Nambung - Beautiful Nambung

The Pinnacles, a surreal landscape of limestone columns about three and a half hours by road from Perth on the coast of Western Australia, have teased the imagination for centuries. What were thousands of limestone spires, some as small as fingers, and others taller than people, doing here overlooking a blue ocean?

To sailors approaching the Western Australian coast it looked like the ruins of an ancient city. Some believed this was the petrified remains of an ancient rainforest once covering much of Australia but later covered by sand dunes. The most recent - and more prosaic - theory is that these tooth-like shapes are the result of columns of hard limestone that formed around ancient tree tap roots. The roots had penetrated into softer limestone formed within ancient sand dunes. It's believed the limestone came from dissembled seashells dumped ashore. This unique forest formed over thousands of years but was discovered by the wider world only recently and made part of a national park in the 1960s.

Most people go to Nambung National Park to see the Pinnacles, but then stay to admire the beautiful beaches and sand dunes in the park. There are three main dune systems along this ancient coastline. At the right time of year carpets of wildflowers in the park's heath lands will take your breath away. Good swimming is also to be had in nearby Hangover Bay. Abundant wildlife grazes here including western grey kangaroos and emus. White-tailed, black cockatoos may also greet you, or you may glimpse a black-shouldered kite or other birds of prey.