Pinnacle Desert One Day Tour

Tour Review

There are so many wild and wonderful things to see and do in every direction from Perth, Western Australia. Possibly one of the most iconic and well known tourist destinations in the expansive state of WA is the Pinnacles Desert in Nambung National Park, 220km’s North of Perth. I’ve seen so many photos, and videos of the Pinnacles Desert so figured it was time to get up there and have a look for myself. It also gave me the chance to make a video and get some photos of my own. This tour has the Pinnacles as the highlight, but as we (my mate Nathan got on board too) found out the fun way there is so much more to this tour than just the Pinnacles Desert.

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We got picked up near Perth by the friendly tour crew, and they took us to Barrack Street Jetty at the bottom of Perth city where the tour departs. There are pickups from the city hotels on request but, if you are staying in the city it’s easy enough to walk down to Barrack Street jetty. What we found interesting near the jetty was the Bell Tower so, we checked that out before boarding our tough looking 4WD for a 8am departure. Our guide Grant welcomed us aboard, and we also had Kirsty with us as our guide for the day. There were about 15 people on the tour, all of us excited to see more of Western Australia.

First stop on our adventure was Caversham Wildlife Park. To get there, we had to travel through Gilford in the Swan Valley Region. Gilford was the first area in Western Australia to start wineries, and now there are over 50 wineries in the region. We spent about an hour at Caversham Wildlife park, and there was no time wasted. We were greeted by Kangaroos (white ones which I’ve never seen before) of all different sizes that we got to feed and pat. We then made our way over to see Neil the Wombat; he’s got the life. He just lays back being held and he’ll let you touch him.

Next was the Koalas just taking it easy eating their eucalyptus leaves. They were all very friendly. We found out that the myth about Koalas getting drunk on the leaves is actually untrue. The real story is that they don’t get a lot of energy from the leaves so they have to keep eating consistently while conserving energy so they move slowly. I think I like the other story better.

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The next stop on our trip was the Emu Downs Wind Farm. On the way, we got to know Grant as he started to get into the commentary which was free flowing and very interesting. He talked about everything from the flora and fauna and the mining industry to the northern parts of WA. He was very knowledgeable and informative. One of the facts that stuck out was that there are 3 different types of diamonds that come out of Western Australia. One of the most famous being the pink diamond from the Argyle diamond mines. It was hard to miss the huge wind turbines as we pulled into Emu Downs. There are 48 turbines in the area which is about 30 kilometres from the coast so gets a good amount of the sea breeze. The turbines produce power for a desalination plant just south of Perth. We also learned about the Kangaroo Claw plant. We saw the black one, but the red one is the state plant for Western Australia.

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Lobster Shack

We boarded the 4WD and started to make our way to the Lobster Shack in Cervantes for lunch. A third generation business, these guys know their lobster and have made a very impressive business that exports lobster around the world. I couldn’t help but think of Bubba from Forrest Gump going in here, with all the different ways to cook lobster and how these would be prime ‘lobstering waters’.

There is a reef they call the ‘3 mile reef’ running along the coast between Trig and Two Rocks. It’s about 3 miles off the beach from them. The whole tour from start to lunch was great. They showed us through the whole process and we were given hand held devices to make it easier to get the full story. It is a working packing shed and can be a little loud for a guide. The tour worked well, at the end all I could think about was the Lobster lunch, and it was delicious. The full lobster lunch is a little extra and has to be paid for at the Lobster Shack, but if you don’t feel like the lobster then the normal lunch is great too.

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Pinnacles Desert

We boarded the bus fully satisfied and start making our way towards Nambung National Park and the Pinnacles Desert. I’ve seen so many photos and videos about the Pinnacles but have never seen it firsthand. The Pinnacles cover over 17 hectares, and it is approximately 220 kilometres north of Perth. The whole area used to be the ocean floor. Imagine that each Pinnacle goes as deep as 40 meters into the earth to a limestone floor. The Pinnacles that we see are just the tips.

We spent about an hour there walking through them and around them on the way up to the lookout to get a 360 degree view. There is something unique about the Pinnacles Desert, and it was certainly a highlight of the trip.

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The Pinnacles

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