Day 100! Sheesh we are about a third of the way through the time we allocated for this trip. We still don't know whether we have allowed enough time or not. Perhaps we will speed up a little as we head further south, but I doubt it. We just have to take it as it comes. One thing we know for sure is that we won't be leaving Western Australia before we have seen and done what we want to do as I don't think we will ever return with the van. But never say never......
Today didn't go entirely to plan. The plan was to walk the five kilometre (return) Heritage Walk that would take us to Barrage Island where there is a Railway Museum with a cafe attached to it. We deliberately didn't eat breakfast because we thought we would have breakfast at the cafe, but, it was closed for cleaning. Who makes the decision to pull out the gurney and clean the outside of the building in the middle of school holidays and the tourist season? There were people pulling up the whole time we were there and all leaving disappointed. The restauranteur's loss....
The walk to the island starts at the Carnarvon town centre where they have recently opened a lovely family friendly waterside precinct. It is a beautiful spot and although the town of Carnarvon leaves a lot to be desired, this end of town certainly comes up with full marks. We can only hope that the council will now put some money into repairing the streets that are full of potholes!
The Heritage Walk follows the old tramline that ran all the way out to the end of One Mile Jetty that was built in 1899. The tram carted produce from the deep sea port and was in integral part of Carnarvon's establishment as a key horticultural centre. The walk is not shaded and does not have anything of much interest to see, but once you reach the end of the walk the railway museum is quite interesting. One Mile Jetty is closed indefinitely and all around Carnarvon there are boxes for you to donate so that the jetty can be repaired. It would be a mammoth job. We walked around the area and would have stayed longer if the restaurant had been opened, but by now we were feeling hunger pangs. We returned the same way that we had arrived and the walk ended up being seven kilometres.
By the time we reached the car it was close to lunch so we made the decision to shop a few essential grocery items as we are heading to Monkey Mia tomorrow and I don't believe there is much in the way of groceries there. We also shopped at the recommended fish market but we were very disappointed in what was available. We ended up with a kilogram of prawns at $35/kg but passed on the fresh scallops that were selling for $75/kg.
We made ourselves some Rice Paper Rolls for lunch and after we had done a load of washing and washed all the dishes we were once again in the car and heading to the Space Museum. We normally don't try and fit this much into one day and try to rest in the afternoon but we both wanted to visit this museum as it is our last opportunity today.
The Space Museum is a very well laid with lots to read. I preferred watching the videos that are running in three different rooms. I'm more of a visual person I think. Up until we arrived at Carnarvon we did not realise what an integral part the Carnarvon Earth Station played in the Apollo missions, offering vital communications with the spaceships. The OTC Satellite Earth Station at Carnarvon was first commissioned in 1964 and was open for eleven years.
One of the "must do" things inside the museum is to lay inside the Apollo Capsule for take-off simulation. It is very realistic and I tried to capture the sound on this video......
Carnarvon has been a real eye opener. You certainly need at least four nights here. We missed out on a couple of attractions but you knock up trying to see and do it all. It is around 400km to Monkey Mia tomorrow where we will get to play with the dolphins. 🐬
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