The Perth Project

Week 16 of the Perth Project.

Let’s face it, on the whole spectrum of tourist attractions in Australia, Western Australia in the only state to have a fetish for rocks. In fact, it’s a pastime of ours to market how important it is to your travelling experience to visit some form of geological artefact. For example, we have Wave Rock, the town of Boulder, the Bungle Bungle and of course the most famous of them all, the Pinnacles. It surprises me how many people live only a couple of hours away and have never taken the time to drive up to the town of Cervantes to witness these amazing sculptures. Now for those who have no Idea what I’m talking about and are thinking that the Pinnacles is something related to some monumental moment of your life, Ill fill you in. Besides the fact that they are rocks, as we have already established that, they are infact incrediable towers of limestone that have taken thousands of years to form. And unlike Wave Rock which is small and a little disappointing, the Pinnacles form a vast desert surrounded by sapphire blue waters, sunburnt sand and perfect blue skies.

The Pinnacles is located in Nambung National Park and is about 2 and half hours north of Perth.  I found myself up here with 3 uni mates working on a sustainable tourism project. There is nothing quite like getting in a car with 3 others you barely know and hurdling a couple hundred kilometres up the road, in some groups this can be disastrous – just for an example, an issue you may come accross is music and more importantly what music an individual decides to put on whilst driving up (Apparently its never to early for clubbing music). The group consisted of two Reunion Islanders (French) and a fellow Sandgroper. The ironic thing is I didn’t even know about Reunion Island unill I saw an ad for it when I watched Avatar, and then two weeks later I meet two members from this lost French Island. Anyway, we hit the road early, full of coffee and sugar, arriving into Cervantes about 11ish. Checking into the only caravan park and setting up our tents besides a small sand dune that opens up to the calmest  of blue waters I’ve seen in a long time. You could see small islands of the coast and fisherman on the beach casting a line.

We arrived into Nambung National Park about 1pm and began our observations, which I won’t bore you with. The Pinnacles has a fantastic interpretation centre  which explores how the towers formed as well as how the area developed into what it is today. After benefiting from the air conditioned building, we decided to run through the millions of flies back into the confines of the car. Trying to shut the door before any annoying winged pests could find their way in. The Pinnacles is effectively a big desert with a long circular road, which  you slowy drive around and stop at different parts to take photos or just to admire the amazing scenery. If you pick the time right ,you will be gifted with the changing moods of the sky,  where the sands beautifully change colours from violent yellow to red ochres as the sun disappears over the ocean. The shadows  of the pinnacles slowly creep up on you as if you were being stalking by the night.

The rest of the afternoon was devoted to feeding the fish, some people also refer to it as fishing. This old sea dog was sitting on the pier bringing in fish after fish, with the catch of the day easily being an amazing species of squid he caught. However no mater how much I tried, and even after diving into to the waters after I knocked a palstic bag with all my hooks in, all I could catch was a blowey. One day I’ll master it….hopefully.

It will cost you $11 for per car for entry into The Pinnacles, and if you go after 4.30pm for the sunset, entry is by honour box – wink, wink, nudge, nudge.  The camping site is about $20 a night for a tent and provides good shower/cooking facilities. If you’re in need of an ale, well you won’t find one. However if you want a beer, then the central Tavern is a good place to grab one. The crowd is good natured and enjoy a good game of snooker and a bet or two. Or in the case of our clubbing music lover, the ability to chat up a 16 year old, which we had to then politely point out that she was too young and no, you cant take her back to your tent, especially considering our tents are next door.

After a great nights sleep, an early morning swim and a yummy breakfast,we headed back to Perth, successfully gathering all the data for our project. The Pinnacles has always been a favourite of mine and if you haven’t had the chance to see it yet, grab yourself a tent and head up. It’s also a great stop if you’re going further north to Kalbarri or Shark Bay. Just don’t forget your clubbing music…

Thanks to Elise, Regis and Julia for the photos – it was an awesome trip! If you want more info on the Pinnacles-  or if you’d rather see what the worlds biggest squid looks like, click here – if that doesnt give you the creeps, nothing will.

