Perth- Pinnacles and Stars

After we had brief stops at the honey store, the chocolate shop and the sand of Lancelin, we drove on to reach the Pinnacles in Namburg National Park.

 Along the way we stopped a couple of more times at pretty beaches.

We learned about an important shipwreck at Ledge Point near the coast on one of our stops.  A Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship the Verguide Draeck carried 193 men (along with trade goods and coins) on a trading voyage to Batavia (now Jakarta).The ship struck a reef off the coast and within minutes started breaking up. Only about 75 men reached the shore with a few provisions. A few crew were sent to sail to Batavia for help while the others waited. Forty- one days later 2 ships sailed from Batavia to search for survivors. Arriving approximately 3 months after the wreck, the missing crew had disappeared. They might have been looking in the wrong place bur maybe the Dutch crew members found themselves a new home. We do know that Dutch DNA is carried within the Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal toilet paper ! So funny! This woolly bush was the best option due to its soft leaves.

We saw signs along the road to watch for emus and kangaroos and echidna. We did see a couple of emus but no kangaroos and no echidnas. Echidnas are the only animal that can live all over Australia in desert, mountain or forest.

Eventually we reached the Pinnacles. 

There are thousands of huge limestone pillars in a yellow sand and sandstone field. The limestone dates to about 500,000 years ago. Local conditions eroded the limestone into these pillars. They appeared about 6,000 years ago and then disappeared only to re-appear about 200 years ago. The area remained largely unknown to outsiders until about 1967. They could get covered again. There are a lot of theories about these formations. First we roamed around a while. Then we had a picnic in the desert.

 Yes, we were there!

The Pinnacle field stretches nearly as far as you can see.
Next came the sunset.

  No photo re-touch, the sky was really blue and pink.

Out come the stars. First Venus...

Later, Jupiter... look closely.

Similar shots from the other camera.

We were miserably unprepared to attempt good photos during our stargazing.  Venus.

The Southern Cross is in these shots somewhere.

 This is my shot! I tried to handhold a 10 sec exposure on my phone!  Funny.

Funniest of all is my attempt to rest my phone on a bench and still press the button hoping to capture something. I got something alright! Real "stars!"

Our guide, Gavin, sent us a couple of shots from a previous trip but the ones he took with us have probably been lost. He had trouble with his camera's SD Card. I'm sure the one he took of the two of us standing next to a pinnacle with the star-filled sky as a backdrop would have been great. There is an observation deck for star-gazers! B comment - we picked (OK, lucked into) the PERFECT night - no moon - no clouds!

 The Milky Way.

Actually seeing the stars under these conditions with absolutely no other lights and only the four of us was such a great experience. I didn't really mind the cold until the last 30 minutes or so. We piled back into the minivan and headed back to Perth. A very long, fun-filled day to be sure.