Sorry it’s so late but there’s just no
internet signal over here. Telstra might tell us they cover 95% of the
population but it’s much less than half the country.
Still, as WA has a population of less than
1.5 mill I guess it’s to be expected.
It’s Saturday morning & having said our
goodbyes to Mark & friends it was time to leave Paraburdoo. Heading back
out to the highway I saw something on the road, it looked like the branch of a
tree, unfortunately, when I got near, it raised it’s head & I realized,
just before I ran over it, that it was a goanna >120cm long. There was quite
a solid bump as the front & then the back wheels ran over it.
We stopped for the night at a roadside stop
just before the turnoff to Onslow. The next morning we saw we had a flat tyre
on the inside back wheel, it took the best part of 2 hours to change it &,
when I was halfway through, some good samaritans turned up. They were great
people, Libby chatted to the wives & the blokes gave me a hand. The work
seemed so much lighter with friendly help. They even put the spare up in place
for me. A pity we were heading in different directions as it would have been
nice to spend some time with them.
Arriving at Onslow we found a small town
(pop. 800) with a campground, shops & a pub. After booking in to the
campground we strolled around town, checked out the pub, (hmm, roast on the
menu tonight), Strolled to the beach, sandflies everywhere, did a bit of
shopping & returned to the campground. Around 5:30 we returned to the pub
for a couple of grogs & dinner, which was huge, lots of pork & 8
vegies! Next day we got up before dawn & went to the war memorial to take
some photos of the sun rising behind the structure after which we strolled
along the boardwalk & on to the beach. After breakfast we had the tyre
repaired, picked up our mail, visited the museum & headed of down the
highway, stopping at Nanutarra Roadhouse for lunch. Our destination today was
another roadside stop at Burkett Road.
There were only 6 or 7 vehicles at this
stop, 8 of us from 4 vehicles got together for happy hour & discussed
travelling to Exmouth & Cape Range N.P. Although it is possible to book a
NP site on the net there are only 16 out of 112 that can be booked. We tried
but it would be several days before we could book a site. The alternative was
to turn up early & wait for someone to leave.
We decided to travel to Coral Bay first, on
the Southern road into the peninsular. Another magnificent place, just a small
village, very tourist oriented, with a long golden beach protected by a coral
reef just 200mts offshore. The water was crystal clear &, as it was a
marine sanctuary, there were plenty of fish swimming around some >60cm as
well as stingrays. If you stood in the water for a few minutes the fish would
swim around your legs. After 2 great days we proceeded to Exmouth to replenish
our supplies, stayed at Yardie Creek Homestead caravan park near to the NP
& arose at 5:00AM the next morning, left the park as quietly as possible
& was at the park entrance by 5:30. There was already another vehicle there
& a third pulled up behind us a few minutes later. We jumped back into bed
when we arrived & stayed there till 7:00. Getting up we offered the people
in front & behind a cuppa. It turned out we had all stayed at the park the
previous night & the third vehicle, hearing us move out, jumped up &
did the same.
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| The good samaritans |
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| WW2 memorial, Onslow The other side says 'Lest we forget' |
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| Onslow pub |
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| Onslow Caravan park |
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| At dawn |
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| At dawn |
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| Salt loading wharf, Onslow At night this has navigation lights along it's length |
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