4. Australia - Pinnacles to the Great Southern Ocean

Covering 15 September to 19 September 2019.

some of The Pinnacles with drifted white sand behind

On leaving Cervantes, we visited the relatively nearby Pinnacles National Park, an area of odd geological formations set amongst sand dunes.  The Pinnacles are limestone rocks, roughly pointed, standing four to ten feet out of the sand and there are hundreds of them, looking a bit like misshapen standing stones on a European Neolithic site.  Nobody knows exactly how they were formed and the two complicated suggestions in the visitor centre both seem implausible to me.

and yet more Pinnacles

one variety of the insect eating Sundews

Road signs appear regularly with comments like “Local Police are Targeting Speeding” which I thought took Aussie friendliness to a new extreme being a great message for any bank robbers awaiting their chance.  We’ve also seen “Targeting Fatigue”, “Targeting Burglary” and “Targeting Drink Driving” linked with “We know the Limit, Do You”.   Hardly seen any police or police cars while we’ve been here though.

in the Badgingarra National Park, close to sundown

the main shopping street in York

Here in Australia there are many Shires and while I’m not sure what the exact comparison to Britain is, I think probably local councils.  We regularly see signs welcoming us to The Shire of X or Y.  One very attractive town we visited with a main street of early 20^th century buildings was called York and it was in the Shire of York too.  It was one of those places we’ve seen many of here that are very reminiscent of United States small towns.

you might wonder as I did, how they get the engine out

Castle Hotel, York

All the camp sites we’ve stayed on have regular shower blocks with standard facilities but some of the National Parks lavatories are the old Long-drop Dunnies.  A normal lavatory seat but no u-bend, just a long drop to somewhere you would not want to drop your phone into.  They are pumped out and are surprisingly unsmelly.  We do enjoy the freedom of having a Motorhome and overall it probably works out about the same or cheaper than hotel plus car, especially when you add in restaurant lunch and dinner every day plus any drink stops.  Then of course we can choose a restaurant if we can find one.  Out in the wild blue yonder, it’s usually pub type stuff so we don’t bother.

everlasting flowers are cultivated in WA for the dried flower market, here they are growing in the wild

Aussies will often ask we’re we’re from and when we say England the response is usually “yeah, but where in England ?”  Then when we’ve told them and ask where they’re from the answer is invariably Shropshire or South London or somewhere, followed by “but I’ve been out here since 1960/1952/1972”.  I asked one of them who he supported when Australia played England at some sporting event.  “Well England of course”.  Think about it.

a Galah, beautiful but we were told 'a bit of a pest'

from near the top of the Granite Sky Walk

The Stirling Range to the north from the sky walk

Our itinerary is pretty much dictated by whichever National Parks take our fancy.  One not far off our route was Porongurup which we visited to climb up to the Granite Sky Walk.  This was another example of the Aussies willingness to spend money in order to attract visitors with no extra charge over the National Park Entry Fee.  We’d bought a four week ticket  which gave us admittance to all Western Australia’s NPs.   After a fairly steep climb at Porongurup of about two miles through some very good forest with varied tree and smaller plant species in abundance, we arrived at a summit consisting of huge weather worn granite boulders.  That’s much, much bigger than house sized boulders.  Metal rungs hammered into the rock took us part way to the top, then there was a thirty to forty foot ladder and we were on the Skywalk.  This was a stainless steel walkway cantilevered out from the rock face with stunning views out and also straight through the mesh floor to the forest below.  With the fierce winds channelling through the granite it was not so much hang on to your hat but hang on to your head.  A big wobbly leggy but great views all around, including north to the Stirling Ranges where we expect to be in a week or so.

on the sky walk.  That's not a bandage,
 it's to prevent losing an eye by hair whipping in the wind

The Great Southern Ocean meets Australia




 

Getting to just about the most southerly point of Western Australia, we pitch up in Albany for the night, expecting to just visit the National Park office for info the next day and then bye, bye Albany.  The woman we were talking to (and for some reason nearly all the Tourist Info staff are women) asked if we were going to The Gap.  We weren’t but as it was fairly close, her well put together argument of “oh, you should go”, persuaded us.  As serendipity strikes just like the unexpected, when you least expect it, The Gap turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip so far.

exposed to the elements at The Gap

40 metres (124 feet) from sea level to the cliff top

Sitting as it does on the south coast, Albany faces the Great Southern Ocean with nothing between it and Antarctica except lots of very cold water.  The Gap is a cleft in the cliffs which at this point stand over 120 feet high and out to which has been built a stainless steel (yes, you guessed) cantilevered platform out over the sea just where the view is best.  It was a brilliantly clear and sunny day but the very strong wind was from due south and was freezing.  Out to sea was nothing but white horses and a few small islands apparently being beaten into submission.  We donned our full waterproofs and padded coats as protection and headed out.  Now the force of the waves crashing into the cleft, up and over the clifftop really was awesome.  The view was fantastic and it seemed that a faller would last no more than a few seconds in what was mostly white water.

The Gap platform with South Island in the background

South Island being caressed by the Great Southern Ocean

On a whim we decide to head for the Fitzgerald River National Park, a mere 333 kilometres to the east.