Day 159: Timber Creek - Turkey Creek

It was bye, bye Northern Territory and Hello! WA.

On the way, we came across a sign for the "Beef Road Monument" so we stopped to have a look. We were slightly puzzled as to what was beefy about these concrete slabs. If anyone has any idea what this monument is for... please enlighten us!

Western Australia has a very strict fruit, vegetable, nut, honey, meat, and plant quarantine. This didn't even occur to us as we approached the border, so it was a bit of a shock when we arrived at the NT/WA quarantine check point. It was an even bigger shock when we came out the other end three carrots, four potatoes, a bulb of garlic, two capsicum and an onion lighter.

Next stop was a very brief one at the beautiful Lake Argyle. It is a giant inland fresh water sea around 800 square kilometres and is the largest body of fresh water in Australia formed by the damming of the Ord River in 1972.

When we finally arrived at Turkey Creek we where just in time for a helicopter ride over the The Bungle Bungles. I know I said I would never get in a helicopter again after Uluru, however time dulls memory and it didn't seem such a bad idea. That is until I saw the helicopter had no doors...

The Bungle Bungles is a group of stripped beehive shaped domes in the Purnululu National Park covering an area of about 35 by 24km. The banding of the domes is due to differences in clay content and porosity of the sandstone layers, where moisture accumulates lichen is able to grow creating black bands, the orange bands are silica deposits.

It was very impressive and strange to think that The Bungle Bungles where only "discovered" and brought to the worlds attention in the 1980's by a film crew who where flying over the area. Since then it has received a World Heritage listing making it Australia's 15th natural wonder.

Emelie

2007-07-07 Lake Argyle, WA PHOTO ALBUM

2007-07-07 The Bungle Bungles, WA PHOTO ALBUM