There was a sign along the road saying that the Pinnacles Desert is not suitable for caravans. The road we were travelling along was a sealed road and in good condition. Other National Parks we’ve been to have had parking areas to leave vans and trailers in when the road ahead is unsuitable for them and we were expecting to see one. We got to the tollbooth and paid the $3 motorcycle fee and asked the woman about the trailer and she said it would be fine to take it with us.

The Pinnacles are an interesting site, nice, but nothing spectacular. Probably the light at midday doesn’t show them at their best, sunset would be better. There’s a 7km road that forms a loop that takes you through the Pinnacle Desert.

We got there just as a bus arrived and the area was literally swarming with tourists. We rode on ahead of the crowd and stopped at a couple of places and took some photos.

We got to a point in the road where there were rocks either side defining where you’re meant to travel. The road was clear of sand where all the car tyres had run but sandy in the middle. Because we had the trailer on we could only travel in the middle. We got caught in some sand and down she went, luckily we were only going at walking pace, but the bike finished up on Tony’s right foot. I managed to pick it up enough for him to drag his foot out. Luckily with crash bars on the Electra Glide the bike doesn’t go right over it stays on about 30° angle. We got the bike up, rode off and found that we were only 20 metres from the end of the circuit and better road. Tony has an extremely sore ankle.

After stopping for some lunch we left Nambung Park and headed for Perth. We stopped at a service station to refuel and the manager told us of a good caravan park in which to stay and a shorter way to get to Perth, the way the locals go.

It was getting late in the day so we decided to ring the caravan park and make sure they’d still be open when we got there. They assured me we’d be right to get there before 6pm when the office shuts. We were a bit unsure of our directions once we got into the suburbs and stopped to ring again and another rider stopped to make sure we were ok.

We arrived at the park at 6.05pm; the office was still open luckily. There was just enough light left to set up the tent.

We couldn’t believe when we arrived and saw George’s camper. We seem to have the same taste in caravan parks as George; we’ve stayed in the same parks as he and his family at Coral Bay, Carnarvon, Kalbarri and now here in Perth. It’s not like there’s only one park in all those towns, we just seem to choose the same one.

There’s industrial action happening today and the public transport system has been hit, none of the trains are running. We caught a bus to the city then changed to another bus to take us to Stirling interchange. From there we caught another bus to Karrinyup shopping centre where we had some lunch and bought some groceries. Then one more bus got us home.

Back at the park we sat outside the tent and talked with our neighbours, Kath and Martin from South Australia.

We were pleased to see that petrol only costs $1.13 here, much better than the $1.63 we paid at Nanutarra. We can actually pick up 6 TV stations here; we haven’t had all the stations since we left Townsville.

After ringing the Harley shop and finding out that they’d finished servicing the bike we caught a couple of buses back to collect it. We then headed back to the caravan park.

Karrinup Waters Caravan Park was recommended to us by a petrol station manager that we spoke to on our way to Perth and it certainly is very good. There’s a heated swimming pool, a terrific children’s playground and even a lake with ducks and swans swimming on it. There are sealed roads throughout the park, which means a whole lot less dust in the air and the facilities are clean. They just need to get a fridge and microwave for campers use and it will be perfect.