Perth 2022 Day 3: Yanchep National Park and The Pinnacles Desert
DAY 3: 11 JUN 2022
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| Pinnacles Desert |
Good morning!
Today we will be commencing our road trip up North and we rented a car with Burswood car rental located in South Perth.
There are many car rental options in Perth such as No Birds and Hertz.
We decided to go with Burswood as their rental car does not have logo/brand stickers which identifies the car as a rental car.
This is important as car break ins happen to rental cars quite often.
Our rental car is a mid-sized Toyota Corolla Sports and we paid 314 AUD for 4 days, excluding petrol costs.
The process at the car rental office was strangely fast.
They asked for the last name used for booking, brought out the documents and keys and then said we were all set to go.
The staff did not even check our drivers' licence!
We then headed to our car to load our luggage and take photos of any existing damages.
When we entered the car, we were surprised to find the hand brake missing, but that is because there were separate buttons acting as the hand brake functions.
A short ride away was our happy place: Woolworths!
A road trip is incomplete without our snack bag so we stopped by the supermarket before heading to our first attraction.
Woolworths had a wet wipes station next to the trolleys for patrons to sanitise the trolleys and basket handles.
Love it!
After spending some time in the supermarket, we settled for Red Rock Deli limited edition chips, Arnott's biscuits and Shapes vegemite crackers.
When researching for takeaway food options the night before, we found Marco's Bakery, located in the same mall as Woolworths, and we decided to settle for pastries to be eaten later in the national park.
Michelle took the wheel (actually for majority of the road trip) and drove us to Yanchep national park.
The drive took 50 minutes from South Perth.
Upon arriving at the park's entrance, we paid a vehicle entry fee of 15 AUD which was also used for entry to The Pinnacles desert later in the afternoon.
The park had a few visitors but not crowded at all.
We took a nice walk towards the lake and were surprised to find it filled with ducks.
In the same area, there were a few maple trees with vibrant red and yellow leaves and kangaroos lazing on the green grass.
There were a hell lot of kangaroo poop all around the park as the kangaroos roam freely.
After spending time enjoying the lakeview and snapping photos of the kangaroos and maple trees, we decided to have our lunch at a nearby bench.
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| Sheppard's pie |
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| Apricot lattice |
I bought a sheppard's pie and an apricot lattice.
Both pastries were really good and the pie was generously filled with meat and sauce.
Michelle bought a vegemite scroll and vegemite really worked well as a spread for this!
After our lunch, we continued our search for more kangaroos and wild koalas!
Yanchep national park has a koala boardwalk which is surrounded by eucalyptus trees: the main food source for koalas.
It took us some time to find the boardwalk as we were caught in a short downpour before that.
At the start of the boardwalk, we spotted two koalas sleeping high up on the trees.
We could only see their furry butt haha.
So, we continued to search for koalas and...we found more!
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| Wild koala sleeping on the tree branch |
During my great ocean road tour in Melbourne, the wild koalas were all high up in the trees.
This is my first time seeing wild koalas up close!
Such a cutie.
After spending a bit more time in the park, we definitely to say goodbye to the kangaroos and koalas.
I took the wheel this time round and the only time in this trip because I was so comfortable sitting at the back hehe.
The highest speed limit on this highway is 110km/h and this is the fastest I have ever driven in my life.
I drove on the highways for 1 hour 45 minutes and we finally arrived at The Pinnacles desert.
There are two options to explore The Pinnacles: walk using the dedicated paths or do the drive in.
Initially we explored the walking path but that led us to the driving routes.
But it was a blessing in disguise as a wild emu was right in front of us when we stepped foot on the desert!
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| Wild emu |
The emu was taking its own sweet time to cross the driving path and the cars had to wait for it.
Anyway, it's a photo opportunity for them if they realised.
We decided to head back to the car to do the drive in instead as we could stop at the designated parking bays and explore the desert.
The driving paths are safe for 2WD as it is hard ground.
Unless you venture beyond the designated paths, your car will never get stuck in sand.
After a while, the scenery looked pretty much the same.
And the sky started turning grey.
We decided to start the drive to our accommodation in Geraldton which is a 2 hour 45 minutes drive.
Michelle drove because she is the only capable one to drive such long distances.
30 minutes into the drive, I decided to search for Woolworths in Geraldton on Google maps.
I clicked on their operating hours and lo and behold, they close at 5pm on weekends.
It was a Saturday.
And it was nearing 5pm when I searched it and we were 2 hours away from Geraldton.
I panicked. The navigator panicked. The driver panicked.
Because Coles and Aldi supermarkets in Geraldton also close at 5pm.
Thankfully, we were at Jurien Bay and there was an IGA supermarket which closes at 6pm.
We decided to go to IGA and get our dinner groceries.
The bad thing about IGA is that most of their items cost more.
So, we settled for frozen ravioli, pre-made bolognese sauce and brie cheese.
After another 2 hours drive from Jurien Bay, we finally arrived at our apartment for the night, Waldeck heights.
The apartment was a tough one to find and enter.
Firstly, we thought the room number given by the host was the actual house number.
However, the apartment we booked was just one out of the 4 rooms in a landed property.
The room number was simply just a room number.
Next, we had to retrieve the house key from a safety box using the code given by the host.
It was as though we were playing escape room because we had to find the box and then key in the code.
After 10 minutes of struggle, we found and opened the box.
The key was right inside, waiting for us.
The apartment was alright, but I will rank it last out of all the Perth accommodation we stayed.
Phoebe said the apartment looked like those in horror movies.
Decor was dated but on the bright side, at least it was clean and functional.
We settled down for a short while before Phoebe and I started cooking dinner (:
And that's it for day 3!
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