Heading for the coast

We rearranged the car and caravan after our three nights tenting and caught up on washing so it was time to hit the road again. Our first stop was a free camp at Mary Pool on the Mary River. There was water in the pool - enough for some freshwater crocodiles to call it home, along with a variety of birds and some archer fish.

Pelicans and Little Black Cormorants

Black-fronted Dotterel

Moon-rise

The next day we stopped for lunch at Ngumban Cliff Rest Area for lunch.

Some of the varied scenery from along the way.

The Giant Boab Tree Rest Area.

We hit the coast at Derby (well, King Sound, which is not quite "the coast"). The tides are huge and we were able to see high tide in the afternoon and low tide the next morning to compare the difference. I think it was close to 8m.

We also went back out to the jetty for sunset over the water.

The prison boab tree

Some of the Sculptures on the Marsh

A random moth that we noticed on the ground when we went for a walk

Crested Pigeon

Peaceful Dove

Red-winged Parrot

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Black Kite

South of Derby the scenery changed a couple of times.

Our final stop before the Indian Ocean was a small rest area just near the turnoff to Barn Hill Station. There were a few different birds hanging around in the low shrubs.

Grey-fronted Honeyeater

Female Black Honeyeater

We think this might be a juvenile Black Honeyeater.

Willie-wagtail

Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo

Red-backed Kingfisher

Whistling Kite

Purnululu National Park

On our last trip we spent one night camping in Purnululu (the Bungle Bungles). Even though we did the walks we wanted to it felt very rushed. This time we left our van in storage at the caravan park near the highway for three nights so we would have two full days to walk. The road in was quite corrugated and took us nearly three hours, but we were happy poking along and enjoying the scenery.

After setting up we went for a short walk around the camp and to the nearby creek.

Even though it was around 30 degrees during the day it was below 10 at night and it was really hard to keep my fingers warm while making lunches for the day.

Mini Palms Gorge

This was my favourite walk last time so I was keen to see if it lived up to expectations. It didn't disappoint! It started off walking along the edge of the range. Part of this was quite open, and there was also a section that went through wattle trees in full bloom. Of course, this meant more bird photos...

Black-chinned Honey-eater

White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike

Termite nests were in some precarious places...

... as were the palms. 

Red rock, blue sky and green trees...  

As the gorge narrowed there were boulders to negotiate.

The atmosphere and colours were as good as I remembered.

My favourite photo from this walk.

Echidna Gorge

We knew the optimal time for seeing Echidna Gorge was sometime between 11am and 1pm, but the visitor centre was closed for lunch when we came into the park the previous day, so we didn't know exactly when it was. While we were in Mini Palms Gorge we talked to some people who told us it was 11:30am. We knew that we wouldn't have enough time to walk out, drive up to Echidna and walk in there, so we knew we'd be late. As we drove into the carpark there were lots of people leaving, which at least meant it wasn't very crowded. 

As we approached the chasm there was still light bouncing around.

When we turned around and looked back towards the entrance we knew we weren't too late! We may have missed the glow in the narrow part of the chasm, but it was still glowing as the sun came across the mouth... with the added bonus of not having people in the photos!

The end of the chasm.

Kungkalanayi Lookout

The only other stop on our list for the day was the Kungkalanayi Lookout. Since it was over half an hour back to camp on a rather corrugated road we decided not to stay until sunset.

The Southern Walks

There are a number of walks in the southern part of the park. Initially we thought we would try to go as far as Whipsnake Gorge, but after experiencing the heat of the previous day we decided we'd rather walk less and spend more time enjoying the ambience and taking photos. The morning light is great for photos in this part of the park, so it was an early start.

Cathedral Cave walk

Piccaninny Creek

The Window

Pied Butcherbird

Piccaninny Creek Lookout

The Domes track

Birds around the Walardi Campground

White-winged Triller

Black-faced Woodswallow

Yellow-tinted Honeyeater

Yellow-throated Miner

Scenery from our trip back to the highway