CALMING CARNARVON



Wild Surf Along a Rugged Coasline



We Just Loved His Body Language (With Attutude)



A Timely Warrning


Well folks, here we are in downtown Carnarvon. Well, I use the term downtown loosely as we are in fact a few ks out of town staying at the Wintersun Caravan Park. We arrived here on Monday and were intending to leave for Kalbarri today but strong prevailing winds have convinced us to wait until tomorrow when the weather promises to be a little more amenable.

This is not our first visit to this part of the world so forgive us if we haven’t done a great deal of exploring. Carnarvon is an unusual place, situated in an extremely barren environment and yet yielding just sooo much fresh produce. The arid countryside parts to display a veritable oasis of plantations of Banana, Mango, Avocado, Grapes, Strawberries, Tomatoes, etc, etc. The secret to the success here is largely the subterranean waters of the Gascoyne River. The river, like the Todd in Alice generally flows underground, and only appears on the surface in times of flood. Growers are able to access this underground water to cultivate their crops. The plantations extend for 16ks along the river bank. Last time we were here, picking up a crate of beautiful pink grapefruit for a friend, the growers told us that things are a little uncertain for them here because of the new and huge growing district in Kununurra – having been there recently we can certainly see the risk for this area. Nevertheless, the plantations here are generally looking pretty good. Sadly for TBBITW (a lover of mangoes from way back) the mangos are not ripe yet in this area – I was obliged to buy him a couple of lesser specimens from the local Woolworths to ‘scratch’ his mango itch. Personally, I cannot handle the smell of mangoes and the riper they are the worse I feel about them – I know, I know, I’m weird, but there you go! Many of the plantations here sell their produce direct to the public and a meandering drive thru’ the growing area usually yields up some wonderful gems. This time however, we seem to be out of luck – we suspect as the main tourist flood has dwindled for this season, most locals have stopped this lucrative little sideline. We took a lengthy drive around yesterday and were only rewarded by a few rather dubious and tired looking specimens. It is an interesting reflection on human nature, that once you have entered the realm of somebody’s ‘shop’ on their private property, you more or less feel obliged to purchase something, especially when large, well intentioned blokes are treating the lady of the house as if they are their long lost mother! I was absolutely amazed at seeing and hearing my precious fella buying stuff I would never have considered buying, and possibly will not use – incredibly this bloke who never prepares any food whatsoever, not even a lowly sanger, suddenly sprung to life chatting about beans, avocados and all sorts of other stuff that normally he wouldn’t cast a glance at. This I might add is the same fella who is always warning me not to buy too much ‘stuff’ as we might not fit it in the van! The lovely elderly Slav lady we were buying from was almost in stitches at his antics and the no doubt dismayed and exasperated expression on my dial. By the time we left, she and I had bonded considerably in mutual sympathy for the foibles of menfolk.

The other mainstays of this town are wool, solar salt extraction and prawn and scallop processing. There is a solid fishing fleet operating out of the town and the local prawns and crabs are excellent. Predictably, we went crab hunting at the local distribution point and once again, TBBITW became super animated, and we came away with considerable supplies of prawns, crabs, scallops and the most enormous oysters I have ever seen (from NZ). In my bloke’s defence however, I must say that he is the chief peeler and preparer of seafood and for that I am eternally grateful. Yes ladies, he does peel most of my prawns for me and I just love that about him! I am one of those painful females who love to eat the little creatures, but don’t wish to be confronted with the entire beast and am not enthralled when I have to decapitate the poor little things and divest them of their legs and other bits. Of course, when necessity comes begging, I will rise to the occasion and manage quite well. In fact, I have to say on some level I approve of having to put in that little bit of effort in order to eat your food and there is a certain honesty in having to confront the creature first before devouring it. You will no doubt be relieved to hear we didn’t visit the salt plant, otherwise there is a strong possibility we would be lugging a huge bag of salt around with us now as well! I have to say shopping yesterday was a little more restrained than usual as most of my limited freezer space had by then been utilised.



