We arrived early at Fremantle port on February 29th since it is leaping year. This is a special day since it only occurs every four years. Giddy had several plans laid out for us today. He had said something about meeting one of his special friends, and today was the only day for another four years.
After breakfast, we hiked to the train station and rode the train to Perth. In Perth, we found our way to the Perth Botanical Gardens and Memorial Park.
We did a walkabout through the gardens and enjoyed the overlook from Mount Elsie. The overlook looks over the Swan River and views of the city-Perth. In the past, the Aboriginals used this area to drive kangaroos over the cliff to obtain food. Can you spot Giddy in the picture above.
Giddy had told us that several of his father’s relatives were shipped to WA for various infractions. Giddy had gone looking for some cousin within the garden and was incarnated by officials. We were stopped and had to go and pay the necessary rhino for his family’s fine before we were allowed to continue our walkabout.
We visited the war memorials especially for WWI where the Aussie’s lost thousands of soldiers. According to some, the English used them as cannon fodder in several battles. In one battle alone four thousand soldiers were lost. This was significant numbers of soldiers based on their population.
After our walkabout, we enjoyed a nice lunch at a place called Frazier’s which was located near the gardens.
After lunch, we caught an Uber to our meeting place to catch our Viator (www.viator.com) tour with Lumineer Adventure Tours (www.lumineertours.com) to the Pinnacles & Nambung National parks. We were told to look for a white Toyota bus with a silver Roo bar and spotlights. Now what is a Roo bar? It is basically a truck deer guard since many kangaroos try to commit suicide by vehicle at night. We travelled north from Perth through the bush to an area along the Indian ocean with hills of white sand.
Our first stop was for Giddy and others who went sand boarding which is another story. We then travelled to Pinnacles National Park to enjoy the unique scenery. The temperature had dropped due to the chilly wind off the Indian ocean. The sky was mix of high clouds and blue skies.
According to our tour guide and driver Skip, there are two theories; the first is the Pinnacles were formed when a forest existed several million years ago, and climate change occurred. The sea flooded the area and killed the forest. The roots remained where the lime sand and water penetrated the roots. As time passed, the sea receded, and sand around the roots was eroded by the wind leaving the remaining root structures known today as the Pinnacles.
When you view some of the Pinnacles up-close you can see what looks like petrified wood. The other theory is that the Pinnacles were placed or formed from aliens. At one area there is a circle called Ausshenge which some say it is aligned with Stonehenge in UK, and one can possibly travel between the two points.
From the Aboriginals little people there is fabled story that it is possible to travel only one day every few years. There also has been reports of strange creatures at night, but no actual images have been captured.
As the sun was setting, we had barbeque dinner of sausages and salads in the park provided by the tour.
As we had dinner Giddy said he was going exploring and find some of his friends. Now we are two hours plus north of Perth in middle of a desert, where there is no natural water sources or cell service. What friends could be here? Just before dusk, Giddy came back with his friend Jacky a western kangaroo. Jacky was shy and was a little hungry as he was eating the local bush which the leaves also contained water for his thirst.
As the sunset, the Southern Cross started to become visible. Our tour guide setup his telescope we were able to see Jupiter and four of its moons. As the light disappeared, the Milky Way galaxy became visible. It was fantastic to see the number of stars. Skip was very knowledgeable about the constellations. We found that Orion is upside-down compared to when viewed in northern hemisphere. Also, we had someone ask about the North star which cannot be viewed in the southern hemisphere.
As we left the Pinnacles National Park around nine pm, the moon started to rise above the horizon. We had a great time and highly recommend this tour to the Pinnacles. We arrived back to the ship by midnight. This was a first for us to be up past midnight on this trip.