The Pinnacles Desert: Who'd Have Thought A Bunch of Rocks Sticking Out of the Ground Would Be So Cool?!?

Heather peek-a-booing around one of the rocks
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One of the classic images of Australia is a vast deserted desert.  I don't think either Heather or I have ever actually been in a real desert before.  It was really fun, then, to take off for a road trip to Nambung National Park, home of "The Pinnacles".  Imagine a vast graveyard with thousands and thousands of rocky tombstones all over the place, of all shapes and sizes.  That's the closest comparative description I can think for the Pinnacles.  The only differences are that these "tombstones" are in the middle of a desert, and they're not tombstones at all.  They're limestone rocks!  Rather than get into a detailed explanation for how they were formed (apparently they're result of our good friend erosion), just take my word for it that they're really cool (or, better yet, come on out and see for yourself).  And they really do stretch out for as far as the eye could see.  They were everywhere!  We definitely were glad that we drove the 3 hours to be able to see them. 

Overview of the Pinnacles
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Being in this desert we also got our first chance to see another native Australian animal in the wild: the emu.  We were a bit in awe!  Talk about a tall bird!  I think they're the 2nd tallest bird in the world, after the African ostrich.  I wonder: who would win a fight between an emu and an ostrich?  I bet it would be really close.  Anyways, we got to see not just one, but eight of the large birdies!   It was really cool.  Heather and I were alone (ie. away from the dozens of other tourists) at the end of a small trail through the desert.  We got out to simply take a picture of the nearby sand dunes when we heard some rustling sounds in the nearby bushes.  What a neat surprise to see a whole flock of emus just meters away (approximately 50m I figure).  They seemed to be completely oblivious to our presence, so we took some pictures and crept (creeped?) a bit closer.  They kept on eating.  We inched forward a bit more.  They ate some more.  We took a few more pictures.  They continued eating.  Heather jangled our car keys.  They looked up.  We froze.  They went back to eating.  We calmed down a bit.  We took another couple pictures.  They munched some more and moved on.  That's was about it.  It was kind of exciting!  No, really.   

Heather jangled our car keys. They looked up. We froze. They went back to eating. We calmed down a bit.

Lots of rocks of all shapes and sizes
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Incidentally, as a cool illustration of "foreshadowing", we actually saw an emu on the highway leading to the National Park.  In Canada we're used to having deer crossing the highway, but an emu?  It was kind of surreal.  Imagine driving along and seeing Big Bird from Sesame Street come out of the bushes and saunter across your path.  How cool would that have been if we then saw an elephant following the emu?!?  It would have been like Big Bird and Snuffalupagus were out on an Australian walkabout together!  But that's nonsense.  Elephants are from Africa. 

More rocks
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As a parting thought, what kind of bird is Big Bird anyway? 

Yours in Aussie sillyness,

Michael & Heather