Sun 20th June '21 - Day 9

Carnarvon to Point Quobba

 

A cold morning again 6 degrees, with the promise of sun and 21 degrees later in the day. This temperature seems to be the norm for us, but it feels warmer than this when outside, though a noticeable chill as soon as the sun sets. Comparable to a decent English early September day.

Our third Woolworths Click & Collect is between 8-9am; these have really saved time and the angst of pushing everyone around the supermarket for an hour each time. The practical requirements of a campervan means we also need to find some chemical sachets from Mitre10 to help keep the portaloo/camp toilet fresh-ish. This has to be emptied manually – involving pulling the lower tub out from the outside of the van and then pouring it down an over-sized drain, these have been available at all camp sites and on the edges of towns we’ve been to so far. Not the most pleasant task but after two children’s worth of nappies and two dogs for 8 years, it’s not as painful as others may consider.

Before bolting from town we visit the Carnarvon Space & Technology museum, collect a coin (…) and struggle to learn much as Seb just wans to run around (“No running”), and touch everything including an original 1960’s typewriter (“Don’t touch”). 

Only a little later do we find the hands-on section out the back where its ok to play with experiments. Sienna is also not really in a learning mood so apart from novelty scientific part we don’t learn much ourselves, other than that Australia was in some small part involved in NASA’s space adventures in the 1960’s and 1970’s – something about a big satellite dish tracking the movement of the Gemini and Apollo flights. The highlight was sitting on our backs in a life-size space module and going through the last 2 ½ minutes before and after take-off.

In the van, the subdued kids stay quiet for the 1.25 hour drive off the freeway, North-West, to the end of the asphalt (though we are officially allowed on an oddly precise 12km each way on unsealed roads) to Point Quobba. 

It’s a narrow road, clearly subject to flooding, with low lying level sparsely covered red mud and sand either side of the raised roadway. At the T Junction where the road ends you can turn right/North to head to Gnaraloo or immediately on your left is the Blowhole. The narrow holes in the rock force water out through the top as the waves pound the cliff side.

Just around the corner is a wilderness camping site, which is to say there are no keepers, no allocated spots but it must be booked – just turn up and take whatever spot is available. An amiable couple move their ute for us and we reverse in, with an overly loud Beep Beep every time.

Parked up, we now have out of the back window 20m of shrub then the beach. At the top end of the beach is a small cove locally called The Aquarium due to the coral running off the headland holding back all the waves, leaving a 2-3 feet deep lagoon filled with more coral and fish in which we gladly swim. It’s good to get the snorkel out for the first time, the kids content with googles only and holding their breath to look under the water, even if Seb’s timing means he is sick from drinking too much seawater – not that that fazes him – which incidentally attracts more fish to him pretty quickly. Sienna also has success with one of our sets of mask and snorkel so we bob around pointing out different fishes to each other.

When a few thin clouds appear in front of the sun it just tips the balance to want to get out and settle into another evening routine of dinner all together and Uno before bed. Whilst dinner was underway, I did try and teach Sienna chess – she wanted to learn but quickly gets bogged down in over thinking, over analysing what the best possible move may be. We have stop for dinner three pieces down each, somehow she has my Queen despite my tutoring her.