Day 56 - Carnarvon (1 Nov)

On Sunday I became a volunteer through the local Rotary club for the Gascoyne Dash. My job was to check off those competitors who had paid for fuel at our checkpoint and add to the list those who needed fuel but had not ordered it!

It was a stinking hot day and despite having a large shade cloth area everyone took strain, especially the poor guys doing the actual refueling. We left at 6:15am! (yes I actually got up) and got home around 5pm. What a huge cross section of vehicles quads and bikes. We had the race chopper buzzing overhead and even had a visit from the news chopper (although I believe the main reason he landed was his chopper was overheating!)

As per usual we had the standard Rotary BBQ and bangers plus also a great breakfast so catering wise we were well cared for (unlike some other check points who were short on some of these luxuries).
The old homestead or overseers residence, which is now abandoned, supported some 80 workers and their families in it’s day growing a lot of market garden products.

This race which runs over 3 days apparently started as a boat race down the Gascoyne River! BUT as this only flows (floods) after heavy inland rain it’s not predictable enough so it was changed to a race down and through the dry river bed in vehicles!

We’ve met some really lovely people here and the friendship shown is really great, all as a result of someone we met at a Rotary function, which says volumes for service associations. Go join yours! :-)

Days 50-53 (Week 8) - Carnarvon (25-29 October)

Our first day in Carnarvon was lovely and sunny in the morning however a thunderstorm is imminent.  As the day progressed it got cloudier and a few sprinkles of rain, and during the night it poured down and we had some great thunder and lighting.  After the heat and dust of the Pilbara it was so nice to feel some rain, it refreshed us.  The great thing about the rain is that it isn't cold!  Much more bearable then the rain down south.  It is so nice to get cleaned up after the dust and grime of the Pilbara and the best thing to stay clean!  Not overly packed park but just about everyone here is washing their caravans and cars, must be to get the dust and grime off after being up north.  We obviously aren't that caravan proud as we don't even own a mop like these guys, some even have high pressure hoses!  I guess we will clean the van one day. We just sit and watch them all, that's tiring enough (haha). We have booked in for a week initally and take it from there.  We are gorging ourselves on fresh fruit and veges from the nearby plantations - so cheap and really is just picked!  We are hooked on wax jambo's (from the persimmon family and similar to apples but different) and the black sopote, a soft fruit that tastes just like chocolate pudding and of course bananas.  On the Monday night we went to the local Rotary meeting.    Being such a small club they self cater (each person brings a hot dish) and the food was really good and the best thing $5 for the meal and $3 for a glass of wine and no fines session!  There were two inductions on the night which is great for a small club.  We ended up having a good night meeting some very friendly and interesting locals including some of the local constabularly and John is getting up early Sunday morning to help them with the "Gascoyne Bash".  The GasDash is off road racing, cars and bikes racing 500km on the riverbed.  Starts Thursday and ends Sunday.  It is a huge annual event apparently and attracts national and international participants as well as locals.  At the moment we are quite happy to stay here to relax and catch our breath.

Day 49 - Onslow to Carnarvon (24 October)

Another big day on the road, 494kms today to Carnarvon.  We couldn't get out of Onslow quick enough.  Our initial plan was to spend a week or so there where we could relax by the beach, swim, snorkel, fish etc.  Well can't do any of this in Onslow.  The only options for fishing are in a boat or pay a horrendous price to get to and stay at the Mackeral Islands.  The beaches have crocs and sharks so not recommended to swim and because of the huge tides and rocks at the shore edge its not inviting at all.  The other issue was the substandard caravan park.  It was awlful.  Location great near the beach (albeit rocks and huge tide) and a great boardwalk that went for 1km but the park was awlful and the manager was even more awlful.  Top dollar with bad attitude, Coco wasn't allow to pee in her park (???) and the showers were disgustingly dirty and yuk.  The town is very small with very basic facilities.   We were out of there by 7.00am and headed for Carnarvon.  So unless you have a great need to get to Onslow don't bother.   We had been warned by other travellers in Exmouth but decided to find out for ourselves and wasted time and petrol getting there.  Tiring day on the road and are now in a great park in Carnarvon, large grassed sites, clean amenities, nice facilities even a lawn bowling pitch and not many travellers. And the weather is much cooler, mid 20s and sunny, perfect.  Whilst we had a uneventful drive we did see a dust storm and a burnt out caravan and 4wd.

Day 48 Port Hedland to Onslow (23 October)

Well decision made.  We have decided to back track south and then east.  Our first stop south will be Onslow, 534kms SW of Port Hedland, so a long drive ahead today.  We will probably go as far down the coast as Geraldton as we need to get the EvaCool (Portable Fridge) and the caravan fridge serviced and this is the first town that offers these kind of services. However we haven't made any hard and fast decisions yet.  As we seem to be having some problems with the internet at the moment, if we are offline for a couple of days this would be why. 

