Friday 7^th August

Today we left the caravan park in Carnarvon and headed north, we had an idea where we would overnight but when we got there it wasn’t the place we expected! We then had a choice – stay here or try and find the place we were looking for, we decided on the latter and had another hour’s drive. When we got to Barradale, we found that there was plenty of space, so we headed for the back of the site and find a suitable spot. These sites usually comprise of a hard stand area next to the road but because there are no fences people just drive through to the back as we have done. In the photograph the hard stand area is in the middle distance, about 300m away.

So, no pics from today we’re too tired – just light the fire and open a bottle!

Saturday 8^th August

An expensive day today as we’ve got the wind on the starboard bow, i.e. this is the worst angle for us and the fuel consumption is up by nearly 20%. Added to this the wind is creating a lot of dust, we’re actually watching the soil? from one paddock blowing into another, this is because there is no vegetation to stop it, the land is slowly being grazed to death. This link is to a dashcam video of the country.

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We’re heading for the Old Onslow area because the road takes us along the Ashburton River where there are usually plenty of camping sites. When we get there, there is a spot that that looks good and we decide to have lunch, then B&D go in search of something better. They return having found all the sites full so this is where we stay. It is a lovely spot overlooking the river but the wind and the dust spoil it.

We are interested by the sign as this a far south for crocs but since one was seen as recently as 3 days ago, we will take note!

We did get outside for a glass of wine with B&D but we were eventually defeated by the dust.

There is a good Telstra signal here so have done a bit of catching up.

Sunday 9^th August

A reasonably quiet night but the wind got up fairly quickly around 0700, lots of cloud making the day dull, the sun struggling to break through (slow charge on the batteries).

We did manage morning tea in the lee of B&D’s van but even then the dust made us get back inside after 10-15 minutes. There’s not much we can do in this weather, we could go and take a look at Old Onslow Townsite which is worth a visit (Pat and I have been here before) but it would not be very pleasant so we’re resigned to a day in the vans.

In fact, the wind got even stronger during the day and the dust was swirling everywhere. Then in the evening it rained, not enough to worry us about getting out of here but certainly enough to lay the dust.

A quite noisy night!

Monday 10^th August

Oh what a beautiful morning!

We woke to a lovely morning, no wind and lots of sunshine. Shall we stay or shall we go? We set out to see Old Onslow, which was originally established as a pearl fishing base around 1890 but soon stock was being exported and it became quite well-established with a police station and administrative buildings.

By the early 1900s the river mouth had started to silt up and the town was moved to a ‘new’ Onslow, the site of today’s town.

Pat and I were here 10 years ago when it was a very small but close knit community. Since the Oil & Gas has come to town and the surrounding area and it is a different place.

This is the old police station and cell block at Old Onslow.

On the way back we spot another Bushtracker (our make of caravan) camped by the river and go over to say hallo. We realise that we know Dennis and Lynda from our mini-muster in Albany in 2019.

We have a bit of catching up to do and we’ve missed morning tea by the time we set off again, heading for Onslow, where we note all the new buildings and the way that the beachside has been cleaned up and remodelled. There is a new beachside resort and we decide to have lunch, which turns out to be very nice, finished off with a decaf capaccino.

It would have been nice to have sat here and had a glass or two but we must move on to find somewhere to stay tonight.

There aren’t many options until we get to the highway and twenty ks up the girls find a gravel pit on the map and we have a look at it. Looks OK and we can get right through to the back away from the road. For some reason it feels as though its been a tough day and Roger actually has a quick nap before getting a fire going. It’s a bit clearer tonight and we manage to see four satellites before retiring.