Popularity: 52% [?]

On Thursday Nicole and I went searching for hiking trails, waterfalls and native wildlife. To be honest I’ve never gone hiking in Perth before, I’ve scaled mountains half the size of Everest, however Perth has never really appealed to me. So not knowing much and doing a little research, I discovered that Serpentine National Park, 75km south of Perth. So we packed the hiking gear and set off on our hiking adventure.

The Serpentine National Park is an easy drive away, offering cooking and parking facilities, toilets and the chance to swim under a waterfall. It will cost you $11 for park fees which you leave in the honesty box as you drive in. There were a few tourists and local kids who come for a swim, but we had most of the park to ourselves.  The Serpentine Falls is a about 200 meters from the car park and has a handy eco built walkway to get you there.  Those fun memories of childhood will return to you as you jump from the rocks into a large blue lagoon….sorry I can’t do it ! It’s not blue, it’s brown! But a “brown Lagoon” doesn’t sound so appealing – so I’m using a little purple prose. It’s fresh water thou! Just watch out for any underwater rocks and excited bombies from the locals.

After visiting the waterfall we decided to begin the Kitty’s Gorge hiking trail. The hiking went a bit like this – I marched Niki to the top of the hill, then I marched her down again. When we were up, we were up. When we were down, we were down. When we were half way up, we were neither up nor down. By the way, the hill that the old king walks up is in France, not England – that was an embarrassing conversation I had on that day. The hike passed through the beautiful Kitty’s Gorge, a 7 km track from Serpentine to Jarrahdale. The trail snakes its way along the Serpentine Valley river and passes incredible waterfalls that you can take a quick dip in or a quiet picnic at. It passes through bushland and open plains dotted with heritage mud cottages and old wooden bridges once used during the development of this area. We came across heaps of wildlife including Kangaroos and native birds. There were also hundreds of Butterflies fluttering by as we walked through the bush, I’ve never seen so many in one place before.

The trail is a grade 4 walk, so a little fitness is required, however I found most of it to be straight forward with no major climbs or scrambling involved. Here are a few pointers which will make your trip a bit easier. Firstly take at least 2l of water for each day you spend out here, some good sunscreen and plenty of fly repellent as your’re likely to be a walking buffet. We spent lunchtime overlooking an isolated waterfall before making our return trip to the car park to spend some quality time with a small kangaroo family who had made the picnic area their home. We had the chance to feed them grass and they allowed us to pet them for the privilege. Being Niki’s first experience with a Kangaroo up close,  they shared a special moment – especially when one of the kangaroos started sniffing the camera – unfortantly it all went downhill from there. Two Kangaroos decided they wanted a boxing match with each other with Niki as the referee. Niki had to make a mad dash for it just as their right paw hooks landed on each other. The bigger one won!

Anyway all this talking about kings and hills, I think its time to head to iconic Kings Park.

Serpentine National Park

Kitty’s Gorge Trail

Popularity: 10% [?]

Five months of sitting around in Melbourne, studying externally and psycho psychotic weather has led Niki and I to the conclusion that a sea change is order. With comments of “you wont make it”, “your stupid”, “your car is crap” and “why the hell would you want to go there!” – We have packed the car and set off to travel to Perth.

Our route will take us through Ballarat to Adelaide, stoping in the city of churches for a day. Before heading onto steaky sorry streaky bay, for a relaxed overnight stay before attempting the very long, treeless landscape of the Nullarbor. Apparently it can be seen from space, why anyone would be looking there from space is another question. Following onto Western Australia and to our new home…

Our little red car (Niki has affectionately named Chilli) is fully loaded like a Mexican drug trafficker – gear put in every nook, cranny and hole that we can find. I’ve always wanted a car that sat that low to the ground! So as of 5am Saturday morning we are on the road again exploring the great central landscape and people of Australia. This should be an eye opener…

Popularity: unranked [?]