Well yesterday we battled the wind and a little rain to make it to Cervantes, not far from the Pinnacles Desert in the Nambung National park.
We booked into The Pinnacles Caravan park in Cervantes for two nights, although after finding our site and setting up, we pretty much decided that one night would be plenty. Not sure if it is because we got spoilt staying in such a great park in Fremantle or not, but this would have to be the worst site I have seen. Even though we told them we have a large van, they stuck us on this tiny little corner site, and we can’t even put out the awning and park the car!!!
So, we thought we would do the tourist thing, and if we can get though it all then we would head off today and aim for Kalbarri.
As it is still blowing a gale, beaches are not overly enticing at the moment, so we headed of to see what else the town has to offer. First stop was Lake Thetis to see the stromatalites. They are believed to be the first creatures on the earth, and are basically bacteria that build rock like formations on the side of the lake. Wasn’t all that exciting, and the wind was almost pushing us into the water, so we didn’t stay too long!
Next stop was the interesting part. The Pinnacles Desert. We arrived there at 4:30pm and thought the entry price of $11 per car was a little steep, especially as we arrived so late in the day and the Discovery Centre had already closed! Turned out it was worth it.
There was a 4.2km track through the desert that you could drive as you wove between the pinnacles. The Pinnacles are tall Limestone rock formations surrounded by a yellow sand dessert. What was really amazing though is that they stretch as far as the eye can see, and after looking on Google maps, we only saw a very tiny percentage of the Desert!
Some of the rocks were up to 4m tall!! The kids had a ball running though the desert, and finding different shapes in the rocks. We had so much fun that we went around the track 3 times before I thought we had better head back to town for fuel.
Zac even decided that he would run the track, and probably ran for a good kilometer before getting back into the car. Luckily at the end of the day it wasn’t too hot. I think we actually picked the best time to visit.
As the sun started to sink, the light started to have amazing effects on the dessert and the rocks, and we watched a great sunset over the water to the west. Unfortunately I don’t think the camera really captured the effect.
We also spotted a family of Emu’s (another spot for me!!) making their way through the desert. Looked like a mum with her babies of for an evening stroll.
On the way back from the pinnacles, we stopped by Kangaroo point, and drove onto the beach to see the rest of the sunset. In the distant were some dunes that looked like snow capped peaks. I think Jess still doesn’t believe me when I say it is sand and not snow!!
