Bungle Bungle Ranges
An amazing part of the Purnululu National Park.
The Bungle Bungles are a massif in the Kimberley's Purnululu National Park that has eroded into hundreds of dome-shaped, orange and black banded sandstone formations. Some of the domes are hundreds of feet high.
The massif formed some 360 million years ago, with the rivers and streams that flow out from the Kimberly Plateau. For millions of years these waterways carried eroded sandy sediment, depositing it over a flood plain that would eventually become the Bungles.
Until 1982 they were known to only a few Australians - mainly cattle stockmen and the local Aborigines. Rising from the middle of hundreds of square miles of remote, rugged, uninviting wilderness, the formations are well off the beaten path.
Within the Bungle Bungles, in the deep gorges, you'll discover mainly tropical vegetation. Rock fig vines cling to the steep walls and fill crevices and Palm trees are plentiful.
Seeing the Bungle Bungles
Much of the Bungle Bungles are inaccessible. One of the easiest ways to see the Bungle Bungles is to fly over them. Tour operators in both Kununurra and Halls Creek offer air tours and air safaris.
On the ground it's best to stick to those gorges and dry creek beds open to visitors, such as Outstation Canyon and Mini-Palm Canyon. From the south, one of the best ways into the Bungles is to follow Piccaninny Creek, which is waterless during the dry season. The best time to visit is May through June, during the dry season.
The rocky mounds of the Bungle Bungles have unique black and orange stripes, caused by the black lichen and the orange silica.