Day 7 - Tuesday 10 July - On to WA's food bowl, Carnarvon

Day 7

Tuesday

10 July 2018

Hamelin Outback Station  - Carnarvon

It is hard to believe we have been away for a week already, seeing lots and doing very little all at the same time. Guess that’s what holidays are about. 

As we were packed up and ready to go, we were in no hurry to drag ourselves from our cosy covers, in fact we stayed put until just after 8am, then we were happy to get the show on the road. Dressed, bed, breakfast, dishes, last minute tidy and we were on the road by 8.50am, ready to head the 200km up the North West Coastal Highway and our destination, Carnarvon.  It was another glorious, warm and wind-free morning, perfect for driving. 

We entered and left numerous stations, passed over the 26^thParallel, once again entering the North West. We noticed the trees become smaller, yet there was still plenty of green growth. It still had Paul bemused, he couldn’t get over the vegetation and the amount of water across the flats. He was also surprised that there wasn’t more fresh road kill, in fact there wasn’t any. 

11am and we turned on to Robinson Street, the main one into town and found Wintersun Caravan Park 1km down the road. We pulled up to reception, checked in, glad we had booked in advance, as there were no powered sites to be had for walk-ins. Paul took the car off in the drive and then we drove around to site 2, backed ourselves in and began to make ourselves at home for the next 3 nights. 

Once we had finished all of our jobs, we jumped in the Getz and drove the 5km into the centre. We parked along the river front and then walked up the main shopping street. We stopped in at the tourist bureau, collecting information on things to do and see. We then found the Woolies, picked up a few bits, before ordering lunch at a local Asian. We made our way back to the front, found a spot under the shade of the palms and ate. 

Our next destination was the seafood shacks out by the little boat harbour. I was expecting more of them, but there was only one. We checked what was in the cabinets and were shocked at the prices. In the end we came out with some Pink Snapper for dinner.

We returned to the van, dropped off our shopping and then made our way to the “Fruit Loop”. This was touted as a drive where the local food producers put out their wares and you can leave your payment in a tin. We found mostly little shops. We stopped in at a couple of places picking up a few different fruits and veges. We even indulged in a chocolate covered, rocket shaped frozen fruit stick. It was delicious. 

Once we had completed the loop, we drove out to 1 mile jetty and museum precinct. There wasn’t much going on with the museum stuff and unfortunately the jetty was closed due to its disrepair. Paul was disappointed as he was looking forward to fishing from it. 

We continued to follow the road around, stopping at Pelican Point. We parked the car and got our to walk along the muddy flats of the receding Gascoyne River. It wasn’t until we were walking on it that we could see the sand was alive with thousands of little crabs. If you stood for long enough, they walked all over you. 

We enjoyed the walk to the point and then back to the car, moving on to Town Beach, where we stopped again. We wandered over the sand dunes and out on to the white beach. An old jetty was lying in decay and there were people there fishing. I checked out the jetty and then decided we should walk up to 1 mile jetty. It was a glorious afternoon for a walk in the sun by the great big blue. 

Paul had worked up a thirst, by the time we had returned to the car and was eager to get back to the park. I got straight into seeing if the wifi was working. I could get it ok through the computer but not much else. I set about adding photos to Facebook and uploading the blog. We took ourselves for a wander around the park. It is full of oldies, mainly from the south-west who are chasing sun and lawn bowls. Everyone had a friendly smile and hello. 

The evening was spent getting our tech on, before we cooked up the sweet snapper and ate dinner. We settled it all with another walk down the main street, finally clicking over the required step count.

Happy I had done my bit, we returned to van for the evening.