We awoke this morning to dew covering everything! Leaving
Coral Bay we headed slightly inland and crossed the Tropic of Capricorn at,
unbelievably, exactly 5,0000km since
starting our trip. 80km after leaving Coral Bay we met up with the North West
Coastal Highway and continued on until we were 25km north of Carnarvon where we
turned back north along the coast passing Lake McLeod and the Dampier fear Salt
Mine. Covering 2,072 sq km it is only separated from the sea by sand dunes.
There is no of drowning in this lake as it was totally dry. Even in the wet it
would barely be ½ meter deep. A little further on we drove up to a lighthouse where
we had expansive views of the surrounding countryside, coast line and
blowholes. Drove down to the blowholes and they were quite something; the noise
sounded like a train coming through and they reached quite a height. The spray
drift caused small pockets of sea water to collect in the surrounding rocks and
with so much sun and so little rain the water evaporated leaving behind salt
crystals around the edges. A little further north we stopped for lunch at the
HMAS Sydney II memorial. On 19th November 1941 the HMAS Sydney II
intercepted the German Raider Kormoran. In the ensuring battle both ships were
sunk with the Kormoran suffering 80 fatalities while all 645 on board the
Sydney were lost. This was Australia’s worst maritime loss of the Second World
War. Turning around we got into Carnarvon mid-afternoon, booked into the camp
and while Wendy & I visited the Gascoyne Aboriginal Heritage and Cultural
Centre Russell & Kath toured the town. After the Heritage Centre we drove
down to the historic One Mile Jetty and Heritage Precinct. Walking out to the
end of the jetty “Coffee Pot” the little locomotive that runs down the jetty
was coming towards us and who should it be carrying but Russell & Kath. Getting
back off the jetty we climbed the old water tower offering expansive views of
the jetty, the old railway yards, the mouth of the Gascoyne River and Carnarvon
itself. Carnarvon is situated at the only point of the coastline where the
central desert reaches to the sea. It also produces 70% of WA’s winter
vegetable requirements, (obviously they don’t eat a lot of winter veges in WA)
and 30,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables every year from its plantations. We
meet back at camp at 5:00 for the inevitable supermarket shopping. With enough
supplies for 4 days we headed back to camp for nibbles and dinner. The climate
is certainly changing and with the evening temperate dropping to only 22
degrees we had to don sweat shirts. L
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