Continuing our week in Carnarvon, Sunday 6 June, we had a lazy morning relaxing. Our friends from Brisbane who were also travelling came to visit. We went for a walk around the streets around the caravan park. Coral Coast Caravan Park is the closest park to the main area of town. It is beside the airport and we were there a week and didn't hear a thing. It has great facilities and even live entertainment. We saw Marley Quinn there one evening. We also saw him at Bullara Station.
Monday
7 June was Western Australia Day - a day after Queensland Day. We decided on a day trip to the amazing
Quobba Blowholes. We crossed the Gasgoyne River and took the direct Bibbawarra Road to the blowholes. Well the road soon turned to dirt and then mud and then water covered. Lucky the sides of the track were higher and drier, so we often had to drive there. We were glad to get back on the bitumen of the Blowholes Road.
We turned left at the iconic King Waves Kill sign to the blowholes. The
area has some of the biggest waves that can be very dangerous and
there is an iconic sign at the end of the road to remind people
of that. Many fishermen have been lost in the king waves.
The blowholes were amazing. The waves force
water into caves and out little holes to make a spurt of water. There was a boardwalk being constructed that I hope will still allow people to get close to the blowholes. The ground was very rocky and where the boardwalk seems to be ending is a fair distance from the blowholes.
Some
were so larges and around the main blowhole were many little
blowholes.It was way too cold for us to swim or snorkel but
other were. We had a look at the beach camps and there were a few
vacancies so we started thinking maybe we should come here after
leaving Carnarvon.
We had lunch at the day visitor spot and watched a
few people snorkling. It is a beautiful spot with fine almost white
sand and gentle waves. Heading back to the King Waves Kill sign we head straight ahead to see the memorial to
HMAS Sydney. 645 crew perished on 19 November 1941 when the Sydney
was in battle with the German cruiser Kormoran. Both ships were lost.
Wreckage was found approximately 112 nautical miles from the coast.
The rocks the memorial were made of were very interesting.The little protected bays were beautiful, but most of the coastline was wild.The following day, Tuesday
8 Jun Peter
and Jon went to the Carnarvon Space & Technology Museum, and
spent just over 4 hours there. They said it was really interesting. We had driven around the outside and there is a lot to see there. The boys were interested to see more.... me not so much - a peaceful day of sewing and enjoying the park. They took the obligatory touristy photos and then explored.
The planetarium and the Apollo Experience were good and they enjoyed
the interactive displays. Jonnie liked the ‘old’ games. They
said the place was very educational for children and adults. One can
see the huge communication dish from all around the surrounding
countryside.
One of the many good things about travelling around
Australia is the large amount of Australian history that is not
taught in schools and that I didn’t know about. Everyone knows
about the dish in Parkes because of the movie, but I didn’t know
about the involvement Carnarvon Tracking Station had in the manned
space program. Located 10km south of Carnarvon, it was the largest
manned tracking station out side of the USA and supported NASA’s
Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab programs. The huge dish, 6km out of
Carnarvon is the old OTC Satellite Earth Station and is now the
museum was opened in 1966 and was part of the global satellite
communications system. There is also a Casshorn antenna that they say
looks like a sugar scoop, that played a part in Australia’s
television transmissions. It is run by volunteers and there is so much to see inside and outside and still
growing. Peter wants to go back to volunteer – maybe one day.
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