Huge satellite dishes loomed large on the horizon as we approached the outskirts of Carnarvon; relics from the town’s important contribution to last century’s space race. They are impressive monuments, symbolising the incredible innovation and ingenuity from some of the world’s best minds at the time.
Thoughts of space and moon landings soon gave way to rumbling tummies as roadside signs lured us in with offerings of tropical fruits, chocolate coated frozen bananas (a personal favourite!) and freshly picked, home grown veggies. Plantations of delicious produce filled acres of farm land leading to the town centre. Evidence of cyclones from recent years a sobering reminder of the fragile relationship we precariously navigate with Mother Nature.
With few free camp options available, we chose a caravan park advertising “kids stay free”. It had a nice pool area and great bathrooms. This kept the kids and us happy for a few days while we re-stocked and refueled. The small town had a standard offering of shops and the oldest Coles supermarket I’ve seen in a long time – it was an hilarious time warp. I don’t think there’d been any reno’s for more than 20 years!
We spent a fantastic afternoon at the Space Museum. It offered visitors a great selection of technical information, general history and interactive displays that were a hit with the kids. We all dressed up in space suits, entered a replica space capsule and re-lived the blast-off sequence from Apollo 11. We played space invaders, tested our hand-eye co-ordination to determine whether we’d make the cut as astronauts and learnt that sending a shuttle to the moon needs the same accuracy as sending a cricket ball from Perth to Melbourne…and getting it through a pre-determined window in a city high rise building!! No wonder they seek the smartest cookies to design the rockets and navigation equipment!
We took a day trip to the Blowholes – a natural wonder along the coast about 50km north of Carnarvon. Huge volumes of water from the ocean swells surge through small holes in the rocks, creating unpredictable explosions of water that burst more than 20m into the air. The kids playfully squealed and danced in the spray until they were soaked. We stood upwind from the spray with the other adults, timidly sharing our yearning to join the uninhibited younger ones cooling off in the heat of the day.
On our second day in Carnarvon, Michael saw an old Land Cruiser being towed into the caravan park. It was hot, the stranded family had 4 kids under 8 (and another on the way) and had spent 4 hours waiting 100km south of town for a tow truck to arrive. So when you think you’re having a bad day – think again! They’d been towing a boat home to Exmouth when their clutch broke as they slowed for roadworks. By the time they got to the caravan park, it was late Saturday afternoon and they couldn’t find anyone to help them with their awful predicament. They were quoted more than $2,000 to have their car and boat towed from Carnarvon to Exmouth – utter extortion! With a pretty loose schedule, we had time to help. So on Sunday, Michael drove them & their boat to Coral Bay (about two thirds the way to Exmouth), where they rendezvoused with a friend who took them the final leg home. They left their car in Carnarvon to be repaired.
Michael’s return trip was going to plan until Bilbo suddenly shuddered and shook and an alarming number of dash lights flashed. The car started shutting down and went into (what we now know as) limp mode. At least the car was still functional albeit at a breakneck top speed of 50km/hr – somewhat scary and a little unnerving on a major highway where trucks were whizzing past at 110km/hr in the dark. Thankfully the CB allowed Michael to keep in touch with the truckies so they knew to expect him ‘limping’ along in the emergency lane and give him a wide berth. After 70km of persevering at this torturous speed, not knowing what was wrong with the car, Michael finally arrived back at camp. I wont bore you with the diagnostic process but we were very relieved to have the local RAC and auto elec attend to us Monday morning and rectify what turned out to be a minor electrical problem. We breathed a huge sigh of relief and reflected on the old adage that ‘things happen for a reason’. If we hadn’t offered to help the stranded family get back to Exmouth, our own car problems would likely have exposed themselves when we were on some remote road, towing the van and hundreds of kilometres from help. At least the additional, unscheduled travel meant we were fortunate to be near a town and unencumbered by the camper when the problem happened. We were able to draw on local mechanical expertise for a quick and reasonably inexpensive fix... as they say in the country, “Yeee Haarrr”!!
PHOTOS: AT THE SPACE MUSEUM (click on the photos for more info)
PHOTOS: AT THE BLOWHOLES
PHOTOS: GENERAL SNAPS FROM CARNARVON
