Cervantes

The Pinnacles Desert was on our caravaning itinerary. In fact, it was where we planned to go during the last few days on the road. But the more we researched it, the more we felt like we needed to look for an alternative way of getting there. So, we decided to add those days to extend our time in Perth and do a tour from there instead.

I came up with a couple of daytime tour options. But then I read about the “Pinnacles Sunset Dinner Stargazing Tour” our friends Sonia and Boris did a few weeks ago. We settled on that one as it would allow us to kill two birds with one stone … enjoy The Pinnacles and see a sky full of stars far away from light pollution.

The Pinnacles of Nambung National Park are one of the state’s most visited natural attractions. It’s an ancient landscape along the Indian Ocean … dotted with limestone formations that were formed some 25,000-30,000 years ago … after the sea receded and left sea shell deposits to the mercy of Mother Nature’s erosive power … and the sand to the vagaries of the wind, thus exposing The Pinnacles.

Our tour was a long one … requiring a 2-hour+ drive each way from Perth. Since stargazing was an important part of the tour, we started off around 2:00p with a pick-up from the Holiday Inn just down the street from us.

There were a few stops prior to arriving at The Pinnacles to while away some of the daylight hours. The first one was at the white sand dunes of Lancelin for sand boarding. On a no-wind day, we might have done the boarding, but not today. Instead, we opted for the drop off at the Lancelin Sands Hotel where we enjoyed the coastal views as we sipped beverages and waited for the sand boarders to return. Then a quick 10-minute stop at Hangover Bay for a photo op … and a toe-dip in the Indian Ocean.

Once we arrived at The Pinnacles, our driver/guide — Skip — maneuvered the midi-bus around the tight curves of the narrow, dirt road that circles the formations. At about the halfway point — away from the crowds — he pulled into a wide spot in the road, shooed us off to explore the amazing landscape, and began to set up for our barbecue dinner and stargazing.

Mui and I had a lovely wander around the formations … the setting sun in the distance adding a coral/orange hue to the formations in one direction … more of a yellow hue in the other direction. We kept our eyes peeled for kangaroos and emus … but only saw footprints in the sand.

Dinner was a rather hurried affair as sunset turned to night. We wanted to get the lights turned off so that we could enjoy the display of stars, constellations, and stars in the dark canopy above our heads.

Skip set up a telescope for us to take a closer look at Jupiter and four of its moons and Orion. In the opposite direction was the Southern Cross. Alas, no good way of getting photos of the amazing sky with the phone … and with the moonrise not scheduled until after we had to leave the park (9:00p deadline), there wasn’t a heavenly body close enough to photograph through the telescope either. But we did see several shooting stars and the satellite train that Skip identified as Skylink.

The experience was worth the long drive … and the very late return to the city. It was already Saturday by the time we got home.Read more