Spent the day heading further south. We have a campground booked in Carnarvon tonight. The sky is huge and clear. We are relaxed and sunned from yesterday’s beach time. The sun shines bright, hot, and friendly and the air is fresh with a tang of coastal salt.
Our first stop today is the Quobba Blow Holes. On the road in there is a sign warning “KING WAVES KILL” which tells what the conditions must be like when the weather is more energetic. We turn left at the sign to the blow holes, to the right is a dusty access road for the local surfers.
At the blow holes the waves crash into a rugged rock shelf in a timeless unstoppable force/immovable object arm-wrestle. The sea has the upper hand, slowly eking out cracks and voids. Even the gentle swell today sends water whip-cracking into the rocks, whooshing into hidden pipes and soaring high out of jets. The spray is caught by the wind and sent all over a small group of cheering onlookers.
It is very strange that only two weeks after our visit, a girl was taken from her parents here. It’s a great relief to post knowing she was found shortly after and returned to her family.
A few hundred metres south of the blow holes is a sheltered bay called The Aquarium. The calm water creates a haven for coral to form and other fish to make their home. There a few people snorkelling, we take a up a vantage point and witness a short interaction between a father and daughter excitedly spotting something underwater at the same time and pointing it out to each other. We have further to drive and decide not to get in the water.
Closer to Carnarvon are a collection fruit and vegetable farms, which can be visited on a short route called the ‘fruit loop’. Here we find delicious bananas, mango smoothies and vegies for dinner. There are so many bugs on the car now that the chickens on one farm swarm the car to peck them all off!
At our campground we have a view of the dish at Carnarvon Space Centre. Donna gets a well-deserved wash and we setup for dinner. The little shared camp kitchen is empty as we prepare dinner, and we have Adam Liaw as company again, via SBS Food. The local produce goes into a meal which is the equivalent of that amazing pasta meal we had in Utah on our honeymoon – a perfect little meal. We are joined a little later by an old guy who turns out to be from Merewether, a fellow East Coast escapee. He worked in waste streams and recycling and is quickly convinced that Anna should pursue a PhD.
