The Pinnacles and the Coral Coast

The final leg of our month in Australia took us north from Perth to the “Coral Coast.”

As we drove through the arid landscape we were on the lookout for wildlife and spotted a couple of kangaroos.

We made it to our AirBnb in Jurien Bay late in the afternoon and the kids were eager to walk over to the beach for a swim. The water was a bit cold but the beach was beautiful.

The Pinnacles

The following day we made a short drive to Nambung National Park to see the famous “Pinnacles.”

The Pinnacles are limestone pillars of rock that rise above the desert floor; some are as tall as 11 feet!

The landscape almost looks like an alien planet.

The outback flies quickly found us and we were glad we still had the fly nets that we had acquired in Yulara.

As we hiked the marked trail we enjoyed seeing the different shapes and sizes of the Pinnacles.

Lobster, Nom Nom!

The Coral Coast is famous for the local Rock Lobster. While we don’t normally eat lobster, we decided we had better see what all the fuss was about with a meal at The Lobster Shack in Cervantes.

The restaurant caters to tour groups that take the bus from Perth for the day. Guess where most of the tour bus visitors hail from (hint below)!

A half lobster with chips and salad set us back about A$40. The lobster was tasty but we didn’t go for seconds at that price! We could have taken a tour of the nearby lobster factory but we decided to skip that.

Lake Thetis Stromatolites

After lunch we stopped at nearby Lake Thetis for our daily science lesson. The saline lake is one of only a few places on Earth where living stromatolites can be found.

Stromatolites are formed by cyanobacteria and are one of the most ancient forms of life on the planet, going back about 3.5 billion years. The stromatolites at Lake Thetis are estimated to be 3,000 years old.

Sandy Cape

Our next outing was to Sandy Cape, just north of Jurien Bay. Sandy Cape is a popular place to go sand boarding. We rented a board and had a fabulous time sliding down the dune over and over!

The dune extended down to this lovely beach. When the kids got tired of boarding they went for a swim and built sandcastles. We had so much fun that we stayed until sunset!

Jurien Bay

On our final day we decided to try out the beach in Jurien Bay. There was supposed to be a “snorkeling trail” with submerged reef balls but we were disappointed to find that they had been buried in the sand.

Nevertheless, we made the most of our beach time!

A few days on the Coral Coast was the perfect way to wrap up our month Down Under.

We can’t wait to come back and see some new places like the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, and Tasmania. It seems that there’s just never enough time to do it all! 🙂