Perth, Australia Day Two

Since we were able to reschedule our Rottnest Island tickets for the 23rd, we decided to drive north of Perth about 3 hours to see the Pinnacles, which are really unique limestone rock structures in the middle of Nambung National Park. Let me tell you, it doesn’t take long to realize you’re driving in a whole lot of nothing when you get out of Perth! This part of Western Australia reminds me a bit of West Texas, with a lot of scrub brush but not a lot of trees. Walking through the Pinnacles was really something else and well worth the trip. Imagine thousands of limestone pillars of different heights rising out of sand dunes the color of corn meal - really wild! We spent an hour or so walking around the area enjoying the dunes as well as the views of the Indian Ocean in the background and then drove to the beach to enjoy some lunch. We found the perfect spot for lunch - just outside the park entrance, we turned off the main road and turned down a smaller road that led to a parking area. From there we walked up a short path through the sand dunes and there was a picnic table on the dunes, looking out over the ocean with a beautiful white sand beach and no one around! Too much.

Tomorrow we head out to Rottnest Island and hopefully when we get to the airport I’ll have some internet access to write about it. What’s cool about the island, though, is it’s car-free so you can rent bikes to explore the island which we plan to do. The other thing we’re looking forward to is hopefully seeing some Quokkas, small marsupial mammals that are found only on the island and are supposed to be quite inquisitive. The name for the island comes from Dutch explorer William de Vlamingh who discovered the island and mistook the Quokkas for rats, hence the name, which means rat’s nest in Dutch. They look really cute, though, so I’m guessing we’ll like them better than rats!