Carnarvan

Found a great caravan park in Carnarvon with fantastic prices so decided to stay 4 nights. $17 pp a night for a powered site. Certainly took advantage of the wonderful facilities and welcoming friendly hosts. With great happy hours meeting new friends along the way.
There is a bit to see in Carnarvon with a beautiful esplanade taking in a wide vista, a nice little shopping centre, and some coastal attractions as well.
The one mile long jetty was one such interesting place with lots of historic photo opportunities. Steve and I spent a few hours wandering around as well as having chips and coffee at the café.
As well as the One mile jetty there is heaps of old relics from days gone by aligning the walkways, plus the Lighthouse Keepers Cottage which we browsed through. Built around 1900 it was used by the keeper and his family through to 1970. Since then it has been restored  and houses memorabilia from bygone days.
In the large rail shed called The Railway Station Museum there were many items of interest including Western Australia's Shearing Hall of Fame. I took photos but it was fenced off too far to be able to read any of the information. A pamphlet has told me it contained stories about fast shearers and big sheds. Also the Golden days of the Gascoyne shearing industry in the 1950's.
Also the Kimberley Steam Train is housed there, this was the last steam train to operate in the North West.
Also a lot of wildflowers grow in the gardens around the Lighthouse Keepers Cottage.
This whole area is called the Carnarvon Heritage Precinct.
Carnarvon Esplanade is actually called the Fascine, had me puzzled until I found some information on it. The Fascine actually means "Bundle of Sticks" and was derived from early attempts to stop erosion of the foreshore. Now lined with beautiful palms the foreshore is a delight with families having their picnics and children's playgrounds. It looks across the water to an island with walking tracks called Whitlock Island.

The biggest dog I've ever seen

Travelling south towards Carnarvon 18th

Have left  Cleaverville heading to Karratha for another stockup of supplies, a visit to the dentist which left me $280 poorer after getting the tooth repaired which he said was much better for me and also cheaper. Very happy with the result.
Went to Woollies for groceries, Retravision for a laptop aerial for those days when the reception is not so good, and a 16 Gig memory stick to save all my photos to in case the laptop decided to play up.
A quick goodbye to Nerida in Woollies as I made a point of going through her checkout for that reason. So good to catch up with Nerida and Troy so far from home for all of us.
Back on the road south, found the Fortescue Roadhouse paying $20 for two nights with full facilities, I had 3 showers in the two days I was there. Managed to get a pile of washing done including all my bedding. Also had a cleanout and left a few things on the laundry table as giveaways, books, never worn sandals etc.
Managed to get a few good photos there. Out behind the camping area were hundreds of dongas used for housing the mining workers who came and went regularly. They had a boot tree near the entry to their carpark. The boots were tied together by their laces and thrown over a branch.

From there to Onslow where I visited the salt works where I got some interesting photos then on to the river at Old Onslow to stay two nights beside the only river to seen water in it for a while. Was warned there was a crocodile in there somewhere which had taken a pelican for it's dinner, so don't go near the water.
Surprisingly plenty of cows and calves were coming down for a drink, a calf would be easy feed for a croc on the lookout. Managed to get some more good photos there.

                                                    Fortescue Roadhouse

Not sure why there is a flag on this hill opposite the roadhouse , have been told it's been there for years.

The flag is on the first hill from the right.

The boot tree outside the entrance to the mining workers dongas. Two photos from different angles.

 

Onslow photos

 

The salt works at Onslow