Nambung Station

 A day in Nambung. Started with a wake up call from the cockatoos. Nambung Station is surrounded on all sides by Nambung National Park. This is famous for sand dunes and limestone pinnacles. The farm has permission to take small groups into a part of the park not usually accessible so this morning a few of us campers went there with the very lovely campground hosts. James is from the east of Australia and Sarah from Somerset. 

We drove in a buggy through the farm and saw wild kangaroos and emus. I'm amazed that these animals really are wild and roam around even so close to Perth. 

We then accessed the sand dunes and spent an hour or so roaming the dunes and looking at the pinnacles. The sand is very fine but you are still able to walk on it. The limestone formations sticking out of the sand made for a really special experience and the dunes streched on for miles. It was lovely to have this part of the park all to ourselves and actually get up onto the dunes. 

In the afternoon I went with James, one of the campground hosts, into part of the 2000 acres of wilderness which belongs to the farm to look for wildflowers. We saw lots including spider orchids and the green kangaroos foot which is only found in this part of Western Australia. Unfortunately it was a wet afternoon so I only have a couple of photos on my phone - I soon needed to tuck it away in a dry bag. I didn't think it rained in Australia!

A fire came through the farm about a year ago and so the scenery is dramatic with the bushes still looking burnt. This gives the orchids a chance to grow though. It was nice being out in the wide open space and greenery - come summer everything will be dead and barren. We chased an emu in the buggy on the way back (not on purpose) it did look funny running. It ran a lot faster than we drove so it was in no danger. Also saw another wild kangaroo near the campground. They are everywhere round here!