Pinnacles Desert Tour, WA - Nambung National Park (Near Cervantes)

The Pinnacles Desert, 245km north of Perth, is one of Australia's most fascinating natural landscapes. Thousands of massive limestone pillars (up to 4 metres tall) stand amidst the yellow sands of the Nambung National Park. The Pinnacles were formed by a slow natural process where cracks in a layer of calcrete (calcium-rich duricrust, a hardened layer of limestone) become exploited by vegetation (plant roots). Water has seeped along these cracks and channels leaching away at the softer limestone below the calcrete. These channels gradually widened and filled with quartz sand while the subsurface erosion continued until only the strongest parts of calcrete capped limestone remained. The Pinnacles that we see today have been exposed by prevailing winds blowing away the quartz sand leaving columns of calcrete/limestone.

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Caravan Park in Cervantes, WA

Review & Blog for The Pinnacles Desert by Akerz, 8th July 2007
Not a bad spot to visit on day 1 of the epic Akerventure. I can't believe that I had never been to the Pinnacles Desert even though I have lived in Perth for most of my 29 year existance. It was only about a three hour drive from our Hotel in South Perth, a leisurely Sunday cruise really. If you live in Perth and have never been to the Nambung National Park, I suggest you put away the Sony PlayStation one weekend and get some fresh air on a road trip with some friends or book a tour through somewhere like Tours To Go or GODO. As the great phrophet Nike once said... 'Just do it!'. Go on, get out there, see Australia.

Pinnacles Formation - I read the Nambung National Park/Pinnacles Desert brochure over and over again and my explanation (top of page) of how they were formed was the best I could regurgitate. The material provided at the entrance to the Pinnacles Desert, starts with how the limestone actually got there so they may as well have started with the book of Genesis. Basically, the total process goes something like this:

• Seashells from an earlier era (rich in marine life) break down and become lime-rich sands
• These sands are carried inland by the wind to become large mobile sand dunes.
• Rain leaches the lime from the sand and at a lower level of the dunes, grains of sand are cemented together.
• Vegetation formed and helped stabilise the dunes while a layer of acidic soil and humus developed over the remaining quartz sand.
• The acidic soil increased the effect of the rain in leaching lime from the sands thus increasing the firmness of the calcrete forming over the softer limestone below (the calcrete top can still be seen on many of the pinnacles).
• Cracks formed in the calcrete layer.
• Plant roots start exploiting cracks found in the calcrete.
• Water made it's way down the cracks and channels eating away at the limestone beneath. The channels eventually filled with quartz sand.
• The underground erosion continued leaving only columns of firm limestone/concrete.
• The pinnacles were then slowly exposed as the prevailing winds blew away the sand leaving the amazing pillars we see today.

Boring? Interesting? Either way, that's pretty much how the Pinnacles Desert was formed.

So anyway, we parked the Akervan smack bang in the middle of the Pinnacles and set out exploring on foot. A marked vehicle track (unsealed but fine for most cars, not just 4x4) loops around the Pinnacles taking you past a 'Pinnacles Lookout' where you can see sand dunes and the ocean as a beautiful backdrop to the pinnacles.

Other things to do near the Pinnacles Desert include fishing at nearby Hangover Bay or Kangaroo Point. Don't forget to visit the small town of Cervantes just 17km north of the Pinnacles.

The Pinnacles are a prominent tourist attraction but make up just a portion of the 17,500 ha Nambung National Park which has beautiful beaches, coastal dune systems and plenty of flora and fauna to discover.

The Pinnacles Desert cost us $10 to enter. You are allowed to stay at the Pinnacles until sunset, no camping allowed.

Carpe Diem & visit the Pinnacles in Western Australia -Akerz.

More information on Nambung National Park (Near Cervantes)/Pinnacles Desert Tour, WA can be found at this website.

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