However, we were still up at 6am, and on the road by 6.20am with a coffee inside us. We simply transferred the children from their beds to the cab in their PJs.
We started driving in the dark, so were a bit cautious of kangaroos, and woke the kids up to witnress the sun rise. First brief stop was a tree, one of many that has been shaped by the prevailing and strong winds that is common around the Geraldton area.
Then it was onwards South along the recently constructed Indian Ocean Road - much across reclaimed land, then through the Port Jurian (which had suffered some damage in the recent storms), and then onto Cervantes and the Nambug National Park which is also called the Pinnacles Desert. Here, thousands of huge limestone pillars rise out of a landscape of yellow sand (elsewhere then are still fairly young sand dunes in the vicinity). In places they reach up to three and a half metres tall. Some are jagged, sharp-edged columns, rising to a point; while others resemble tombstones.
According to their website "The raw material for the limestone of the pinnacles came from sea shells in an earlier epoch rich in marine life. These shells were broken down into lime-rich sands which were brought ashore by waves and then carried inland by the wind to form high, mobile dunes. Three old systems of sand dunes run parallel to the WA coast, marking ancient shorelines.
The oldest of these, known as the Spearwood dune system, is characterised by yellow or brownish sands. In winter, rain, which is slightly acidic, dissolves small amounts of calcium carbonate as it percolates down through the sand. As the dune dries out during summer, this is precipitated as a cement around grains of sand in the lower levels of the dunes, binding them together and eventually producing a hard limestone rock, known as Tamala Limestone.
Although the formation of the Pinnacles would have taken many thousands of years, they were probably only exposed in quite recent times. Aboriginal artefacts at least 6,000 years old have been found in the Pinnacles Desert despite no recent evidence of Aboriginal occupation. This tends to suggest that the Pinnacles were exposed about 6,000 years ago and then covered up by shifting sands, before being exposed again in the last few hundred years. This process can be seen in action today - with the predominantly southerly winds uncovering pinnacles in the northern part of the Pinnacles Desert but covering those in the south. Over time, the limestone spires will no doubt be covered again by other sand drifts and the cycle repeated, creating weird and wonderful shapes over and over again.".
As we walked around in the eerie desert landscape, the heavens open, and we got soaked - being around 1 km from the car park we had little choice but to grin and bear it. Our first real soaking in Australia, but the kids saw the funny side of it, especially as bright blue sky and warmth appeared just as we got back to the van. For the first time in the whole trip we put the heating on in the van!
Then it was onto Perth, past fields of sheep, and ancient grass boys trees in equal measure.
We arrived at our friends the Brania's house in the Wembley area of Perth around 1.30pm - all feeling tired - which is nothing given the Brania's returned home yesterday after a 30 hour flight from USA - so we really had not too much to complain about.
Then it was off to near the airport to return the campervan. On the very first day, we had hit a tree branch by misjudging the height of the 3.4 metre van, so wondered if we would be charged for that, but they did not seem the least bit bothered, so we got our full deposit back.
A nap for Jim, while the girls caught up on TV and Joseph on his diary.
A few days in civilisation will be nice.
Stayed with Tony, Tania, Natshia and Josh Brania at 221 Jersey St, Wembley, Perth
River Gum Tree adapting to (constant) prevailing wind
Friendly spider
Pinacles - pillars in the desert
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