The Pinnacles / Lake Thetis

Conor and Daniel trying to avoid the wind while having breakfast in the carpark

The Pinnacles

The Stromatolites, Lake Thetis

We were up and out in record time yesterday morning, not having set the annex up or anything, and were excited to see that the bakery we were camped behind was already open! We bought some croissants, and waited 5 mins for a loaf of bread to literally come out of the oven, then drove off to find a picnic spot to eat them at. The smell of the freshly baked bread driving us crazy, we drove and drove, looking for somewhere with just a picnic table, and ended up all the way at the Pinnacles before we gave up (and even *there* there wasn’t a picnic table!). So we got out our little card table and had our muesli followed by the yummiest croissants ever (because we had to wait for them!). It was very windy so we were huddled behind the trailer while eating, but they were still really really yummy. By the time we’d finished the info centre there was open, so, after finding out about the Pinnacles we went for a walk around them. They’re the funniest looking things – one theory is that they’re the stumps of petrified forest - and there’s much much more of them than I realised (which really does make them look like a forest). After there we headed further on to see the stromatolites at Lake Thetis, next to Cervantes. It’s a funny little salt lake (left behind after the sea levels dropped a long long time ago) with not much living in it  except these stromatolites, which are communities of microbes which calcify as they grow up, so they grow in circles just under the surface of the shallow water. The sort of thing you wouldn’t really notice if you walked past, but there are only a few spots in Australia apparently where they are still alive (more spots with fossilised stromatolites). Apparently they are one of the oldest life forms on earth, and they make oxygen so I guess they were preparing the sea for more advanced creatures to evolve. Pretty amazing that they’re still around. Following that history lesson it was on to Jurien Bay where we had lunch at a nice park and a walk along the jetty, then drove to our campsite at Lake Indoon near Eneabba. The lake itself is receding and there’s quite a few notices saying not to swim in case you get amoebic meningitis! The weather isn’t exactly conducive to swimming anyway and someone’s left a tyre swing which is more interesting to the kids. We’ve woken up this morning to windy and cold weather so are considering what to do today. We were trying to have a 2 night stop so that we don’t have to pack up the tent day after day, so might stay again anyway and just put up annex walls. The ranger was here before 8am to collect fees which seems a bit extreme, there’s only 3 groups of people here, and it must be a long day for him. He mentioned some caves nearby so that might be our outing, and maybe a games afternoon.