The Pinnacles Fast Facts
•Nickname: Rock Stars in the Outback
•Distance: Located just 250km north of Perth, Western Australia. An ideal day trip from Perth
•Distance from Moore River Holidays: 149 km
•Location: Nambung National Park, Cervantes, Western Australia
•Area: covers an area of 17,487 hectares
•Heights: from centimetres in size up to 5 metres
•Formed: Formed 25,000 to 30,000 years ago after the Indian Oceans coastal winds eroded the surrounding sand, leaving the limestone pillars exposed to the elements.
•History: The first known European recording of the Nambung area dates back to 1658, when the North and South Hummocks first appeared on Dutch maps. The Hummocks were also mentioned in navigator Philip Parker King’s journal in about 1820. Nambung is an Aboriginal word that means crooked or winding and it was from this river that the park was named.
•The Pinnacles Desert remained relatively unknown until the late 1960s, when the Department of Lands and Surveys agreed to add the area to the already existing national park, which had been established in 1956.
•Pinnacles Desert Discovery Centre is Located within the Nambung National Park and it is a fascinating interpretative display focused on the region’s unique flora, fauna, national parks and nature.
•Access: light vehicles can access Nambung National Park Pinnacles by road. Access to the Pinnacles area itself is by means of a 100 metre walking trail from the car park. You must remain on the designated tracks within the park.
•Address: Pinnacles Drive, via Nambung National Park Cervantes 6511
••Facilities: Wheelchair access, information bay, picnic area, rubbish bins, barbeque facilities and toilets are available.
•Gear: Hat, sunscreen sturdy footwear and bottled water as no drinking water is available.
•Wildflowers: showcases fabulous wildflowers between August and October
•Pinnacles Lookout and is a 4-5 kilometre walk through the Nambung National Park. The little Painted Desert and unusual white dunes can also be viewed from the lookout
•Animals: Western grey kangaroos grazing on the vegetation. They may let you approach quite closely if you are quiet and keep your movements to a minimum. Emus and white-tailed black-cockatoos, bobtail lizards, goulds monitors and the harmless carpet pythons, birds of prey such as a black-shouldered kite, hovering above the ground in search of a meal.
•Native plant varieties: Panjang (a low wattle), coastal banjine, Acacia truncata, quandong (Santalum acuminatum), yellow tailflower (Anthocercis), thick-leaved fanflower (Scaevola crassifolia) and white clematis and cockies tongues are some of Nambung’s common plant species. Parrotbush (Dryandra sessilis) becomes more common as you get closer to the Pinnacles and candle banksia(Banksia attenuata), firewood banksia (Banksia menziesii)and sawtooth banksia (Banksia prionotes) are also common in the park.
•The science: Science has solved the riddle posed by the Pinnacles: they were formed from limestone-rich sand, ancient sea shells crushed into powder by the ocean and swept inland by wind and waves. Once this shell-sand had reached the area, a complex process over thousands of years turned created this natural wonder known as the Pinnacles. Every time it rained, the water would cause some of the calcium carbonate in the shell-sand to seep into the ground, hardening and slowly forming the Pinnacles beneath the ground. Bushfires and erosion caused the surrounding loose sand to blow away, leaving behind the natural splendour of the Pinnacles that we enjoy today.
•Stromatolites – Just south of Cervantes is Lake Thetis which is known for its stromatolites – are rocklike formations dubbed the “ancient living fossils” because they are formed by millions of tiny living organisms.