There is no question in our minds that the highlight of our recent weekend trip to Perth was our visit to the Pinnacles. Considering that we had to endure a thirteen hour trip on a tour bus that smelled like dead fish and had no air conditioning, this is praise indeed. It is perhaps just as well that the weather turned cold and rainy. We had hoped to see the Pinnacles in at least a few rays of sunshine, but alas, that was not to be. Never mind. The colors were spectacular regardless, and the other-worldly landscape falls within my category of 'not-to-be-missed' sites in Australia.
Our trip to Perth all came about due to a certain famous rugby match in New Zealand. Our friend David, who is a Kiwi by birth, hit upon the idea of taking Ross and the boys to watch the Aussies play against New Zealand. The girls weren't really interested in going to the rugby, but on the other hand, didn't think we should stay home and let the boys have all the fun. So Ross looked into places we could fly for a long weekend using airmiles, and Perth came up as the most obvious. Gillian and I had hoped for a warm, sunny location to break up the rather miserable Melbourne spring. We thought we had a good chance finding that in the world's sunniest capital.
We did see sun on our first and third days, but the middle day, Saturday, started off overcast and steadily grew worse throughout the day. Hoping to avoid the hassle of renting a car and reading a map, we opted for an all day bus tour. I had checked out the forecast for the Pinnacles the day before and read on my phone 'sunny and 85 degrees.' That may have been the correct forecast somewhere in the world, but it certainly wasn't correct for The Pinnacles. We met the bus at 7.10 am dressed in skirts, shorts and sandals, a mistake we later regretted.
Most tours in Australia include the obligatory Australia wildlife introduction for overseas visitors, and this one was no different. We were ushered into the park by a friendly host and herded into the kangaroo enclosure. Here we were given handfuls of food. This is the only time I have come across white kangaroos. They do not occur naturally in the wild, but rather, according to our guide, have been bred for this unique trait. Katie and Gillian are of the opinion that white is not a good color on kangaroos. I'm not sure what I think---the white does make me think of a rat rather than a marsupial.
From the kangaroos, we went in for a photo opportunity with Amelia the wombat, Weighing in at thirty kilos (66 lbs), Amelia is no lightweight. She seemed docile enough, and allowed all who desired to stroke her back leg. Victorian zoos don't allow visitors to touch animals, but apparently things are a bit more lax in WA. We were also permitted to touch one of the koalas.
After the brief wildlife encounter, we climbed back onto the bus and drove for a couple of hours. Eventually we reached a windmill farm. I believe the primary reason we stopped here was to kill a bit of time before lunch, and possibly also to see the wildflowers, which happen to be at their peak in the months of August to October. I found the black kangaroo paw to be the most intriguing.
The carpet of wildflowers is certainly different to what I am accustomed to in a North American spring.
The lobster fishing town of Cervantes was our stopping point for lunch. I thought the name Cervantes might have something to do with the windmills we had just visited, but no, that is just coincidence. Cervantes is named after an American ship that wrecked on the nearby reef (Australians pronounce it 'Cer - vaaan - tease'). We spent a few minutes shivering on the shore of the Indian Ocean before climbing back on the bus once again. "Will we ever get to the Pinnacles?" both girls wanted to know. 'We hope so!' was the reply.
Fortunately, the Pinnacles did not disappoint. I had spent the past six hours wondering if the bus tour was a big mistake, but once we stepped out into the desert like setting, we were entranced. We hung back to allow our fellow passengers to get a head start on the trail, and soon had the main area almost to ourselves. The Pinnacles started attracting visitors in the relatively recent past--about the time they became part of Nambung National Park in the 1960s. An interpretive center was completed in 2008.
Our driver told us that the Pinnacles are made of limestone, which formed as a result of rain falling on mounds of sand. These types of formations can be found underground in other parts of the world, but this part of Westeran Australia is the only place where they have been exposed above ground.
The day had already been long, and the rain had begun to fall as we boarded the bus once again, but the tour was far from finished. In fact our bus driver was just beginning to come into his element. I had decided that he was a bit of a dud, at least compared to previous enthusiastic guides that we have enjoyed in other locations. Keith is a bit quiet, to be sure, and conveys his information in a manner that at best could be characterized as mildly interesting, but he comes into his own when it is time to turn the bus into a 4WD vehicle.
The first thing he did was let a whole bunch of air out of the bus tires in the town of Lancelin. This took about twenty minutes. Gillian had spent the seven or so hours on the bus reading and re-reading the travel brochure provided by the bus company, so we were well acquainted with its contents. We knew that the tour included "4 wheel driving on the sand dunes followed by sand boarding,' but still we were completely unprepared for what came next. 'Make sure your seat belts are fastened and your bags are underneath the seat in front of you,' called out Keith. The next thing we knew we were headed straight up a sand dune.
We came to the top, paused for a brief second, and then the bus plunged straight downward. Screams erupted from several of the passengers (but not from yours truly---I was holding my breath). Keith was just getting started. Up and down and around we went, each time slightly more terrifying than the time before. To think that we were doing this in a giant tour bus seemed preposterous, but there we were. After fifteen or so minutes, Keith gave us the opportunity to get off and take photos. I jumped off, leaving the rest of our party on board.
This time, as the bus came over the crest of the hill, it stopped in its tracks and hung suspended for what seemed like a period of five minutes or more. I was convinced it was stuck. The rain began to increase, and I had visions of climbing the sand dune to help rescue everyone before a long, wet, cold walk to the nearest town. Worried as I was, I snapped a few photos, but I did not begin to do justice to the entire scene.
The bus did eventually come down the hill, and once everyone was safely on board again, Keith declared that it was time to go sand boarding. I think all of the adults were more than ready to head back to Perth and skip the sand boarding, but Harriet and Sophie leaped up out of their seats and came charging down the aisle. 'We want to go sand boarding!' they declared. Crazy girls, we thought, but then they had been looking forward to this part of the tour all day. They absolutely loved it, and after watching them speed down the cold wet sand a few times, several other passengers decided to give it a go. I confined my activity to taking photos, but had I been dressed more appropriately, I think I would have joined them. It looked like snow sledding to me, and Sophie later confirmed that it was in fact similar.
By the time we had brushed away what sand we could, Sophie and Harriet were chilled to the bone. Sophie later confided to me that she was so cold that she had been worried about frost bite. The falling dusk made us wish all the more that we could magically be transported back to Perth, but instead, we had another two hours to go. It was with sore muscles, sand-covered clothing, and cold extremities that we made our way back to our hotel for a late dinner.
'Was it worth it?' we asked each other as we waited for the food to arrive. 'Absolutely!' was the unanimous response.
If I were to visit Perth again, I would rent a car, drive to the Pinnacles and stay overnight nearby in order to view them at either sunrise or sunset. The advantage of the bus tour, though, is the thrilling 4WD ride on the sand dunes at Lancelin and not having to think about the details.
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