ASIANOVERLAND.NET SYDNEY TO LONDON DAY 26: HALLS CREEK TO EL QUESTRO, THE KIMBERLEY

North of Halls Creek and east off the Great Northern Highway is the Purnululu National Park, a World Heritage Site in the East Kimberley. The 240,000 hectare  Purnululu National Park, is 300 kilometres south of Kununurra. Declared a World Heritage Site in 2003, the park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as follows:

“ ... remote area managed as wilderness. It includes the Bungle Bungle Range, a spectacularly incised landscape of sculptured rocks which contains superlative examples of beehive-shaped karst sandstone rising 250 metres above the surrounding semi-arid savannah grasslands. Unique depositional processes and weathering have given these towers their spectacular black and orange banded appearance, formed by biological processes of cyanobacteria (single cell photosynthetic organisms) which serve to stabilise and protect the ancient sandstone formations. These outstanding examples of cone karst that have eroded over a period of 20 million years are of great beauty and exceptional geological interest.”

— Brief synthesis of Purnululu National Park as inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The traditional owners of the area are the Karjaganujaru peoples.

The Bungle Bungle Range is one of the most extensive and impressive sandstone tower (or cone) karst terrains in the world. The Bungle Bungles were a plateau of Devonian sandstone, carved into beehive-shaped towers with regularly alternating dark gray bands of bacterial crust (single cell organisms). The plateau is dissected by 100–200-metre deep, sheer-sided gorges and slot canyons. The cone-towers are steep-sided, with an abrupt break of slope at the base and domed summits. Their surface is fragile but stabilized by crusts of iron oxide and bacteria. They provide an outstanding example of land formation by weathering of sandstone, with removal of sand grains by wind, rain and sheet wash on slopes. The Karjaganujaru name for the Bungle Bungles is Billingjal, which means sand falling away.

We travel north up the Great Northern Highway to take the Gibb River Road west to Emma Gorge. The Gibb River Road is one of Australia's best and toughest four-wheel drive adventures, and is for real four wheel drivers, especially those who don’t like sealed roads.

You may have noticed that on this overland itinerary, we’ve been on the Gibb River Road at Derby, and now again at Emma Gorge, but in between, we’ve travelled on the sealed Great Northern Highway. I don’t mind sealed roads if they’re available, so we decided on the sealed Great Northern Highway rather than off-roading the four-wheel drive Gibb River Road.  Your choice.

Emma Gorge is one of the Kimberley’s most spectacular and accessible gorges, set in the one-million-acre wilderness of El Questro. We, and you, can easily take a self-guided hike up the Emma Gorge Walk Trail into the rugged red Cockburn Ranges.

In about one hour you’ll find yourself beside the tranquil pool of Emma Gorge, but the walk up the gorge is steep, so there’s nothing wrong with a rest and photo stop along the way. Fed by a droplet waterfall and a thermal spring, it’s impossible to resist a swim in the crystal-clear water at the top of Emma Gorge. Enjoy the cool shade and dramatic beauty of sheer 65-metre cliffs as you take a refreshing dip under the graceful droplet waterfall.

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