Visiting Bungle Bungle with a caravan

by John
(Rosebud West, VIC)

OK, I know that caravans are not allowed in Purnululu National Park, but where is the closest point at which you can (with reasonable security) leave a van so that you can visit the park? We will be travelling from Victoria, but the best information I can see is that there is not a caravan park for about 200km from the park. This makes for a very short day!

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Related Reader Questions:
Taking an offroad caravan to the Bungle Bungles
Kimberley Karavans to Purnululu NP
Camper trailer storage when travelling to the Bungles

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Visiting Bungle Bungle with a caravan

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Oct 24, 2008

Caravan storage
by: Birgit

Edit March 2011: as of May 1, 2011 there will be a new caravan park on the turn off from the highway that offers caravan storage for travellers. See my guide book and newsletters for more details.

John, you can leave your caravan at the secure storage facility at Warmun Roadhouse. Warmun is about 50 km north-east of the turn-off to the Bungles (the Kununurra direction).

Another option is to try the Spring Creek Rest area, right at the turn off. It's popular with bush campers and some stay for days. You may get lucky and find someone willing to look after your van for you.

By the way, a day trip to the Bungles will always be a short day in the Bungles (and a long day overall). Have you considered taking a tent an spending a night in the park? Worth it...

Update:
After recent improvements to the track, the DEC reviewed their policy regarding caravans. The new rules are as follows:

Single axle off-road/heavy duty caravans and camper trailers are allowed.

Dual axle and standard (non off-road) caravans and campers are not allowed.

Nov 09, 2008

Visiting Bungles Bungles
by: Jayne

How bad is the road to the Bungles Bungles? Can you take a off road camping trailer? We have a 4WD but have not done a lot of severe 4WD driving, only light basic 4WD driving. Is there any water crossing? We will be doing it late July or early August.

Dec 24, 2008

Trailers are fine
by: Birgit

Off-road trailers are fine, provided they are towed with reasonable care. Just take it easy.

And that time of the year there everything is dry.

Jayne, it sounds like you haven't done much reading here yet. I offer a free Kimberley guide for download that addresses such basic questions. Hope it helps!

Apr 20, 2009

Bungle Bungle Track in July
by: Cath F

We are travelling to the Kimberley in late July and have plans to spend a night in the Bungles. Our car is a Hyundai Santa Fe AWD which has slightly lower clearance than a standard 4WD (it has 4WD lock on the car). We are unsure whether it is worth risking the car on the track or whether we should hire a 4WD.
We have read so many differing opinions of the track and we know that our biggest concern will be the 1st river crossing. On another of your comments I see you said that by end of July the crossings are dry. Is this true for most years? If the river is dry we will take our car for sure which will mean we don't have to backtrack to Kununurra to return a hire car and pick up our caravan. Any info you can give would be a great help as a hire car adds time and money to the trip. We have looked at a few videos posted on youtube of the river crossings and they look a little dicey however I don't know what time of year the videos were taken.
Many thanks, Cathryn.

Apr 23, 2009

Bungles track
by: Birgit

The Bungles track is open now already. And right now the crossings are deep. Water levels are an issue in April/May, but not in July. Even if the track isn't bone dry, there won't be enough water to cause problems. But water levels are not the main issue with AWDs anyway.

Do read through the free Kimberley guide booklet and also the questions on here that deal with driving such cars. I think you'll be ok, provided you have a bit of an idea what you are doing. You have to be aware of the limitations of those vehicles (lower clearance, weaker suspension, more vulnerable tyres etc.)

And look, unless a river crossing is dicey nobody is going to video it, are they? Nobody stops later in the year at the dry crossings to film it, people just barrel across...
Of course the videos on YouTube will make it look as wild as possible :-).

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