Australia — Pinnacles Desert, Nambung National Park, Cervantes, WA 6511, Australia

I finally got to see the Pinnacles

August 2015

After many years of visiting Western Australia and trying to get to the Pinnacles, I finally made it there on this trip, and it was worth the wait as I have never seen anything like it. The only thing they reminded me of was the standing stones in Orkney, Scotland, and yet the Pinnacles aren’t manmade.

The Pinnacles are in Nambung National Park, about 200 km north of Perth and 17 km from Cervantes in Western Australia. There was a small fee to enter the park, and it was worth it.

I particularly enjoyed that you could drive around the Pinnacles on the sand — a 4 km, one-way loop: no tarmac roads, just small rocks marking the way. Plus, you didn’t have to stay in the car; you could park and stroll among the stones.

There is also a 1.2 km looped walk through the stones. If you do the walk, make sure you have sunblock, a hat, and water. Also, check you can see the next post on the trail before heading off because, as I found, it is easy to miss the path.

The Pinnacles were first mentioned in a public report in 1934, which seems incredible — how come so recent? But, they did not become popular with visitors until the 1960s. The national park was created in 1968.