Thar She Blows

We took a drive out to the Blow-holes on Tuesday and what a rewarding experience that was. So many times we have trudged across sand-hills, rocky preci-pusses and the like only to find a lack-lustre event awaiting us. Not so here, as promised in all the brochures, we were rewarded by great spouts of salt-water and spray shooting skywards to a height of around 20 feet. The surrounding coastline was deliciously rugged and the large swell provided a wonderful spectacle of brilliant blue ocean, pounding waves, wind-blown froth and spume all set against an incredibly arid and rocky backdrop and deep blue skies. The trip to the blow-holes is around 50k from town and well worth the effort. You can take your van in to this spot and camp some 100 meters from the actual blow-holes. There is also a permanent camp of what appear to be squatters/shacks just down the track. These remind us of the shacks that appear south of Jurien Bay further south. In our experience there is some type of legality concerning the ‘ownership’ of these holiday shacks, albeit rather tenuous. For anyone considering this trip, the road is gravel most of the way, but very good indeed. While there we drove up to have a look at the fantastic and vast views from the local lighthouse. You could see forever!


Oportunistic Birds Nesting Up High



Solar Salt Extraction- Dampier Salt




Looking Down the Coast from the Lighthouse



From the blow-holes we drove up to have a sticky-beak at Quobba Station. This is a fully operational station where caravanners are welcome to stay. It is very much a bring everything place, providing only limited power and no water. Once again, it seems that he and me are sadly lacking the adventure gene, as although many of our friends have raved about Quobba, we just didn’t ‘get it’. It looked dry and dusty and there were no ocean views from the campsites. I suppose that during the winter months the weather is more pleasant and perhaps that adds to the whole attraction. We are told that the fishing is very good there and of course, there are some lovely beaches in the area. Cream-puffs to the last tho’, we shuddered at the thought of being out there in the dust, heat and flies without air-conditioning or shade. We did have an unexpected encounter with 3 horses along the track on the way to Quobba - doubtless station horses - I was alarmed to see a tourist feeding them a loaf of bread (slice by slice) - somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind I seem to remember bread is not good for horses - I hope I'm wrong.


Station Horses Along the Roadside

From Quobba we continued up the coast intending to have a look at Red Bluff some 60ks further north, but when the track went inland and away from the sea-views, we decided to call it quits and headed for home. Once again, we are told this is a great spot, particularly if you are into surfing.

There is a great deal more to see and do here than we have covered in this trip, the NASSA Tracking Station, Shearing Hall of Fame, Coffee Pot Train and Jetty Tour and so much more. Much of this we have covered on a past trip so won’t be doing again this time around.


We are both feeling much better since arriving here and hopefully by the time we hit Kalbarri we will back in top form (just in time to enjoy our annual flutter on The Cup!). Whatever that bug was, it really hung in there!


We have been staying at the Wintersun Caravan Park (dog friendly) and are quite impressed with the CP. The amenities are good and clean and the park is huge. We have been put right down the back and our site sadly is exposed and in an unattractive part of the park, but we did have the option of choosing a different site. Sometimes blokes get a mind-set tho’ and won’t be budged – I’m sure you ladies get that picture, so we are sitting here in the sun and wind, but despite that, enjoying the experience. They have ground-covers on the part of the site the annex covers and for that we are super grateful – so wonderful after all the sand we had in the van at Coral Bay. At least half the park has been closed due to lack of custom and for general maintenance – the bulk of the winter-tourists have all headed back down south. In the peak season it is difficult to find a spot anywhere in Carnarvon, and especially at this park. The park boasts its own Bowling Green and that is a huge attraction for many of the Grey Nomads. The other big attraction here is the climate – according to the books it is moderate all year around with temps generally in the mid to high 20s. The wind blows during the months of Oct, Nov and Dec and the rainfall here is minimal – all in all, a delightful climate for relaxing and doing very little. Although this is a seaside town, there are no caravan parks actually on the water here. We are of the opinion that whilst there are some good parks within the town itself, the best idea is to stay in one of the outermost parks. It certainly is peaceful here!


Until next time, listen to each other with love and respect – Steph.