On ANZAC Day - we decided to head up North for some sandboarding and to visit the famous Pinnacles. We spent quite a lot of time on the road...but hey, it was such an enjoyable trip! I really don't mind driving up North again! I really had such an awesome time :) Especially with sandboarding, since it was my first time.
So for today - we'll focus on the sandboarding stuff. But first, check out the scenery!! The Western Australian landscape is actually pretty impressive...
Saw some farms and large properties along the way. I wonder how it's like living in such a remote place. Well - the highway IS there, but to get to the nearest town/city, you'd have to drive quite a fair bit.
Also spotted some sheep grazing and chilling out. The weather is getting colder now and it's been raining a lot more than usual. So I guess they've got a lot to graze on!
We overshot a little...but managed to find the road that led to the town centre. Fortunately it wasn't too far away. The drive was totally enjoyable as we got to enjoy lovely scenery along the way! Plus - the cloud formations enhanced the scenery.
Hired our sandboards from one of the small marts in Lancelin. There were 2 types - the sitting and standing ones. We went for the sitting ones!
Drove along a small road and finally reached our destination! As you can see, there were quite a number of people sliding down the sand dunes already! The sand dune we chose was one of the steepest. To be honest all of them were pretty steep! I reckon they're at least 45 degrees steep.
Spotted this vehicle driving along the flatter parts. Guess what - the sand was soft...but we had to walk through a rocky path in order to get to the soft sand! And we had no shoes on...which made it kinda painful. Reminds me of those stone paths used for massaging feet back in Singapore...
Sliding down was the fun bit. Climbing up to slide down wasn't. Well - as I said, the sand dunes were at least 45 degrees steep. Plus - the sand was soft. So every step you make, you slide back down two steps. It was an arduous task.
In the end - we used the sandboards to hoist ourselves up. This is how we did it: anchor sandboard into sand, pull ourselves up...then re-anchor sandboard...and repeat this until we reached the top. Gosh, it was good exercise! I had a sore shoulder the next day. But that was because I wasn't using the dominant side of my body to pull myself up the sand dune.
The view from the bottom of the sand dune - before I made my third climb up. I had climbed up twice and slid down twice already. As you can see - the dune is really steep!
The best part of the view? The clouds! The clouds were really dramatic that day and that really enhanced my pictures! Check out how the sand contrasts against the skies! Really, really amazing.
OK - time to climb up! So off we went...slowly but steadily.
The good thing about reaching the top? Well - the view is pretty good! You can see the whole group of sand dunes, plus some homes and the sea - all in the distance.
Decided to stay on top of the sand dunes for a while. And so we planted our sandboards into the sand for us to lean our backs on :) So we rested and took pictures...
And since we had only 2 hours, we had to slide down once more...and not climb back up.
Decided to call it a day...and so we packed up and headed back. As we were driving back, I caught a glimpse of the epic cloud formations. I swear - no photoshop, nothing!
Had a short toilet break - so we headed to the beach. It's just a small beach in the town...but it was nice.
Lots and lots of seaweed!!! All dried and crunchy from the sun. And the water was SO COLD!! We let the waves wash up against our legs and oh my gosh...it was FREEZING! But it felt good after a while.
By the time we walked back inland, it started to drizzle. So we decided to call it a day and head back to the town to return our sandboards...and drive up to the Pinnacles!
And that will be covered in our next post. Do stay tuned!