Bungle Bungle Trip Report (1) – We love the Australian Outback, and it has become a tradition for us to take a trip to outback every winter (note: winter in the Southern Hemisphere).
In July 2019, we finally fulfilled our long-held dream of visiting the Bungle Bungle (Purnululu National Park) in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The Bungle Bungle Range was once known only to the Aboriginal people and a small number of pastoralists living in the area. It wasn’t until the 1980s that it became known to the general public when a TV crew spotted the Bungle Bungle Range from the air and featured it in a documentary about Western Australia.
It became a national park in 1987 under the name Purnululu National Park, then it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
Come to think of it, it was around late 1990s when I first heard about the Bungle Bungle. I was still living in Japan, and saw a photo of the dome-shaped rock formations with their strange horizontal stripes, and was amazed, thinking, “Wow, what is this?!”
Ever since then, I’ve always thought, “I’d like to go there.”
The Bungle Bungles (Purnululu National Park) are located about 300km from the town of Kununurra in the Kimberley region.
There are day trips from Kununurra by helicopter or small air plane cessna to see the Bungle Bungle from the air. But I din’t want to see them from the sky. I want to walk through the Bungle Bungle.
There’s a sealed road Highway 1 from Kununurra to near the Bungle Bungle, and there are accommodations within the national park, so I wondered if it might be possible to drive there ourself. I did some research, but it turned out that the last 50km of road (off Highway 1) to the Bungle Bungle (the dotted line on the map above) is unsealed and in bad condition… Even if we rented a high-clearance 4WD, we might not be able to reach the accommodation in the national park. Getting stranded in such a remote area could be a matter of life and death, so we decided to join a 3-day tour from Kununurra.
The tour we took was run by a company called APT. Although the website said it was a small group tour with less than 20 people, when we got there it turned out to be just the two of us plus another couple, a total of four people, with one driver/guide. So it was almost like a private tour, and we were very satisfied.
We stayed at Bungle Bungle Wilderness Lodge for 2 nights. The lodge is run by APT located within the national park.
Although it is called a lodge, since it is in such a remote area, the rooms are tent-style. It’s what is known as “glamping”!
Each tent has a bed, a toilet (with flushing water, of course) and a shower.
Breakfast and dinner are served in the main building on the property.
Breakfast wasn’t much, but dinner was quite good.
For lunch on all three days, we will have lunch boxes prepared by the lodge during the excursion.
The cost of the 3-day tour departing from Kununurra was A$1,447 per person for a twin share. It might sound expensive, but despite such a remote location, we were able to stay comfortably, the guides were of high quality, and we received excellent care. So we were very happy that we joined this tour.
By the way, the Kimberley region is in the wet season for 6 months of a year (November to April), and you cannot access the Bungle Bungle during the wet season. The tour we took was only available for three months, from late May to late August.
We visited in July, which is the coldest month of the year. However, the daytime temperature reached around 30°C, making it very comfortable. (Even though it was 30°C, it was dry, so it wasn’t uncomfortable at all.)
However, the temperature difference between day and night is drastic, and it was quite cold at night and early in the morning. We had already experienced the extreme cold night in the Outback when we visited Karijini National Park some years ago, so this time we made sure to bring plenty of warm clothing!
On the day the tour started, we left Kununurra at 6am and it took nearly five hours to get to the Bungle Bungles (Purnululu National Park).
After checking in at the lodge, we headed into the Bungle Bungle Range!
More on this in the next blog…
朝食は、あまり大したことありませんが、夕食は結構おいしかったです。
ランチは、3日間とも、ロッジが用意してくれたランチボックスを、エクスカーション中にいただきます。
カナナラ発着２泊３日のツアー料金は、ツインシェアで1人$1447（日本円で一人約10万円）。2泊3日でこの値段って、かなり高く感じるかもしれませんが、こんな未開の地で、快適に宿泊できて、ガイドさんの質も良く、いたれりつくせりだったので、このツアーに参加して良かったな、と思います。
ちなみに、キンバリー地方は、１年の半分（11月～4月）は雨季なので、その時期は、バングルバングルにアクセスすることはできません。私たちが利用したツアーも、5月下旬～8月下旬の3か月間しか設定日がありませんでした。
私たちが参加した7月は、一年で最も気温が低い時期。それでも、日中の最高気温は30℃ぐらいまで上がって、非常に快適でした。（30℃といっても、乾燥しているので、不快感はまったくありません。）
ただし、昼と夜の気温差が激しいので、夜や早朝は、かなり寒かったです。「アウトバックのテント泊は夜がめっちゃ寒い」というのは、2年前にカリジニ国立公園を訪れた時に経験済みだったので、今回は、しっかりと防寒具+ホッカイロを持っていきましたよ！
さて、ツアー開始日の当日は、朝6時にカナナラの町を出発。バングル・バングル（パヌルル国立公園）までは、5時間近くかかりました。
ロッジにチェックインした後は、いよいよ、バングル・バングルの大秘境の中へ！！
続きは、次回のブログで。。。
Comment
手元の、The Shell Cmplete Road Guide to Australia を取り出して、位置関係を確認しましたが、バングルバングルは、W.A.の州都パースからは遠く、むしろN.T.のダーウィンに近いですね。Kununurraからはツァーに参加されたとのことですが、メルボルンからKununurra空港行きの飛行機が出ているのですか？
もう一つ、今まで気がつきませんでしたが、ルート１（国道１号線）は、オーストラリアの外周をぐるっと取り囲むように走っているんですね。
手持ちの地図では、ダーウィンとCairnsの間で途切れた部分がありますが、今では豪州全土ぐるっと一周開通しているのでしょうか？
藤原さん、
メルボルンからカナナラへはダーウィンで飛行機を乗り継いで入ります。実は、今年の5月からメルボルン⇔カナナラ間の直行便が、バージンオーストラリア航空の傘下で就航することになっていたのですが、コロナウイルスの影響で、バージンオーストラリア航空は経営破綻してしまいましたので、今後コロナウイルスが終息したとしても、直行便の就航は実現しないような気がします。
ルート１は、一応一周はしているようですが、その区間は Highway という名前はついていないようですね。多分、舗装もされていないマイナーな道なのではないかと思います。