The Pinnacles and Fremantle

We were up and on the bus before dawn for today’s long journey to the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. I didn’t sleep on the bus at all though as I wanted to see everything I could of this different landscape. We drove about 120 km through the bush stopping at an estuary on the way out and a beach on the way back and viewing many and various types of vegetation which was totally unfamiliar to us. Our guide told us that there are 650 species of eucalypts in Australia — no wonder we aren’t familiar with most of the plants! While I couldn’t get pictures of the plants at 100 km per hour I did get this lichen which looked different from ours at home.

The water at both beaches was clear and warm and the sand was clean and white. And the seaweed was pink this time. As always, Brenda and I had a nice wade.

Lunch was at the Lobster Shack in Cervantes where we had a tour of the lobster processing facility before we tasted their catch. The lobster men of Cervantes bring in 600 tons of lobster per year; one tenth of the country’s total catch. The lobster boats are on the horizon here waiting for morning.

The main event of the day was the thousands of limestone pinnacles in the sand dunes which form a real contrast to the bush heath surrounding them. No one understands exactly why or when they were formed but they make for an interesting meander and the tour allowed us enough time to really enjoy them.

While the sand at the pinnacles is orange the dunes nearby are pure, beautiful white and they were calling to me loudly but, alas, we couldn’t stop.

They say that Perth is the third windiest city in the world, after Chicago and Wellington, NZ, so (look closely at the first picture here) maybe I wouldn’t have wanted to be there with a camera after all.