Daily Travel Photo – Western Australia

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World Heritage Site #40: Purnululu National Park

From the World Heritage inscription:

The 239,723 ha Purnululu National Park is located in the State of Western Australia. It contains the deeply dissected Bungle Bungle Range composed of Devonian-age quartz sandstone eroded over a period of 20 million years into a series of beehive-shaped towers or cones, whose steeply sloping surfaces are distinctly marked by regular horizontal bands of dark-grey cyanobacterial crust (single-celled photosynthetic organisms). These outstanding examples of cone karst owe their existence and uniqueness to several interacting geological, biological, erosional and climatic phenomena.

Purnululu is hard to get to. It is in the outback of the outback. It is three hours from the Turkey Creek roadhouse (truck stop), which is three hours from the town of Kununurra….which is in the middle of nowhere.

The primary attraction of Purnululu are the erosional features of the Bungle Bungles. The beehive domes are the most famous feature, but the gorges are also stunning. The photo above is of Cathedral Gorge. Click on the photo to see the larger version of the photo get a sense of scale. The woman is the photo was our bus driver/tour guide for the day.

Purnululu is only open a few months each year during the dry season. During the wet season the creeks can get very high with very rapid currents.