the state of the road. There are several
water crossings one of which is quite rocky and rough. Overtaking is limited and the road is very dusty, windy with several hair pin turns.
Camper trailers (single axle) are allowed but caravans are banned. In fact taking a caravan would be very dangerous as
well. Most drivers are not on the CB or driving with their lights on. In addition there are many tour trucks using this route, coming out in the morning and going into the
park in the afternoon. You have to leave the
park no later than 3pm in order to miss driving directly into the setting sun. (this time of year) The sun combined with the dust makes driving very hard.
Once there the sights are either north or south on a semi circle road.
Cathedral Gorge is on the southern loop while
Echidna Chasm is on the northern side. These are 80 minutes apart by road. These are the two main attractions.
Cathedral Gorge was one of the
places where the Qantas add was filmed, and perhaps the best attraction to see if you have to pick one.
Timings you see are now limited. 2 hours in, 2 hours out, 35 minutes to get to the
Cathedral gorge and another 90 minutes for a (quick) look at
the gorge. 35 minutes to drive back to the
visitor centre. This is 7 hours already and you have not had lunch or stopped for Kodak moments. So in a day trip you will find it hard to see the main 2 attractions.
If you are a
grey nomad with any sort of back trouble, the drive might be something that will make this condition worse as
well.
In summary, after the pain of the trip (bumps) has left and the tyre is replaced, you will be left with pictures and memories of a great” bucket list” day. So give it a go.