1. – 6. November

Blowholes and Carnarvon

Our next stop were the Blowholes close to Carnarvon. That was a great place including free camping and a lighthouse. We arrived and got out of   the car to watch the blowholes. It’s so amazing and beautiful in a strange way. The cliffs are quite rugged and high so be careful. There is even a big warning sign “king waves can kill!”. To get to the blowhole you’ve to climb to the cliffs edges over sharp rocks and then you’ve to be prepared to get wet. Actually there are more than one blowhole – I would say there are around 5. The brochures say that the spray can be up to 20m high depending of the swell. I guess they were lying – the spray was higher. The cliffs are not only high and rugged but contain several caves through which the water comes and then explodes out of the rock creating the blowhole. The  biggest hole contains of two – a big one and a smaller one. The big one is like a hot water in a pot boiling but the smaller one is the one which gets the biggest and highest sprays. It even makes funny noises so you can hear the big one before it actually comes. There are some further blowholes on the cliff plateau 10m below the edge and they can spray as well. We were lucky and saw all blowholes spraying at the same time. If that happens and the wind is coming from the “right” angle you  get drenched. Of course it happened to me! Suddenly there was a big spray and all the water came down on me. I was completely soaked with really salty water. Probably not a good idea trying to film the blowhole and getting the funny noises on film – too much interferences'. But nothing happened and my clothes dried anyway. Such big sprays must happen frequently as there were several water filled potholes on the main cliff. Although you could hardly say water filled as it was more a salt crust than anything else and it was really salty!

This coast area is called “Quobba coast” and is famous for the surf and fishing in the winter months. We had a look at the coast but didn’t see any surfer – it was not winter so the currents don’t favour this place. Several ships got wrecked at these cliffs so you see some memorial plaques. Some mining and salt companies use this area to ship their goods. We saw one big truck crossing the street – their road was wide and completely sealed – the track we used was narrow and sandy. We met one guy who loves to fish there and he said that you’ve to be careful if you would fall into the water – be careful of the swell washing you into the cliffs. The sharks are too well fed to recognize or go for a human. He said that they have a big fight with the sharks when fishing. Quite often the shark wins and gets the fish already on a hook.

We stayed a while at that place – the bay next to the blowhole was calm and filled with corals so swimming and snorkelling was perfect. It felt like being in an aquarium! While snorkelling we had a swarm (or school) of small fishes around us. I think they were really curious about us as they were coming so close. It was like the stories one little species of fish fights against a big one by forming one big colony. The fishes were all colourful we saw black and white striped, yellow and black striped, coloured like a rainbow, just blue, ranging from just a few centimeters to 1.5m. The corals seemed to be intact as they were in colour – we saw purple, green, blue and some looked like they had flowers. Of course we saw several clam mussels which closed the closer we got to them. I liked to swim above them getting them to close and open up again. At night we enjoyed sitting at the beach looking at the night sky and checking for shooting stars and wondering how far the light of the lighthouse might travel.

 In Carnarvon we walked the One Mile Jetty which was built in 1897 and it is one of the longest in Australia. It took me 15minutes to go from the start to the end. It’s possible to take the tram (called Coffee Pot) for the  Jetty walk. The jetty is constructed of wood and around 3m wide but the head is even wider but unfortunately not accessible. They had more railway lines at the head to deal with the cargo load. As the jetty is made of wood the head is badly damaged and half is already eroded. At the start of the Jetty they have a little historical museum featuring an old hammer, some old buildings like a water tower and old carriages.  Carnarvon owns a satellite tracking dish which is not in use anymore – but it was a big help in the space race of the 1960’s and 1970’s as well as in the Halley’s Comet tracking in 1987.

The main industry in Carnarvon is fruit and vegetable plantations and fisheries. We saw several food and vegetable stalls along the road and it’s possible to go on a plantation tour. This region produce most of the winter vegetables available in WA. From May till October they have a growers market where you could buy the freshest products but it was not running when we arrived. So we had to buy our vegetables the standard way. And of course fishing – we got fresh shrimps and fresh pink snapper.

Bye, Bye

Cheers, Tom and Anja