Saturday September 8

A very quick update before we leave this morning for five days at Point Quobba, a mere 75 kilometres north and back on the coast. 

Our week in Carnarvon has been very relaxing and even though the weather has not reached the standards we have come to expect for most of that week, we are hoping that things are now on the improve and we will be back to perfect snorkelling weather!  Had a few drops of rain last night, but sadly for the locals it came to nothing (can't pretend that we were not sad!)

The car has been serviced, so is now ready for the next phase of the journey, we have stocked up on the lovely fresh vegetables and bananas which are grown here in Carnarvon and the seafood coming into the port and have enjoyed the local sights at a very leisurely pace.

It seems a little bizarre that such a range of crops is grown here as it is still an arid area.  Water for the plantations comes from the water table under the Gascoyne River and the fertile land around the river grows more than half of WA’s bananas and some 70% of their winter vegetables.

We visited Gwoonwardu Mia, the Gascoyne Aboriginal Heritage and Cultural Centre and took a very windy trip out on to One Mile Jetty on the ‘Coffee Pot’ train and wandered through the Heritage Precinct Museums. 

 

The 'Kimberly', the last steam loco to operate on the jetty

Not sure about restoration for these ones!

Don't know what this is, I just liked it!

The mouth of the Gascoyne from the top of the water tank

One Mile Jetty from the water tank

We also checked out the Overseas Telecommunications  Dish, which played a significant role in the space race of the 1960s and 1970s and drove out to Rocky Pool, a deep freshwater billabong in the Gascoyne (most of the Gascoyne is dry and the water is trapped by a layer of impervious clay under the sand) and were, as so often happens, amazed at the rocks.

Rocky Pool looking west

Rocky Pool looking east - the sandy river bed is obvious beyond the pool

One wonderful thing Murray learned whilst reading a book about Kingsford-Smith, which Colin had kindly lent him (all who travel know about the constant trade in books which takes place), is that the main street of Carnarvon is so wide because it was constructed so that a camel train could turn around.

We caught up again with Barbara and Colin, the friends we had made in Coral Bay and then on Wednesday morning Murray had an email from a former SE Water colleague, Pat Spedding, who live in Mornington, to tell us that he and his wife Veronica were in Carnarvon and to check how far ahead of them we were.  Of course, Murray delighted in telling them that we were also in Carnarvon, so it was great to be able to spend some time with them and share travel stories.



Us with Pat and Veronica Spedding (someone else's car though)

Time to go - the newspaper has been procured (we only buy the Saturday 'Australian') and the van is all packed up, so until Shark Bay . . .