Friday - 6th August 

Left the caravan at the secure lock up in Turkey Creek and headed down the highway  for the turnoff to Purnululu NP and the Bungle Bungles.   Fifty-three kilometres of really rough roads and  water crossings with dreadful entrances and exits.  Great fun.  Had managed to talk Jude into an overnight camp so headed straight for  the camp ground and caught up with a few friends.  The camp site was marvellous, we pitched our tent (amazing how easy it was)  had lunch and then set off for some walking.  We did the Cathedral Gorge Walk first.  What a great place,  sheer red stone cliffs tower overhead as you walk up the narrow gorge.   At the end, is a circular area that is the plunge pool for the waterfall that runs during the "Wet".  It has great acoustics and someone was playing a flute while we were there.  Beautiful.   We trekked around the Dome Trail on our way back to the car park.   Pictures tell it better than words.  Back at camp we set up for dinner.   Sun goes down very early so we were cooking by torchlight.   After dinner we sat around under the clearest night sky I have ever seen,  the moonless sky was filled with stars and you could see the milky way from one horizon to the other.  Sat around the camp fire and finished off a nice Cuban cigar.  All of us were buggered after the long day and the walks so we turned in early, about 9PM.  Tent was very comfortable, and we slept like logs. 

Saturday - 7th August 

Up next morning at 5:30AM.    Stuck head out of tent and was greeted with strains of "Happy Birthday" from our friends, it was my birthday,  got a book detailing many of the campsites in Australia and a Mars Bar.  No showers, so poured a bucket of water over my head and scrubbed down.   Struck camp after breakfast and headed for north end of park.  Walked up Mini Palm Gorge.  It was an interesting walk, first part was along the stony bed of a wet season river then up the gorge proper.  It was very narrow and in parts blocked by large boulders that had fallen from the cliff wall.    You had to either climb over them or squeeze through narrow  gaps between the boulders.  Near the end of the gorge a series of steps and walk ways had been installed to take you to a viewing platform overlooking the "waterfall cliff".    Lots of palms growing in the gorge and in crevices up the sides.   We walked back to the car-park and had lunch under some welcome sails.  Next stop was Echidna Gorge but we only did a small portion of it before heading out.  We were advised that it's a good idea to leave no later than 1:30PM so that you are not driving into the sun on the way out.  Made good time on the 4WD drive track back.  Retrieved out van and drove back down to the Spring Creek Rest Stop for an overnight camp.   Very dusty.   A fellow camper Yesu, from Japan, joined our group after dinner for  a bit of conviviality and a few blows on my Didgeridoo.   He had originally arrived in Sydney and was travelling around Australia on a "mini-bike",  he had been to Melbourne, Adelaide Ayers Rock, across the Nullabor and up the west coast of WA and was on his way to Darwin.  It didn’t look to comfortable.