World heritage: Purnululu and the Bungle Bungles

Australian geology is such a tease. Just when you think you’ve seen it all – the ocean stacks of the Twelve Apostles, the alpine topography of the Tasmanian Highlands, the Outback monolith of Uluru – you venture up to the far north only to encounter the most extraordinary sight of the lot.

Purnululu National Park is based in Western Australia’s far-flung Kimberley region. The park covers an area of almost 2,400 sq km, which is roughly the size of England’s Lake District, but the commonalities with Cumbria end there. Purnululu’s sand plains maintain daytime temperatures above 30ºC almost year-round and are covered in spinifex grass and mulga shrubs. Endemic lizards slink through its gorges, honeyeaters flit between the bloodwood trees and rock wallabies forage among the boulders. Lake Windermere it isn’t.

The flora and fauna, however, are a mere backdrop to the main spectacle. Sprawled across the west of the park is the otherworldly Bungle Bungle Range, a chain of hills that is strange by name – one theory is that it’s a mangling of ‘bundle bundle’, a type of local grass – and even stranger by nature. Its giant banded domes of rock rise up to 300m above the savannah, creating a towering 450 sq km maze of beehive-shaped, tiger-striped peaks, the kind of surrealist landscape you might see in a Dr Seuss book. They’re remote, too: the nearest main town is Kununurra, some 250km to the north.

Southern face of Bungle Bungle Massif (Shutterstock)

The 4km-long Cathedral Gorge trail cuts through this magnificent rocky monument (Shutterstock)

How the domes came to be standing here in their hundreds is an unlikely tale in itself. Whittled into shape over the course of some 20 million years through a rare alchemy of different geographical factors, their presence has seen the park inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2003. ‘These outstanding examples of cone karst owe their existence and uniqueness to several interacting geological, biological, erosional and climatic phenomena,’ goes the official listing. ‘The dramatically sculptured structures [are] unrivalled in their scale, extent, grandeur and diversity of form anywhere in the world.’ Or, to put it another way, it’s amazing what wind and water can do.

The enormous towers are made of Devonian-age (ie pre-dinosaur) quartz sandstone. Narrow palm-lined gorges thread between the domes, serving not only to provide a pleasing sense of scale but to visually offset the colour-banding that makes their formation so distinctive. The domes’ black and orange stripes are a legacy of countless millennia of geological deposition and weathering, and their overall hue can alter depending on the time of day and the conditions, ranging from a sun-blasted taupe to a rich, glowing ochre.

From the air is the best way to appreciate the sheer size of the Bungle Bungles and their ancient beehive-like domes (Shutterstock)

International awareness of the Bungle Bungles was relatively limited until the domes were filmed from the air for a 1980s TV documentary, although the range’s ancient past means local Gija and Jaru people have had a deep connection to the region since time immemorial. The steep-sided fissure of Echidna Chasm, one of several Bungle Bungle landmarks routinely pointed out to visiting travellers, has an Indigenous origin story that tells of an echidna who enlarged a crack in the cliffs to escape a malign cockatoo. Seasonal pools and fiery reflected sunshine add to the aura around this and other features of the range, including the natural amphitheatre of Cathedral Gorge.

Wandering slowly through the rock formations with an Indigenous guide is one of the best ways of gaining a meaningful perspective on the area. Many tours also include scenic helicopter flights, although exploring by 4WD – this being the only type of vehicle hardy enough to reach the park by land – is another viable option. And while the Bungle Bungles tend to hog visitor attention, don’t overlook the more angular, spring-fed Osmond Range nearby; it is yet one more geological wonder to add to this most astonishing of regions.

The shorter 2km Echidna Chasm walk is no less dramatic, with steep-sided walls that rise up to 200m high in places and shrink to barely 2m wide in others (Shutterstock)

Location:Purnululu National Park is found in Western Australia’s East Kimberley region, close to the state border with the Northern Territory.

Getting there:The 1960s settlement Kununurra is seen as the gateway town to the park and wider region. It has air connections to Broome, Darwin and Perth, the latter of which has direct flights to London Heathrow withQantas. Kununurra is also a base for scenic flights over Purnululu and the Bungle Bungles. To reach the park by land, self-drive is an option if you have a 4WD – otherwise you’ll need to arrange a tour.

Getting around:Tours typically take the form of week-long ‘walkabout’ trips, private visits or more traditional guided adventures as part of a group.

When to go:Temperatures regularly top 40ºC in summer. Arrive between May and August to avoid the worst of the heat and rainfall.

Accommodation:Campsites and lodges exist inside and outside the park.Bungle Bungle Savannah Lodge has a package that includes a scenic flight, walks and meals.

Further information:australiasnorthwest.com