TRAVEL WESTERN AUSTRALIA by FACTS4YOU.NET

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Incredible as this may seem, even though I have resided in Perth, Western Australia all my life, I had never driven further north than Kalbarri. Now Kalbarri is only about 600 k’s north of Perth, travelling up the Brand Highway. While I had visited north west towns such as Broome,  Port Hedland, Mt Tom Price,  Karratha and other north western regional centers over the years my trips were all made by air travel.

Earlier in 2009 my wife and myself decided the time had come to broaden our road travel horizons and drive as far north as Exmouth via Geraldton, Carnarvon, Shark Bay and Coral Bay. The total return distance of that trip is some 3,500 k’s taking into account the fact that in order to visit Shark Bay the drive  in from the North West Highway to the coast  is a couple of hundred k’s each way. All those kilometres  add up very quickly.

We had already enjoyed an excellent holiday back in April, 2009 to Kalbarri (see earlier post under “Kalbarri”). That trip really whetted our appetite to head further north as soon as possible. We made plans to do the trip in June, 2009 which is about the best time of the year to visit north western regions. Not too hot and not too cold. We decided to pre-book our accommodation as we are  fussy types, enjoy comfortable places to stay, and for that reason did not wish to take pot luck and then discover we might have to sleep in our car.

That turned out to be an excellent decision as quality accommodation in places such as Denham and Coral Bay were booked out and we would have developed kinked backs from sleeping in our car.

In early June we packed our new Mazda sedan with all our gear, including 6 litres of drinking water, and drove north to Geraldton on our first day. Now, as I have covered the trip from Perth to Geraldton in an earlier post I wont repeat that performance. Suffice to say that we find the 450, or so k’s to Geraldton enough for a pleasant half days drive. We stayed at a comfy Best Western motel on the southern side of Geraldton city. I have never had a bad experience with Best Western from Perth to New Zealand. Rooms are always comfortable, clean and excellent dining services are available.

On day two we headed off in the early morning to cover the 900 k (aprox), drive from Geraldton to Carnarvon. We filled the fuel tank to the brim at a petrol station on the northern limits of Geraldton. A word of warning about driving around the northwest. Fuel stop facilities north of North Hampton are few and far between. My motto is to always fill up whenever possible. Believe me, you dont want to run short of fuel in the north west a hundred k’s or more from the nearest fuel stop!

The road from North Hampton to Carnarvon is across mainly  flattish,  arid, red dirt plains, covered with low scrub. Desolate looking country frequented by kangaroos, wild cattle and wild goats, all of which managed to stop us on the road at various times! Who wants to bet their car against a one tonne bull! Certainly not a place to wreck your engine by hitting a roo, or for your car to choose to break down. Travelling in a highly reliable newish vehicle would always be my preference in that country.

We drove straight through to Carnarvon with just two short stops along the 900 or so k’s. One at a roadhouse about at the half way mark, and again to go off road for a bit, up a steep hill, in order to get a view of the surrounding country. We always take a thermos of coffee and sandwiches with us which we enjoyed while we viewed this rugged, wild country from the hilltop looking across the plains to the Shark Bay region. About that time a huge storm decided to roll in from the Indian Ocean in our direction. What a fascinating sight to see massive dark grey storm clouds driving across the plains. Amazingly that wild, dark storm blew across us and disappeared as quickly as it had come.

We arrived on the outskirts of Carnarvon around 3 pm. My initial impression of Carnarvon was that it was not the tropical banana tree covered region I had pictured in my mind all my life. In fact it looked very dry, flat and not overly inviting. However I was to find out that Carnarvon has a lot to offer if one bothers to spend a couple of days there to get to know the town and surrounds. One of the prettiest views is of  the entrance to Carnarvon which unortunately is on the way out of Carnarvon going north. Pity they did not have a similar blaze of colour for visitors arriving from the south.

Entrance into Carnarvon from the North – Beautiful Bougainvillia

Another fascinating landmark which really amazed us was the huge radio dish that stands on the highest hill to the east of Carnarvon which is visible for some distance from the town. This dish was used to assist with communications for the first moon landings. The dish and facilities are long defunct, however;  as we found it is well worth a visit.

Radio Dish used for tracking the moon landing. Situated on the highest hill in East Carnarvon

We drove through the medium sized town of Carnarvon in a few minutes. First we checked into our Best Western Motel out near the Fishing Boat Harbour, about a kilometre west of the main shopping precinct. Once again the motel accommodation was roomy, spotless and we were made most welcome. After settling in we went for a stroll into the town centre, just a ten minute walk from the motel, via the walkway along the Fitzroy river inlet.

Towards sunset we drove out to have a look at the famous One Mile Jetty. I am sorry to report we did not do the walk out to the end of this famous old jetty. Maybe next time. This old jetty has a long history and is well worth the visit. There is also a museum which was well worth checking out.

The famous One Mile Jetty a short drive from Carnarvon town centre

On day two we went for a drive along the North West Highway to the north west of Carnarvon to visit the famous Quobba Station Blow Holes. That is quite a long drive so make sure you have a full tank of fuel as there are no supplies once you leave the Carnarvon region and head back in to the coast. Now the blow holes are fantastic. While it took us around 45 minutes to reach the blowholes the trip was more than worth the effort. The road is excellent all the way until the last short section which is unsealed but quite suitable for ordinary sedans such as our Mazda.

One of the amazing Quobba Blowholes giving vent – Carnarvon region

We stayed out at the blowholes for the morning as the region offers lots of different scenic sights. Make sure you take your cameras! We hardly saw another vehicle on the road on the drive in, so we were surprised to find a few dozen other vehicles already there enjoying the views.

The Author at Quobba Blowholes showing the massive wave surges in the background. (Please ignore the date. The camera went mad. This was June, 2009, not March, 2066 )

That night we decided to enjoy a seafood dinner at a fish restuarant out on the Fisherman’s Wharf. This was highly recommended by the Motel Manager. Wow….that dinner was delicious. I dont think I have ever seen such a mountain of delectable fish food selections before. Giant prawns, crumbed squid, delicious local whiting fillets, local scallops served with an excellent salad. What a gourmets delight. Make sure you visit that fish food restuarant when in Carnarvon.

I was initially surprised that Carnarvon does not consist of one continuous landscape of banana plantations because that’s what Carnarvon is famous for…bananas. Well they do exist but on a somewhat sparser basis than I thought.

Banana Plantation on the North West Highway just to the north of Carnarvon

We spent two nights and two days touring Carnarvon and thoroughly enjoyed the stay. Specially the seafood which is all local and which we enjoyed both evenings. The seafood we thoroughly enjoyed in Carnarvon is no doubt due to the fact it is all locally caught by the Carnarvon fishing fleet…or so we were told. Guess that must be correct as it was absolutely delicious.

Another important fact about Carnarvon. Everyone we ran into from the lady in the Good Guys electrical store to the owner of the fish food restuarant went out of there way to make us welcome. Thanks  for that.

So that was Carnarvon. The next day we had a longish drive north  to reach our next destination…Coral Bay. The next post will be about the drive to Coral Bay and gorgeous Coral Bay itself.

Copyright November 2009 No part of this article , nor any photos may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without the prior written permission of the copyright owner Facts4You.Net

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