Time to pack up and leave Carnarvon and head for Quobba. First
stop, 70km north of Carnarvon, are the Quobba Blowholes. On the day we saw them they were pretty
impressive. The coastline along the
Quobba area is rugged and the ocean pounds the cliffs. There is sad evidence everywhere along this
coast of people lost to king waves.
Anyhow, back to the blowholes… there were two main holes next to each
other, a smaller one that got up an impressive wooshing noise as the air is
expelled in front of the water spout.
The second is a much larger hole that goes off less frequently but when
it does a fair volume of water is expelled.
Aiden absolutely loved the blowholes… Megan stood about 20 paces away
cringing… oh well, you can’t win them all…
From the blowholes we plodded our way up the coastline,
stopping in at all the side detour tracks.
There was a nice monument and story dedicated to the HMAS Sydney. Apparently in WWII there was a battle
between the HMAS Sydney and the German vessel Kormoran. All 645 sailors on board the Sydney were lost
so the story from the Germans is considered uncertain… The Kormoran also sank but a couple of life
rafts managed to make it ashore further up toward Red Bluff.
We took the next detour track heading north expecting
another ocean view over the cliffs, but were pleasantly surprised to stumble
across Cape Cuvier, the Dampier Salt loading facility. It was actually a pretty awesome panorama with
the loading facility, ship at dock and another ship waiting just a bit further
out. I don’t know how the others felt
but I was pretty chuffed with our view for lunch…
Finally, further up the main track, we reached Gnaraloo
Station, our destination: 3 Mile Camp. I
will intercede here and add a little tip for new travellers like us. We had been given the advice to listen to
what the locals have to say and not other travellers. Well, we learned that lesson today. Ma and Pa in a caravan across from us in the
park, with their shiny new Pajero that’s never been off road, who’s idea of ‘off
road’ means you drive up to a maximum of 1km off the bitumen, told us the road out to Gnaraloo was too
corrugated and we shouldn’t go past Quobba with our camper. Luckily for us, a local guy who works at the
caravan park was willing to share some local knowledge and told us you could actually get a 2WD up to Gnaraloo. We are so glad
we didn’t listen to the other people or else we would have missed out on the
awesomeness that is camping at Gnaraloo… So, moral of the story is… seek out
the advice of the locals…
We loved staying at 3 Mile Camp. Although we didn’t get a beach side camp spot
we still enjoyed the surroundings. My
favourite… the open-air bathroom! We
learned a lesson about perspective here.
We had read on WikiCamps some miserable comments about how expensive it was to
stay here considering the state of the facilities. Bah Humbug I say… Yes, the roof was missing,
but, the toilets were flushing!! Flushing toilets in a bush camp!! Unheard of! AND they were spotless. AND most of all, we
thought it was the coolest thing on earth to sit on the toilet and look up and
see the stars and moon or the birds… or
to have an open-air shower. Although we
did learn the hard way that all four of us turning on our showers at the same
time equals no pressure…
The view when sitting on the toilet... there were usually birds sitting on the pole...
Here are some photos of us exploring the beach where we
camped. Another cool thing was the fact
that when you looked out to sea, on the left hand side there were people
surfing on decent sized waves and then on the right hand side there is a
protected lagoon where the snorkelling is amazing. How often do you get people surfing and
snorkelling simultaneously all within a short distance of each other?
More sunset shots...
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