Blogs from Pinnacles, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 3

Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Pinnacles August 30th 2008

We arrived at the Pinnacles early in the morning. They were fairly interesting. The sandstone pillars have come up through the sand in the middle of nowhere. Not many trees around. Some were small, some tinsy and some really tall. They were all shapes and sizes. Went to the Gravity Discovery Centre in Gin Gin. I climbed the Leaning Tower of Gin Gin. It is on more of an angle than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is 45 metres high and a 15° angle. There were lots of interesting things to see and do at the Discovery Centre. Mum took my photo through a cone shaped piece of glass. It put a hole in my tummy! Next we drove down the coast past a giant sculpture of King Neptune in Two Rocks. Down further in ... read more

Geraldton to Pinnacles

Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Pinnacles August 28th 2008

Geraldton - Bureau of Meteorology

BigL

We booked a tour of the Bureau of Meteorology (weather station) - and it was free! We got to see all the instruments (old and new) that they use to check the weather. They have a weather balloon twice a day for information to send to Perth so the Forecasters can analyse it. The information is reported every 30 minutes to the airport for use by the pilots landing and taking off. When we were there they launched a balloon and we got to see the information being transmitted to the radar. It all comes up on a computer screen and is stored on the Internet. But you need a password to access it. We saw the memorial for HMAS Sydney II which was lost in WWII off the coast of Western Australia, and not found ... read more

Geraldton to Pinnacles

Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Pinnacles August 28th 2008

Bureau of Meteorology

KatieLee

We went on a tour of the Bureau of Meteorology at Geraldton. This was out at the airport. We looked at the old instruments and the new ones. We got to see the ground thermometers, one of which is a metre under the ground. It measures soil temperature and the findings are used by the local farmers as to when they should plant their crops. They set off a weather balloon. We watched it get blown up with helium so it would float high up into the sky. It had a silver thing on the bottom which the radar at the station picks up the readings of temperature, wind direction, and moisture content. Inside we saw the readings coming up on the computer. We saw which way it was going. First it went sort of straight, ... read more

Geraldton to Pinnacles

Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Pinnacles August 28th 2008

Northampton

LeeFamily

Arrived in Geraldton nice and early and went straight to Information Centre. Found out where Bureau of Meteorology is and booked into the caravan park. Set up and drove out to the BOM - right next to the airport. The tour was really interesting, and as we were the only ones, it was very relaxed. Got to see the old instruments as well as the new. They check one against the other regularly. Alex and Kate seemed to enjoy themselves. In fact Alex wants to go back for another tour. Watching the weather balloon being launched was fun and we then went inside to watch the computer track it and receive the information back. The information is fed to a secure site on the internet and is interpreted by weather forecasters in Perth. Went to the ... read more

Pinnacles

Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Pinnacles May 3rd 2008

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'

shazgp

Playing with Pinnacles We were 250km north of Perth pulling into Nambung National Park, which in Aboriginal terms means ‘winding’ and is home of the peculiar Pinnacles. It is a huge desert filled with thousands of limestone pillars that stand up to 4 metres tall. We had a a right laugh with the group, running wild in this phallic playground. ... read more

The Pinnacles (Sunday 27th April)

Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Pinnacles April 27th 2008

History repeats itself

MattCaz Odyssey

We left the big city of Perth and hit the highway to hunt out the Pinnacles and then Brendan in Gero. You may ask what are the Pinnacles? They are thousands of limestone pillars (up to 4 metres high) rising up from the sand. The reason that they have formed is long and technical so won't get into that! What was supposed to be an enjoyable diversion into the Pinnacles was interrupted by a ‘Robot’ Ranger Woman and a rule that all vans had to be unhitched to enter. Nuances aside, the effort was worth it with amazing views of the Pinnacles, the stark shapes of the stones against the spectacular yellow sand. Take your mind back 20 years and envision Carrie and Amy at the Pinnacles as 12 and 10 year olds hand standing our ... read more

My Sandy Hair

Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Pinnacles April 10th 2008

Kangaroos

Dom109

Was going to write todays Blog in a 24 stylie, but maybe that can wait for another day! My day started very miserably as my alarm went off a 6am. Hopped straight up out of bed and into the shower to wake me up, before hitting breakfast. Whilst getting my boardies off the line i locked myself out, but luckily the back door was open which saved embarrassment. Neil then took me into the station at 6:45 since he also was getting the train into Perth for work. Found the tour guide and his jeep pretty easily and we set off having picked up a couple of others from different places. In total, one jeep, one guide/driver, an englishman, german, three taiwan girls and myself. Our first stop after about 45mins was the Yanchep national park. ... read more

Brief history of Australia

Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name...more history

Forum Topics for Pinnacles

Travelling Australia al...Posts: 14

Travelling from Mumbai ...Posts: 2

Child friendly sites to...Posts: 7

Queensland tripPosts: 4

Coolest areas to live i...Posts: 3

1991 Toyota Hiace in Sy...Posts: 2

Aboriginal Rock ArtPosts: 16

CYCLONE WATCH PERTH & S...Posts: 3

Free Camping on the Eas...Posts: 9

Selling a 4WD Toyota bu...Posts: 2

great ocean road accomm...Posts: 3