The Murray Street strip continued to be party central. It reminded me of Kings Cross in Sydney (without the strippers) when Sydney still had a nightlife. The double glazing ensured we slept soundly and woke to a quiet Sunday morning. We decided to forego breakfast and get on the road as early possible. It's about a six hour drive to Kalbarri without stops and we have a number of stops planned, the first at Dan Murphy's. Prices for essentials, outside of the city, can be eye watering. And we needed champagne. Of course.
The car was parked across the street in a parking station. The walk up the stairwell was, well, pungent and puddled. Clearly Perth pubs and clubs don't have toilet facilities.
The freeway out to Uncle Dan's was a lovely stretch of road. If anyone in NSW or Victoria is wondering where their GST went after the Morrison deal, look no further than the road system in WA. It's all under construction.
We arrived at the bottle shop 5 minutes prior to opening time. Now that's a good look, hanging around outside Uncle Dan's waiting for the doors to open on a Sunday morning. Not that we are desperate, you understand....supplies purchased to avoid exorbitant prices heading North, we were walking back to the car when the unthinkable happened. The bottom of the box I was carrying gave way. One belligerent bottle made an escape attempt. A successful one. Only to be stymied by landing on its head and rolling to my feet. Unbroken! It's a miracle! The cap was damaged, and the contents looked like a sparkling (it was a Vasse Felix Classic White), but otherwise it was all good. Hopefully that is not all our good luck expended in one go!!!
Lancelin Sand Dunes
Next stop was Lancelin, home to WA's largest sand dunes. Now dear reader, I don't wish to be boastful, but we have climbed the largest sand dune in the world, in the South of France, in fact. Our southern hemisphere version just doesn't measure up. And in this case, size does matter.
While Declan was faithfully navigating us toward the sand people, his commentary became superfluous as the amount of sand being whipped into the air beckoned us forward. It was like light smoke in the air. We preferred to park on the street and walk the 300m into the carpark area. This is a celebrated WA recreation area, sand boarding, quad biking, 4 wheel driving, getting sand bogged, redneck spotting. The last was like shooting fish in a barrel - another concept that eludes my understanding.
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| Says it all really. |
There were queues for the sand boards. There were queues for the quad bikes. There was no queue for the towing service - you had to phone them but they had conveniently put their phone number on a prominent sign, positioned immediately before the entry point. "Take a photo - you might need this number". We did see one macho-4WD thing being removed on the back of the trailer truck. Sadly they don't make the driver complete the walk of shame and trail behind his incapacitated vehicle.
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| Looks like a lot of fun. |
Sand boarding looked like immense fun. Struggle all the way up a sand dune. Enjoy a 20 second ride. Collect more sand in orifices unnamed and struggle back up the dune. Repeat. Awesome. Quad bikes are just an accident waiting to happen and the 4WD drive cowboys get to act out a Ram ad. Be still my quaking heart.
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| Queues. |
The wind was whipping the sand up to such an extent I thought I'd booked in for a defoliating treatment. The amount of airborne sand made it difficult to appreciate the beauty of the "largest sand dunes in WA". The wall-to-wall testosterone vehicles had nothing to do with it. Sand everywhere, as Leonardo's Bride informed us in Sonic from their Open sesame album of 2000.
I've always been fond of the expression "I'm not saying they're from the shallow end of the gene pool, but I can see sand". Well, there was a lot of sand today. Just saying.
At least when you climbed the dune in France, there was an epic view at the top (and stairs to climb to it).
The Pinnacles
Recently The Pinnacles featured on that bogan TV travel show on Channel 9. OK, it's become a guilty pleasure, but not for the reasons you might think. We believe Kevin and Janetta are channeling us. We'd be excellent travel companions for them.
This was our first National Park entry and we had pre-purchased a park pass before we left the safety of NSW. The car in front of us clearly hadn't and then decided to pay - in cash. Who does that in 2023? To enable this momentous moment, people in all parts of their over-compensating 4WD had to scour pockets and search purses. And then, the driver, wearing a broad brimmed hat in the car, wanted to chat to the attendant. Not for the first time, I wished I had some James Bond style attachments to my car. It was just inconsiderate. Cars steadily built up behind us and he chatted on regardless. Thankfully we never saw them again because they drove the circuit rather than getting out of the air conditioned environmental destroyer they were sitting in.
Anyway, on to more important matters, that is, the Pinnacles themselves. We ventured into this part of the Nambung National Park, ready to feel underwhelmed, given the name promises so much! And we weren't disappointed. It was underwhelming, expansive and overcrowded. Not just by 4WDs, also by people and people with drones, breaking the law by using the annoying, buzzing, expensive toys. Drones are the new generation's selfie-stick. I despise drones more. Noisy, invasive, illegal. They were banned on the south island in New Zealand, good work there.
The Pinnacles are unique formations of limestone pillars that have been exposed by coastal winds eroding the ubiquitous WA sand dunes. They are testimony to the ever-evolving maritime/desert dance that has formed the current WA landscape. They are worth visiting, but the name suggests so much more than the experience of walking through them delivers. It is interesting but it is not the apex of what will be the take home memories of WA.
The Lobster Shack
Bet that heading got your attention. We had a choice of places to have breakfast - yes, that is correct, we have yet to eat today. There was choice. The Jurien Bakery or the Lobster Shack. The later was recommended to me and it had the word lobster in it so Jayne was sold.
Again we leave the highway and drive to the edge of the country. While the Lobster Shack was easily found, easily enough to drive past, the actual entrance to the 'restaurant' wasn't so obvious. After driving to the end of the street and turning around to locate the car park, behind a colourbond fence, we struggled to find the actual 'restaurant'. We found the kids' play area, the gift shop, other lost tourists, and eventually the 'restaurant'. Simple.
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| It looks like an entrance, but no, it's not. |
Not so much. Where do you order? Are there menus? It was crowded. The first Sunday of school holidays. The end of normal lunch service. Unfettered, unbridled, unrestrained children underfoot everywhere. It was heaven.
We found the bar. No deal. Driving much further today. Someone pointed us to where you order where we found another couple who were equally confused. Together we found the menu. It was an interesting mix of things I'd never order and options I wanted to sit and savour. No deal. Driving. Also it wasn't cheap.
After much discussion about how it is against the law to hurt unrestrained children. No, sorry wrong discussion. After much discussion we opted for a lobster roll. Not particularly surprising given our time constraints, the choices and the massive number of children. Did I mention it was school holidays? And they weren't even fun kids, you know, the ones to watch, sullen teens sneering at their parents, staring at their screens. No, these were barefoot tearaways.
There was an outside deck where we annexed a table. Water was the next challenge. They have one of those fancy chilled water dispensers. Over I go, feeling amazed there were so many cups sitting, waiting to be used. Amazed until I tried to extract water from the tap. Nope. Not working. They later placed a sign on the tap - it was out of order - and directed people to jugs of water on the bar. Yeah, whatever.
The lobster roll was very good. Big enough for two. Particularly as it came with chips. But then it was $30.
Would we come back? Hell yeah. On the right day, weather wise, the deck is an absolute winner. The lobster was excellent. Just don't come on a Sunday afternoon during school holidays.
Back on the road.
Kalbarri
It was not an easy drive to Kalbarri. The sun was setting which makes conditions difficult and we were heading west for a large part of the drive. At one stage the sun was sitting directly atop of the road. And then there are animals at dusk.
Suffice to say it was a drive that required intense concentration. We arrived, without incident.
And with that, I think that's enough for this post. I'll deal with dinner tomorrow.
Until next time.
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