The Pinnacles

The next day we woke up to a 3 degree morning – none of us wanted to get out of bed. It was a whole 8 degrees inside the van until 10am! We drove to Jurien Bay for lunch – what a gorgeous spot this was! Stunning beach, lovely pier & playground, a coffee shop right on the beach and beautiful parkland. Alas, no vacancies in the caravan park L 

Love this quote!

So we drove on through Cervantes (give it a miss…it’s very grey & drab) and then drove out to Nambung Station behind the Pinnacles National Park. We were just in time to see the last half hour of sheep shearing! That was quite an education for the kids – especially when one of the shearers had to stitch up a fairly big….mistake. We also got to see (and be spat on by an) ALPACA! They look so cute until their ears point backwards – then you know you’re in trouble!

There was a lot of baa-ing that night at 3 degrees with no wool coats!

We spent another cold night here – too cold & windy to even huddle by a fire. The next day we visited the Pinnacles National Park. It’s certainly more commercialised than it was 15 years ago but still a lovely walk through the strange limestone fingers. 

"how is this standing up?"

Where are those 4 Cheeky Children?

There they are!

Desert View

On the return trip I was startled to see my boy come an inch from stepping on a fairly long whipsnake! It tried to strike but luckily Mr J got out of the way. Close enough to make this mumma’s heart beat furiously for the next hour. Thankfully not another hospital visit. Phew. Next time Mum or Dad in front watching where they’re going! (Although I seem to recall telling a little lad this each and every walk!)

Looked a little like the above whip snake (c/o Google)

We would have loved to have visited Lancelin for some fun sandboarding down the sand dunes but thought this was probably not wise given the circumstances. Next time!

The next day we pulled up stumps (did I mention I reversed the van into our Nambung Station camp?! See Dad I can do it :P) Then drove the long route round to Perth via New Norcia – a monk run town North west of Perth. It was stunning – an amazing collection of monastery, orphanages, schools and work buildings. However, the Europeanisation of Aboriginals that occurred here saddened me.