I worked this morning and once Kimbo got home we got away just after 5.30pm for our destination of Guilderton, a little fishing town at the mouth of the Moore River less than 100km north of Perth and then a side trip to the Pinnacles. Good thing most of the packing was done last night. We were caught up in the bitumen brawl until 6.30pm and it rained most of the way out. We hit a cocky just past Yanchep and it scared the s*** out of me. It rained and blew a gale all the way. It was a little calmer when we got to Guilderton but lots of lightning. Finally we had the tent up and had our dinner – a packet of chips and a beer!! Had a terrible night trying to sleep and we had to get up often to batten down the hatches!

Saturday morning woke to dry and almost warm conditions although the wind hadn't abated and it stayed that way all day. Thankfully the sun was out otherwise it would have been truly miserable. After brekky and reading the paper we went for a walk down the beach…….atrocious conditions. There were quite a few young blokes body boarding. The river is a funny colour, like strong tea and I’m told it’s because of the minerals that are washed down the river, others say it’s because of the tannin from the tea trees that line the bank. I was shattered listening to the footy in the comfort of our tent that Adelaide were beaten by Essendon in the Prelim final by 11 points, after being up by 7 goals at ½ time – how did that happen? After footy we went for a drive. The wildflowers are prolific Geraldton waxes growing everywhere. We took some 4WD tracks along the Moore River and then drove up to the lighthouse but the weather was so bad we couldn’t see much. Back to the tent we went and the rain was still pelting down and it was colder than last night. Had a BBQ for dinner then had a very early night as the torch wasn’t much good for anything and we couldn’t use the gas light as we had the fridge going……..ah the joys of camping!

Much to our surprise the wind had completely died down overnight and although it rained a lot it was a glorious day. A cooked brekky to start the day was perfect. We were gone by 10.00am for the next leg of our adventure to Cervantes. We filled up with fuel at Lancelin (an even smaller fishing "town") and after asking what the track was like we were told “no worries”. Ah famous last words! The hardest thing was trying to work out which track to take. We found one that seemed the way to go. Looming out of nowhere was a big red and white structure high above the sandhills but we couldn’t work out what it was. Next thing there was a sign and a fence stating it was the boundary of the Lancelin Bombing Range used by the RAN aircraft. We skirted its boundary until there was an opening and across the range we went – we certainly weren’t the first ones to do it. Then another fence stating louder and clearer that there were “unexploded projectiles” on the land – we chose to stay out. The big red and white erection looked like a rocket! Eventually we came to a T-intersection and hit what looked like the “main drag”. We still followed the fence and all the way it was covered in thongs and an assortment of underwear – weird wish I’d taken a photo! Eventually we came to a turnoff to Wedge Island – there is quite a settlement here with lots of shacks. Kimbo asked a girl in one of the shacks how to pick up the road again. She said “go via the beach and pick it up when the beach runs out”!!!!! This we did and at one stage it became very scary when there was hardly any beach left and the water (ocean that is) was very close – I panicked – and Kimbo wasn’t laughing either. Eventually we were able to leave the beach and head a bit inland. I’d had enough for one day.




Finally we were in the Nambung National Park, the home of the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are awesome, such a strange sight and feeling, they seem to go on forever. After a lot of driving and walking around we decided to come back at sunset.  

We took a quick trip to Lake Thetis to see the famous stromatolites (they’re about 2,500 million years old) and one of only a handful of places in the world where they live but I found them under whelming, just looked like rocks to me. Back to the Pinnacles we went.

There was nobody about at sunset and to be honest it was a bit spooky I feel like we’re in a graveyard and that the people have been buried standing up!!!! Wildflowers everywhere and very beautiful. It was almost 9.30pm by the time we got home and poor Kimbo has to be at work by 7.00am tomorrow. He’s a legend.