Carnarvon and the Blowholes

Carnarvon, Saturday 29th August
We travelled south once again and rolled into the Outback Oasis Caravan Park, Carnarvon, immediately we knew we had made a good choice, a big drive through spot for us and lovely grass, yes we had grass on our spot!! We met some nice neighbours again, Wendy and John who gave us some information on the little town. We took a short trip into town to the local Woolworths store for supplies.
Sunday was a day for the Blog and for the washing of sheets and clothes. Helen checked out the washing machines and saw that they use hot water, so mattress cover and all other white laundry was done. New neighbours John and Jenny arrived too.
Carnarvon has a jetty that is one mile long so a visit to this was a must but, Helen was quite anxious while walking on it. Who came walking towards us? is our neighbours John and Jenny, after a long chat we parted company both couples going in opposite directions. The old jetty looked very rickety and unsafe even though there was a little train running up and down on it!!! Helen was very cautious where she trod! We had a lovely drive around the town and found the very interesting Memorial Drive, where there is a plaque to every person who perished in November 1941 on the HMAS Sydney in this area. This tragic loss is a most important event in Australian history as there were 645 souls on board at least one serviceman from every city and small town...it took nearly a week before the authorities knew this ship was missing, communications so different to nowadays.


Richard was disappointed that this
was not a steam train!

Hold on to the hand rail!



Don't walk on the railway lines!

 

A bandstand being built on the old livestock wharf

 



 



A very long day out!

Desolate beach

We went for a day out to the Blowholes that are 70-80kms north and then onwards towards Quobba Station and eventually to Red Bluff for a special reason. There is a campground at the Blowholes which we wanted to check out first so we had a look around, quite remote but very cheap and windswept but, very beautiful. We visited the HMAS Sydney memorial cairn another very important area of history, as this is where the German survivors of the ship that allegedly sunk the Sydney came to shore, not one of the 645 crew of MHAS Sydney survived.

This is the Blowholes area, don't go near the water!

Wild seas!



Wonderful seascape



The campground is situated next to a calm,
protected sea area a little like a lagoon.
A bit cold for a swim today.

So sorry we didn't have a swim here



The dirt road up to Quobba station



The memorial cairn for HMAS Sydney, lost with all hands.



The lighthouse at the Blowholes.

 

Unfortunately our trip to Red Bluff wasn't to be, as the road was so rough and it was a further 50 km... it was time to have a quiet moment en route at our most northern point to remember a young man from our home town of Grimsby back in the UK, it certainly is one of the most beautiful, spectacular and remote areas we have visited.

Our time at Carnarvon was really interesting, we moved on, headed for Hamelin Station and cooler weather unfortunately!