We decided to backtrack a bit and go back out to the blowholes- 80 km or so back along the coast road.
On the way along the long, boring road there we noted the large number of nests built on the power poles (the tallest structures along the road). Many have wheel rims attached a little below the important stuff (we assumed this is to encourage the nest there instead of on top)
As we approached the coast we diverted up to the lighthouse to admire the coast from there. You could see HUGE waves breaking on the cliffs on the coast from here.
At the coast itself there was a big sign greeting us saying “King Waves Kill” as a reminder to be careful. Pretty timely today (a day of king waves)
We stopped and watched the waves breaking for ages from various points. Certainly no-one was going to snorkel here today.
The blowhole is supposed to be the attractive and impressive thing, but today it was dwarfed by the waves and hardly noticeable.
Trev had to make a run for it at one stage.
We bought hot donuts and then fish and chips to share (yes again!!) from the van parked there. They said the waves had been even bigger early in the morning.
Further down the road is a memorial to HMAS Sydney II which sunk off this coast, losing all 645 men on board. The less able German ship involved had many survivors. (many made it to land and were later held captive). We drove down to the memorial and walked out there to spend a moment remembering.
Then we were heading back towards Carnarvon.
On the way back we diverted along to road to the North of the Gascoyne river (aptly named North River Road) -we had done the south side on the way out. We stopped at a lovely little fruit and veg shed (one of many along here) and stocked up on some really fresh veg and some choc coated frozen mango pops on sticks (yum). Sadly, bananas are out of season so we had to buy them in the supermarket. They did have some on display. They also had a cute herb garden in a boat and lots of friendly brown chooks who were happy to chat.
This road just happened to continue on into a dirt track to One Tree Point Reserve beside the mangroves and samphire where we hoped to see a slender billed thornbill (see Jan and Ross- we are doing our homework sometimes). We were foiled in this objective but did see a black shouldered kite ,who posed beautifully and lots of wrens. There was some small wren here amongst the many white winged, but the little one wouldn’t be seen for long enough for ID
We bought fuel (154.9c/l here) and the economy was calculated at 12.7l/100km. This was not surprising given the headwind we had battled as we headed south from Exmouth. This was balanced by the fact that I downloaded the new Ampol app, eliminating the need to go inside to pay and enabling a saving of 6c/l for the first 3 fills. If anyone would like me to refer you give a yell. You can do the same.
We also pumped our tyres up again to hard road travelling pressures after having them down in Cape Range.
We had a Tintookies Orienteering club meeting in the evening. The 7:30 start in SA meant 6pm in WA so we had to wait for our dinner till after the meeting. That was tough. It was good to hear voices from home and enjoy being part of it via the technology of ZOOM.
Then the big table tennis challenge was on till late. Zita is a bit of a whizz (part of her secret past) – but so is Trev. This made for some fun.
Luvapuzzle 