We found the racecourse and the golf club beside it , the greens were dirt scrapes , fairways didn't look terribly fair , and the tees were about 3m x 2m and had some dead grass on them - the game of golf I was looking forward to , suddenly disappeared into the ether !!
Finding the next road off the road into town , we turned into it and went out to a boat ramp in the mangroves , not a lot to see here , so back out again and off toward town again , before we found another track , it took us out to a thin finger of land that stuck out into the bay and mangroves , there were some people out here fishing , seems to be a problem with rubbish out here - people just don't want to take it back out with them !!
We finally got to town and went around to the small boat harbour - mainly filled with the fishing trawlers .
There are many seafood businesses here , one had hundreds of crab traps stacked everywhere beside one building .
Back down the road to town , we came across the new work on the esplanade beside The Fascine - they are paving and terracing the footpath , there is access to the water and there are palm trees and very green grass in the areas that they have completed already . The Fascine is a bay where you can moor your boat away from the open ocean , and provides a little oasis away from the desert !!
We called in at the shops for a few things and then headed around to Whitcombe and Babbage Islands and Pelican Point , then the 1 mile jetty . Pelican Point has a boat ramp that gives access to The Fascine and the ocean and you can drive your car down the beach if you wish !!
Around to the jetty - at 1457m , it's a long one , not really high , just long . They used to unload ships here and take it to town on a tramway first pulled by horses , then steam engine , then diesel power . That was done up till 1966 , when road trains were introduced .
The jetty was finished in1897 , Carnarvon was the first port in WA to load and ship livestock .
We found a mangrove walk , and set off beside the jetty to a gazebo , that had a few signs and explanations of this mangrove system . Looking at the map , it took us through some mangroves to the jetty , up and along the jetty , then down off it to the other side to another couple of points of interest . The actual walk only went about 100m and just had a board blocking further access off - there was nothing there to walk on anyway !!! We thought it may have been damaged by the cyclone , but I have a feeling that it may have run out of funding , and that's where it stopped !!
Thinking about going for a walk along the jetty ? it will only cost you $5 each , or you can catch the coffee pot train for $10 each . We decided against it , instead driving down another track toward the Gascoyne River . It was taking us toward the head of the river , not far from the jetty - we could get there with minimum effort and less money !! That was good until it started to get a bit too sandy , so we turned and came back , stopping at the back of the railway museum where a lot of old rail trucks were now living .
Its a pity to see all this old equipment in various stages of falling apart with no future , just a matter of time before it collapses in a heap !
We fuelled up , before heading back for a cooked lunch .
Some small jobs taken care off , we went to the pool for a swim . Coming back we chatted to a couple just across from us for a while , before it was salsa & beer time .
Not a big day in the scheme of things , but we didn't really need one either .
Bye for now .
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