Day 163 18/5/14 – Kununurra Rodeo Grounds – Bungle Bungles WA

It had been a late night so it took us all a while to get moving, eventually we headed back into Kununarra grabbed some supplies and headed south, towards the Bungle Bungles. It is a fair hike down the road and we had a late lunch while we let the tyres cool at the entrance to the park.

We had heard about the road in, as being the roughest ‘public’ road around and it didn’t take long to confirm the rumors were true. While the track its self could use a good grade there had to be more than 30 creek crossings that were pretty steep to go in and out of. So while most of the driving was around 30 or 40km/hr occasionally getting up to 50 or 60 it was down to 5 or 10 every couple of Ks for a crossing. In the end it took 2 hrs to go the 52kms to the information centre and then another ½ hour to get to the camp ground. It was about 4 by the time we got there and had been on the road all day so we set up and chilled for the remainder of the afternoon.

In WA the national parks often have ‘camp hosts’ whose main job is to ensure that everybody has paid their camping fees and in return they can camp for free. Gene, our camp host, had taken it to a new level. The cane toad, so familiar to most Queenslanders, has made it to the Kimberley and a few people are making an effort to slow their progress (I say slow as you cannot hold back the tide) and Gene is the poster boy for this dedicated bunch of greenies, earning the name Toadmandu. It wasn’t long before he had commandeered the boys into tonight’s toad hunt supplying them with gloves and a big plastic bag.

After dinner we donned out headlamps and went on the chase. The boys were initially hesitant to grab them but Jacko had a thick glove and after his first few was onto them. Sam took a little longer to master the art of toad catching, with his slight hesitation causing many a toad to escape into the long grass. After about 45 minutes we had completed the loop of the campground and had scored out ton...yep 100 toads in less than an hour! We tied up our now wreathing bag of toady yuck washed the boys down, as the toads often pee when they are picked up, and deposited two very tired souls into bed. 

As we lay in bed I could hear a strange sound outside and I wondered if it was a dingo getting into our rubbish or something more sinister. Upon investigating I realised that it must have been the sports carnival in the toad bag as they were all playing leap frog trying to get out.....