When I arrived in Carnarvon I was to learn that there were
limited vacancies at the accommodation in town, and that it was very expensive. In the end I booked into budget accommodation
at the Carnarvon Hotel. Budget??? Bottom end of market? At least it didn’t cost a fortune and was ok
for one night.
I had been to the Visitors Centre and they told me that the
Coffee Pot train on the one mile long jetty was not operating. However, in my drive around the coastal
scenery I was surprised to find that it was going – and took no time in
negotiating a ticket. (I often bargain
to see if I can get a discount and it does work occasionally.)
It is at the mouth of the huge Gascoyne River – well, a
river with little or no water that I could see, but a huge red dusty bed, which
in heavy rain periods would fill up and flow out over the low lying areas
here. As there had been little rain of recent
times, I could see no water.
Ron was the train driver – he’s a volunteer (used to live in
Queensland), and was great fun and full of information. Initially I was the only passenger, but we
waited a while and two other families joined the tour.
The old jetty has loads of history – it was built in 1897,
and has had several disasters befall it of recent times and is undergoing
restoration. The trip on the train was
enjoyable – rickety but safe as we made our way almost to the end of the
jetty. Sadly idiots had set fire to the
end of the jetty, and part of it is closed off for repairs. Clearly it is a popular fishing spot and we
saw groups of blokes sitting on the jetty with rod and reel pulling in a nice
supply of fish.
I went for a walk along the main beach in town late in the
afternoon.
The town itself was pretty
quiet, though the hotel was popular for meals – loads of folk in the bar and
restaurant.
I was up early the next morning and went to take photos of
the memorial to the HMAS Sydney – there are many memorials along the coast from
right down south to the northern areas, as the sinking of this war ship off the
WA coast with the loss of nearly 700 seamen had a big impact on the area. The Memorial Road has plaques for each lost sailor and a
collection of palm trees supposedly at each plague, but one can see the effect
of the strong winds in this low lying area.
I left down via the 16 kilometres of fruit and vegetable
growing farms on the high banks of the dry Gascoyne River.
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