We are still trying to get our heads around the time difference between the NT and WA. This is a bizarre shift which means we gain one and half hours but it’s now dark at just after five instead of 6.45pm and sunrise is somewhere around 4.45am. As our eating and sleeping patterns are governed largely by sunset – after dark it’s difficult to cook and the insects make life unpleasant – we are now going to bed even earlier and today are woken by the dawn chorus around 5am. The sky is a beautiful pink and the air is still cool, but there is no going back to sleep once the birds are awake, their noise just won’t allow it!
Early to bed and early to rise does have its advantages and by 7.15am we have had breakfast and are starting out on what turns out to be a three hour walk around Mirima National Park. The track conveniently starts from just behind our pitch and takes around the spectacular sandstone formations which tower over this small (by Australian standards) park. Billed as the mini Bungle Bungles, the walk meanders around massive red outcrops formed from sand dunes deposited more than 350 million years ago, through gorges and under overhangs. The cool shade, long shadows and early morning sun are a delight.
If this sounds similar to yesterday’s walk that’s because the geology is the same. Orange sandstone and conglomerate in layers often blackened as a result of an outer skin of lichen. But not, as the tourist literature would have you believe, that similar to the Bungle Bungle range whose black and orange beehive domes rise 200 metres above the plain in Purnululu National Park further west.
By the time we return at 9.45 it’s too hot to do much more than potter around camp followed by a wander round town and a bit of shopping. My favourite green flowered dress has finally had its day after over 15 years of services. Two large rips are beyond repair. My old sarong is going the same way, so replacements are urgently needed! We pick up a dress in the local charity shop along with a Hawaiian-style shirt for Andy that Paul would be proud of. All for $12!
As sunset approaches we drive out to Kelly’s Knob on the outskirts of town for another wonderfully rich and dramatic sunset which spans the horizon and lights up the clouds. The colours change from soft pinks to deep burnt orange as the sun disappears. The sunsets in the north are something else!