One of the best decision we made during our recent #PerthPlusPlus (click here for full list of stories) adventure was avoiding Perth City until the last few days of our 6-day trip. Nothing wrong about city life especially modern ones like Perth but we wanted to go somewhere a bit less hectic for our holiday, hence our decision to go straight from Perth Airport to Lancelin.

This beautiful fishing town located 130km from Perth’s CBD was our first pit stop.

Lancelin is a usual pitstop for day trippers and tours from the city going to the famous Pinnacles Desert. There are nice stretches of sandy beaches and of course the famous Lancelin’s sand dunes. We wanted to beat the crowd and be at the sand dunes very early in the morning but we were too tired (and too cold) to get up before sunrise.

At 0730 hours, we were already at a nearby petrol station looking for sand boards. Rental rates are quite standard at AUD$20 for 3 hours. Tips: just rent one and take turns unless you are a pro in which you most likely would already own one.

We thought that by 8am, the sand dunes would be full with visitors.

We were wrong. It was a pleasant surprise to see that we were the first visitors. I wasn’t sure that we got the right place but upon confirming with the guys at the petrol station (yes, we went all the way back to ask!); it was indeed the place for sandboarding.

Our cute Holden at the designated parking area and from there we walked for about 500 metres to the nearest dune.

On top of one of the dunes.

SubhanAllah,it was my first time seeing so much sand. For a short while it was just me and my wife repeatedly saying “wow” and occasionally “sejukkkk”

It was unfortunate that we got almost maximum cloud cover for the whole day but it did not rain which was good enough.  The sands are quite fine and soft which was nice initially as we stepped on it but starts to get a bit annoying after a while as we head towards higher peaks in the area.

Time to get some real sandboarding action…

For a good few weeks before the trip I often had mental images of me doing this and I was really upbeat and ready to go…

3…
2….
1…..

…

…

Nope. I did not move at all. Not even an inch.

10 minutes later after numerous attempts and methods, we finally managed to slide down at one of the steeper slopes.

It was super fun but hey… it lasted for only 10 seconds and it took us a few minutes of hard work to reach the top again. hahaha

We went to try a few different slopes and got different results. My wish to roll over the sand was fulfilled as I lost balance completely during one of the attempts. No serious injury but I did brought back lots of fine sand in my pants’ pockets!

We spent another 30 minutes just admiring the view and taking lots of photos.

After about an-hour at the sand dunes, it got windier and we left the area. Still no signs of other visitors. So there you go, another useful tip. Come early if you want to avoid bumping into other people, not that the huge area cannot easily accommodate a few hundred visitors at one time.

Besides the sand dunes, Lancelin is also famous for its beaches, wind surfing and some other cool activities but in winter it was quite quiet. A quick stop at the beach after the morning’s sand boarding activity.

I never imagine that sand can be this entertaining. Definitely a worthy experience and a good start to our journey. More exciting sights to be discovered in the next part. To be continued.