Holiday parks the Bungle Bungles: where campervans actually stay

Purnululu National Park sits off the Great Northern Highway in the East Kimberley, about 250 km south of Kununurra and 109 km north of Halls Creek. The turn-off is easy. The next bit is where the romance gets its tyres checked.

The Spring Creek Track from the highway to the visitor centre is roughly 53 km of corrugations, creek crossings and slow, rocky sections. It is signed for high-clearance 4WD only, can take 2 to 3 hours one way, and usually closes during the wet season. Most standard motorhome hire contracts do not allow this road, even if the van looks tough in the servo car park.

• Do: read your vehicle conditions before committing to camping the Bungle Bungles inside the park.
• Don’t: sneak a 2WD camper down the track; recovery bills out here are not cute.
• Plan B: leave the motorhome at a highway-side holiday park and use a permitted 4WD transfer or scenic flight to see the domes.

If you are searching for the Bungle Bungles top 10 holiday park, here is the plain Kimberley answer: there are not ten polished resort-style parks lined up at the gate. This is station country, roadhouse country and big-sky country. The useful places are the ones with a legal site, water, fuel nearby and enough room to swing a longer van without collecting a bollard.

The closest base is near the highway turn-off on Mabel Downs Station. Warmun is the next practical northern base, while Halls Creek is the southern reset point with fuel, groceries and mechanical odds-and-ends. Kununurra works well if you want a fuller-service town before or after the Bungles.

• Closest practical base: Bungle Bungle Caravan Park near the highway access road.
• Best supply reset: Halls Creek or Kununurra, depending on your direction.
• Don’t assume: every bush campground has a dump point, potable water or powered sites.

The Kimberley rewards the organised and quietly punishes the casual. A powered site before or after Purnululu is not just about air-conditioning; it is a chance to recharge batteries, cool the fridge properly, fill water, empty the toilet cassette and get the red dust out of places you did not know a van had.

Inside Purnululu, Kurrajong and Walardi are national park campgrounds, not holiday parks. Expect bush camping conditions: no powered sites, limited facilities and bookings required through WA Parks. Fees and rules change, but adult camping fees are commonly around the mid-teens per night, plus park entry, so check the current DBCA details before you roll in.

• Do: use signed dump points only; roadside toilet dumping is illegal and feral.
• Do: carry drinking water for at least 2 days beyond your planned stay.
• Don’t: rely on getting a powered site late in the dry season school holidays without booking.

The bitumen run between Kununurra and Halls Creek is about 360 km, with Warmun and roadhouse stops breaking it up. That sounds manageable until a headwind arrives, the fridge is working hard in 38°C heat, and a triple road train fills the mirror like a moving wall of red dust.

Most hired motorhomes have a useful fuel range, but in the Kimberley the old rule still stands: top up when you can, not when the fuel light starts offering spiritual advice. In the dry season, May to September is the comfortable window; October and November can be brutally hot, and the wet can close unsealed access with little sympathy.

• Do: pull well clear before stopping for photos or lunch.
• Do: let road trains pass when safe; keep left, hold steady and avoid sudden braking.
• Don’t: plan a long afternoon drive into the low sun if you are tired, hot and low on water.

The obvious prize is the beehive domes, Cathedral Gorge, Echidna Chasm and the orange-black sandstone bands that make every camera feel underqualified. But the best self-drive move is often to park the campervan legally, sleep properly, and visit the park in a way your hire agreement allows.

Things to do near the Bungle Bungles also include scenic flights from nearby bases, short walks in Purnululu if you have permitted access, Warmun art and culture stops, and the long, strange beauty of the highway itself. It is not a theme park. That is the point.

• Do: book park camping, 4WD transfers or flights ahead in the dry season.
• Do: carry a fly net if you are camping in shoulder months; you will look ridiculous and feel clever.
• Don’t: fly drones in national park areas unless you have the proper permission.