A day trip - Yanchep National Park, New Norcia, Pinnacles

Our friend Tony asked whether we wanted to take a trip out to The Pinnacles yesterday and since it was a fantastic day and we haven't been there before, we thought why not. The weather for the last 2 days have been hot and it really feels more like mid summer.

We left at 9 in the morning and decided not to head straight for Pinnacles as it's still too hot and we decided to go to Yanchep National Park instead. It's definitely a nice place to visit and it's not too far a drive up, about 30 to 40 minutes from Perth and entrance is $11 per vehicle. In the park there's a underground cave (Crystal caves) which is worth a visit for $10 with a guided tour. We were lucky as we reached there 10 minutes just before the tour at 10.30 am. You have to get the ticket at the park shop first before proceeding to the cave.


Besides the park, there's a koala enclosure whereby you can view the koalas. They have a talk on Saturday at 3 pm. Koalas in the park is not considered normal as they are actually native in the eastern states and not in Western Australia. There are about 15 to 20 of them and we also saw a baby koala too.


We only spent an hour or 2 there but it's definitely worth a longer visit as there are other things to see and it's a good place for a picnic lunch and walks with plenty of flora and fauna to see. There was a pair of wild ducks hovering near a family who were having a picnic, waiting for scraps and further away were a flock of these cute fellows below. Husband was trying to take a few photos of them when suddenly with any warning, they decided to just take off.


After Yanchep National Park, we decided at the last minute to go to New Norcia instead. It's a town started by the Benedictine monks and I think it's the only one of its kind in Australia. Most of the buildings there have been heritage listed and all the buildings are basically meant for the monks and the tourists visiting it. There is a 2 hour walking tour starting at 1.30 pm but unfortunately, we reached there at 1.40 pm. It costs $23 and it includes entrance to the museum too. If memory serves me correct, New Norcia is famous for its bakery and I bought 2 loaves, a fruit bread and a white bread. I wanted to try the tomato and olive but it was sold out.


After New Norcia, we drove to The Pinnacles. It is located in Nambubg National Park and it's about 245 km from Perth. The drive there is very nice and on the way there, you also get to see a wind farm which is interesting. Unfortunately, when we reached The Pinncales, the tourist centre was closed but we could still drive around the 3.5 km route to look at all the rock formations. It's really a sight to behold and it's really amazing to see the rocks only at that location. We were asking each other how this could actually happen, came up with a few theories and wanted to know if any of us was right. Unfortunately we couldn't go to the tourist centre to find out the reasons why the rock formation happened.

The best time to go to the Pinnacles is definitely early in the morning or at around 3. Hopefully you won't get the heat but the heat to me wasn't the problem, it's the flies. Arrgh.