Supplemental to Exmouth Navy Pier Dive

Hi all, as promised here are some of the photo's from the guy I dived with on the Navy pier, Erron. Thanks to him here is the link to his web page that has all the photo's

In case you are thick like me you click on the image to access the album :-)

There are heaps of shots!

Cheers John

 http://images.burnsy.info/v/australia/wa/exmouth/2009/

Days 40-47 Port Hedland (15-22 October)

Headed south (150kms) back to Port Hedland. Staying with Kim and Barb who with another couple run the Seafarers Centre. It is a great service for the sailors from all parts of the globe. The sailors get picked up from their ships, get chauffered to the shopping centre and then spend time at the centre relaxing, playing poole, air hockey, TVs, DVDs, reading, sketch pads and of course the bar. Everything is supplied for them even a gift/souvenir shop and mini supermarket. The centre makes a profit which goes back into the centre and BHP Billiton (they just about own this town) contribute funds. The ships come into load up with iron ore, Manganese and salt. PH is the biggest commodity port in the world and the busiest port in Australia. Some of these ships are up to 300m long with up to 9 loading hatches. It is quite amazing to watch these ships come into port and get loaded up. PH is a very dusty town and everything has the Pilbara tinge (red dust stains) it gets into everything. Can’t be houseproud here. Quite often black dust (manganese) gets added to the mix. In fact the town slogan is that it is the 'only town where you wipe your feet when you leave'. Doesn’t pay to wear white or light colours either. We are staying with Kim and Barb in the flat attached to the centre. It is very comfortable and they are well cared for by the Centre - to get good reliable people they have to make them very comfortable. Accommodation here is astronomically expensive, $2000/week for a very average 4x1 home. People rent out rooms only for $400/week and people will pay rent to pitch their tent in the back yard. It’s madness. There are so many jobs here but no affordable accommodation! The only way to do it is to get a job that offers accommodation as part of the package. When houses come onto the market they are snapped up straight away, cheapest is about $800K but with $2,000 a week rent they are definitely positively geared.(10-12% ROI) They don’t even need to be done up as people move in as they are. The Seafarers Centre is just about on the wharf and helicopters land only 400m away from us. It is a very busy area. We have salt stacks behind us and these get loaded into ships every two to three weeks and can take upto 4 days to load. It is very interesting to be amongst a working port and it is only going to get busier.  We went on a tour of the BHP Billiton plant which was interesting.  We had seen the mining of the ore at Mt Whaleback in Newman a few years ago so it was good to see what happens to it here.  It is received here after travelling by locomotive from Newman 426km and takes 8 hours.  It is then stockpiled, graded and loaded onto the ships.   About 800 ships are loaded each year and its takes about 30 hours to load.  Each ship that leaves port brings $7.5M to BHP (not clear if that is profit or net).  Whilst it was an interesting tour it was ridicously expensive at $26 each for 1.5 hours sitting on a bus taking photos through a dusty window.  One of the few tours to do here.  In the evening we went to the local Rotary meeting.  It is held at the miners mess in South Hedland.  Great spread of food for $20.  Unfortunately we didn't know the system and missed out of making the most of it.  The miners/workers certainly are well catered for.   The Rotary club is small with only 8 regular members however they are very proative and keen to do things. Due to the transient nature of the town they struggle to get members.  The average age was about 50 - how's that for a Rotary club.  It is the first Rotary meeting we have been to that didn't have alcohol and was a surprise here in Port Hedland.   

Days 38-39 - Pardoo Station (13-14 October)

John had discovered a station about 50kms north and we all agreed to go and check it out. The others are continuing on north and we are at the crossroads decided which way we will go. It is getting really hot now and will only get hotter and more humid the further north we go so we are thinking of heading south and then east. Anyway on to the station. it is a working cattle station with about 18kms of coastline and 500,000 acres. It incorporates a caravan park with 24hr power (not common in this part of the world). It is very peaceful and there are only 3 other vans here. Can you believe someone is here from Busselton! Just about everywhere we go there is someone from Busselton. Later in the day a group of about 20 arrived who were heading to Broome but had to make an unscheduled stop due to a bushfire on the road north. Not a great deal to do here - fishing is a big activity with two creeks nearby and the beach. Although the tides here are huge and when we went to check out the beach the tide was about 1km away! At the creek the guys caught a few fish, catfish and whiting. John caught a sea snake. There is no swimming at the creek or beaches due to bull sharks, crocs don’t seem to be such an issue. It is really beautiful down at the creek especially with the sun setting. Due to the huge tides though have to pick the times to fish.