KALBARRI TO CARNARVON

MAY 2007
ROAMING RAMBLINGS #6
KALBARRI TO CARNARVON
We enjoyed our stay in Kalbarri, it is a very friendly little town and the weather during our stay was perfect barring one night of rain but not enough to spoil anything, the caravan park was right on the river and very clean.
The fishing in the river was fairly quiet so we didn’t spend much time chasing fish as there were plenty of other activities to fill in the time.
We drove about 50 k’s back towards Northampton to the principality of “Hutt River Province”, you may remember in the 1970’s Prince Leonard and his family took the government of the day to court over an issue with his wheat quota, he lost that case but he didn’t give up and after a very long struggle and many court cases he finally seceded his 18000 acres of sheep and wheat from W.A. and Australia and created the independent principality of Hutt River and over the years it has become a bit of a tourist attraction.
When we arrived at the gate we were greeted by one of the staff and told that Prince Leonard had gone to Australia on official business but Princess Shirley would show us around in his absence, it turned out Prince Leonard had only gone into Northampton to collect the mail and would be back in an hour or so.
Anyway we had a private tour of the place, learnt a bit of the history which we found interesting, had our passport endorsed with a visa, bought some currency and souvenirs then Prince Leonard came back and completed our tour with a photo session with both himself and Princess Shirley.
All in all, a fun day with some very strange but fascinating people. Prince Leonard (now in his 80’s) is a bit of an old eccentric but not stupid by any means.
Next day (Wed) was Anzac Day so we got up early to attend the local Dawn Service at the Town Cenotaph, a very small turnout but they had a couple of pipers so that made it OK for me. The march later in the morning attracted a bigger crowd (maybe it had something to do with the free lunch at the pub put on by the RSL.)
We drove out into the National Park in the afternoon and walked to some spectacular gorges in the upper reaches of the Murchison River.
Thursday we had a lay day and caught up with some housekeeping and washing through the day and at night the park people put on a BBQ for all the camp. I had arranged to go on a fishing charter offshore on Friday at 6.00am so an early night was on the agenda.
Fridays fishing trip was really good weather wise, the sea was very calm and the fishing was a bit quiet, but I got lucky and caught a 8kg Dhufish which they consider a delicacy over here. He’s a bit like what we call a Jewfish but not in the Mullaway family, more like a very big Pearl Perch, anyway he is beautiful to eat and that’s all that matters.
From Kalbarri we drove up to Denham which involves a 125k diversion off the main N.W. highway and return, but it was well worth the extra few k’s as Denham is a lovely village in the World Heritage area of Shark Bay opposite Dirk Hartog Island and Steep Point which is the western most point of the mainland, which is another 125k side track on gravel so we declined the opportunity and settled for the view from Denham.
The caravan park at Denham was very large and very clean, the ground consists of compressed shell in coarse sand which is packed down so tightly and has been dry for so long, some sites require an electric drill to create holes for tent pegs to be able to penetrate it.
We couldn’t stay as long as we’d hoped as their annual fishing fiesta was about to begin at the weekend and all the parks were booked out, so we were only able to book for 3 nights… Anyway we took in all the sights and visited Monkey Mia to feed the dolphins, saw some wonderful sunsets and met some nice people. The coastal scenery in this part of W.A. is fantastic as most of the coastline is protected by a series of reefs and the water is so calm and crystal clear turquoise most of the time. (Set to Email 7/5/07
Next stop was Carnarvon, the home of the OTC communications facility which played a major role in the NASA moon landing programme in the late 60’s. The big dish is not operational any longer but it remains on the hill, east of the town as a reminder of the part the town played in that event.
We spent 3 nights in a caravan park especially provided for Seniors and Retirees, (no dogs & no kids allowed).
A bit discriminatory but they seem to be able to get away with it over here, the promotional material just says no child facilities available, it must work OK because the park was fairly busy.
We caught up with a few people we had met so far on the trip including Graham & Merlene Whitney from Glen Innes (cousin Wendy’s old neighbours) plus Lester & Joy Alsopp, previously from Gosford, (I used to play golf with Lester about 30 years ago), they now live at Lennox Head on the North Coast near Ballina.
There’s not a great deal to do in Carnarvon but fortunately there was a speedway event over the weekend, the W.A. State Titles for modified sedans so,…as you do, we went along on Friday & Saturday nights…… took Lester & Joy and had a good time, met a few of the local revheads and rednecks and joined in the fun, the only problem was our choice of vantage position, we parked right on a corner alongside the track where we had a great view, unfortunately the cars ended up covered with clay……Bugger….. One day I’ll learn.
We did visit and walk the 1 mile jetty at the local “Heritage Precinct” on the waterfront at the old lighthouse site, which contains a fairly new “Shearers Hall of Fame” which has only opened recently and is not yet complete but it is basically the work of one local identity who has recently been recognised for his community works. I don’t think there are a lot of sheep in this country today but it has obviously been a big industry in the past.
We leave here tomorrow for Coral Bay at the southern end of the Ningaloo Reef which is the viewing platform for the Whale Sharks which visit this area from about April to July each year.
(Don’t know if we’ll be diving with them, but you never know we might get brave and if we do I’ll tell you about it next time.
Till then
Love to All
D & J