Truly a pinnacle of Australian tourism, the Pinnacles Desert is a sight to behold. Located on the coast of Western Australia, 200km north of Perth, it is not a place that is within easy reach of Australia’s estimated 7.5 million tourists per year, many of whom would stick to the Eastern sea board and never make it to WA at all. Just because it’s a really long way away.
Even from Yanchep, an outlying township of Perth, complete with its own National Park, it’s an effort to convince the family it’s worth the visit – time in the car with the little ones being a legitimate concern. Two young boys aren’t interest in sitting in the car for a couple of hours if they can help it, especially when sand and rocks are the only promise at the other end! Still, on the road we are after our morning stop in Guilderton and a swim in the Moore River.
I’m a bit squashed in the back of our borrowed car between the kids and their car seats. I can’t complain, it has been kindly lent to us, along with the holiday house in Yanchep, by our Brisbane neighbours. I wriggle myself into something that will not resemble comfort and try to keep the boys entertained, singing songs and playing eye-spy as the spectacular coastal scenery of the Indian Ocean Drive sweeps by on the way to Nambung National Park.
Finally we arrive and I squeeze myself back out of the car. They boys are refreshed of their energy and bound off into the visitors centre to take in the small informational display and, of course, the shop. We’re convinced enough that they get a pen each – one with a pink kangaroo stamp on the end, the other, a green koala.
Back to the car as the desert loop is designed that we are able to drive around. We have seen the windswept beaches and stark patches of yellow desert and dune sand, start against the tough coastal shrub land. Here, the yellow sand is disrupted by thousands of limestone formations jutting from the sort sand carpet of the desert.
There are plausible explanations and Dreamtime stories of how the Pinnacles came to be here. Some say that over thousands of years, shells and other marine life fossilised and was swept inland to form and then erode away, leaving only parts of what used to be here. Others say that the Aboriginals avoid the area believing that the pinnacles are fossilised ghosts. Whatever you believe, being here certainly allows the imagination to run wild.
We wander around the formations and through the clusters, peek out from behind the larger ones and chase the boys around the smaller ones. We hop back in the car and drive a little further. In every direction I look there are more interesting colors, formations and scenery.
I insist on another stop for some more pictures and take in the tranquility and the patterns in the rock and sand, suddenly alone out here for a minute. I feel utterly intrigued.
I could explore for much, much longer but after and hour or so, the novelty wears off for the children and it’s time to start the long drive back to Yanchep. Certainly there is not much to actually ‘do’ here but the trip is certainly worth it and I would like some time to just sit an contemplate this marvel of nature, whatever the explanation. A true pinnacle in every sense of the word.
Would I Return?
Yes, this is a true marvel of nature. Unless your children are old enough to appreciate the splendor though, perhaps best to leave them at home.
