a holiday trip to the pinnacles

today we braved the drive to the pinnacles all two hours and fifteen minutes of it with three kids, one who isn't even two yet, oh my word. i'll start by telling you the funniest bit so that you can laugh now and enjoy the rest of the photos when you're done. joseph (six and a half) was convinced that we would run out of petrol and be stranded on the side of the road. now. i completely get anxiety. completely. so, i thought i would make it easier for him to be settled on the way and when i filled up the car with petrol i got a jerry can of fuel and put that in the back too. worst mistake of all time. it's about a 400km round trip, our car can do that easy without refuelling, but i honestly was trying to keep him calm.

the car stank. so bad. it was horrendous. windows up it was terrible. windows down it was terrible. i couldn't just pull over and tip it out because i needed to keep the can obviously, but holy wreck it was so bad. doug and i both ended up with a headache and by the time we were there it was so bad. it's hilarious now, but i legitimately would have done pretty much anything to get rid of the smell. when we finally arrived, we emptied as much into our car as we could and then the rest into mel and aitu's car (who we'd met up with along the way to go adventuring together) before leaving the car open under the back of our car while we looked in the discovery centre for a while. when we got back and it was emptied and aired, the rest of the day was a lot better. thank goodness!

back to regular programming... the kids had the best time! running free and looking at all the rocks (and not touching them of course!) and generally wrecking havoc.

this kid loved it the most, he had a big sleep on the way up and was full of energy to explore and roam free in the big open spaces.

the pinnacles are these incredible limestone structures that formed about 25000-30000 years ago when the sea receded. you can read more about them here

our bestiecousins. so blessed to do life with them!

this place honestly had views for days and after doing a few laps of the park roads and getting out to inspect some of the stops, as the sun got low, we got ready to find somewhere to eat and share the ridiculous amount of food we always pack when we are together.

nice seeing you again pinnacles.

wa you are amazing. i'm quite happy to be stuck in such a wonderful place.

and the company isn't bad either. ❤

 

the pinnacles

western australia is full of weird and wonderful things... many of which i have not yet seen, but this afternoon we took a (long) road trip up to the pinnacles, 2 hours north, just before cervantes. was it worth the four hour round trip? it so was! yes it's a bunch of rocks in a desert area, but it's actually really cool! just follow wanneroo road north and north and north and then follow the signs until you get the pinnacles. it's very clearly marked. $15 per car to enter the park... have your money ready if you are there during park hours, there is a drop box for after hours... we packed a picnic and made an afternoon/night of it.

the new crew playing with the camera self timer. yes we are losers, but we had fun!

selfies are much easier on a phone with someone holding the camera

yep. still losers.

bryan and niques decided to let me take some shots of them all loved up. they have only been married for 3 days after all. there were a lot of cute ones, but this is by far my favourite.

some more losers haha

a pretty amazing landscape to sit and look at hey! we spent hours just sitting around and looking. yes. at rocks. yes, still maintain it was worth it.

the husband and i, with some rocks

and oh look. more rocks!

bet you thought there was going to be photos of things other than rocks didn't you!

the boys...

and my newest brother in law. i guess i like him a bit.

we stayed right until the sun started to set and it was amazing... watching the colours change at the edge of the sky. we had originally planned to stay until night so we could take some photos of the clear night sky with no light pollution and get a clear shot of the stars. alas, it was not to be, but we will be back and i will make it happen here, or somewhere else!

definitely take a drive out to the pinnacles, it's a pretty amazing place to see. just allow yourself a lot of time.