AROUND AUSTRALIA TRIP

Day 4

OH! We've updated all the previous pages with pics, so please pop back and check them out!

We spent the night at Moore Point lighthouse. We found a “campervan friendly” park where we could stay the night that seem to be bogan free. We went to sleep watching the lovely Victorian lighthouse swathe the bay in light, and awoke to find a lovely Osprey nest that had been installed by the “friends of something” group and they’d bought a brand new wooden light pole, and installed a platform on the top with what looked like a whicker laundry basket on top. The male was on the nearest light pole gutting and filleting breakfast for his mate who was busy renovating the nest ready for breading this year. Apparently they normally breed at Houteman Abrholos Island, but this pair have been hanging around for some time so they built them a nest.

We then ventured on to the HMAS Sydney Memorial, that Jenny recommended we visit. Quite an awe inspiring site, and sight, with stunning views from the hilltop out across the ocean, as well as a world class memorial.

The rain has now stopped and apart from a brisk start to the morning, we’re well into T-shirt weather now. We refueled on our way out of Gero, and on my brother’s recommendation, we’ve been driving 80kms/hour as with the kayaks on the roof we are over 3m tall (not attractive wind resistance at the best of times – but managed to do 9.6L/100km, so we’re really happy with that.)

We crossed the Murchison around lunch time today. We watched the dirt turn from yellow sand to the light red pindan dirt of the pilbara. We are surprised how many flowers there are around, as well as how green the countryside is.
There was lots of free-standing water around in low lying pathes along the road.

We arrived late afternoon into the exciting town of Carnarvon (not). Surprisingly they’ve installed a mini canals, and had a few nice restaurants to choose from. We chose one that was entertaining a bus load of piss-poor-pensioners, so we had to wait for them to leave before we could get served. While waiting, Steve got chatting to this lovely crazy woman on the beach who has been traveling around Australia with her little dog and living out of her car. She was from Glebe in Sydney and had just rented a little house in Carnarvon for $55/wk and was enjoying staying put for a while, but she said it was getting too cold and she’d have to head north again soon. She slept in the seat of her Hyundai Getz! She had been all round Australia, and probably had been traveling for many years!

Enjoyed a great cheap meal and found a “no camping” free zone in the fishing boat harbour, which of course, woke me up early in the morning as they went out for fishing.

Steve recommends by-passing the HMAS Sydney II Drive. Full of short little palm trees with war memorial name plaques under, but recommends visiting the Jetty Museum.