What an eventful day. Up early to go to the markets. Turned the water heater on for a hot shower and took forever to realise that particular tank was out of gas and that the water was still cold!. Once Keith changed tanks things were much better. Eventually we made it to the markets and got some crisp new capsicum for ninety cents each, and a bag of fresh grown tomatoes for one dollar eighty. New celery was a dollar for a full bunch. Most pleased with the freshness and prices. Then we went to lunch at a little cafe just on the edge of town called the River Gums Cafe. It is in the gardens of a plantation right beside the massive Murchison River. Food was fantastic and pricing very reasonable. We got a burger and a smoothie each and simply could not eat it all. We were full half way through it. Such a shame too as they had a lovely tart lemon cheesecake for dessert!!! We also bought an entire butternut pumpkin for a dollar and a kilo of locally grown bananas for two dollars. So I guess this means the current pot of vegetable soup will be replaced with pumpkin soup eventually. The gardens were a riot of color with some simply stunning bushes. They also had some photo albums showing the Murchison in flood, most of the photos were taken from the homestead roof....lol. After leaving there we took a road marked on a mud map (yep muddy dirt road, semi bush bashing required) that eventually led us to the bitumen road to the blowholes. They are most impressive, we even saw a turtle in the water near the blowholes, but wait, there is more, much much more....I went to the blowholes and saw WHALES frolicking within sight of land. A small pod was clearly visible and we spent some time watching them play. My first sighting of whales, very pleased now. After that we drove the 8kms on dirt out to the Quobba Station Homestead just to take a look. Out near the homestead is a memorial marker dedicated to HMAS Sydney. Apparently two of the Kormorans life boats and some liferings of the Sydney washed up near Quobba station so it was thought the Sydney must have sunk in the area. It is now known this was not the case. Once back in town we found the famous Carnarvon one mile jetty. Seems the one we walked yesterday was not the real one, so today we definately walked the one mile out and the one mile back on the real famous jetty. Naturally the wind blew a gale and alteratively tried to blow us off said jetty and took my breathe away with the strength of it. Came home for a nice hot cuppa followed by a long tall glass of wine to warm myself up again. Off to Exmouth tomorrow, so this should be interesting. Am wondering if any of the grandchildren are keeping track of our travels on a map of Oz? Might make an interesting long term project. Do let me know, I could contribute useful information if it is likely to be used. Each place we go we get the free welcome to our little town book. Full of stuff kids might like to know. And a red line on a map might get some interested in geography.......
What an eventful day. Up early to go to the markets. Turned the water heater on for a hot shower and took forever to realise that particular tank was out of gas and that the water was still cold!. Once Keith changed tanks things were much better. Eventually we made it to the markets and got some crisp new capsicum for ninety cents each, and a bag of fresh grown tomatoes for one dollar eighty. New celery was a dollar for a full bunch. Most pleased with the freshness and prices. Then we went to lunch at a little cafe just on the edge of town called the River Gums Cafe. It is in the gardens of a plantation right beside the massive Murchison River. Food was fantastic and pricing very reasonable. We got a burger and a smoothie each and simply could not eat it all. We were full half way through it. Such a shame too as they had a lovely tart lemon cheesecake for dessert!!! We also bought an entire butternut pumpkin for a dollar and a kilo of locally grown bananas for two dollars. So I guess this means the current pot of vegetable soup will be replaced with pumpkin soup eventually. The gardens were a riot of color with some simply stunning bushes. They also had some photo albums showing the Murchison in flood, most of the photos were taken from the homestead roof....lol. After leaving there we took a road marked on a mud map (yep muddy dirt road, semi bush bashing required) that eventually led us to the bitumen road to the blowholes. They are most impressive, we even saw a turtle in the water near the blowholes, but wait, there is more, much much more....I went to the blowholes and saw WHALES frolicking within sight of land. A small pod was clearly visible and we spent some time watching them play. My first sighting of whales, very pleased now. After that we drove the 8kms on dirt out to the Quobba Station Homestead just to take a look. Out near the homestead is a memorial marker dedicated to HMAS Sydney. Apparently two of the Kormorans life boats and some liferings of the Sydney washed up near Quobba station so it was thought the Sydney must have sunk in the area. It is now known this was not the case. Once back in town we found the famous Carnarvon one mile jetty. Seems the one we walked yesterday was not the real one, so today we definately walked the one mile out and the one mile back on the real famous jetty. Naturally the wind blew a gale and alteratively tried to blow us off said jetty and took my breathe away with the strength of it. Came home for a nice hot cuppa followed by a long tall glass of wine to warm myself up again. Off to Exmouth tomorrow, so this should be interesting. Am wondering if any of the grandchildren are keeping track of our travels on a map of Oz? Might make an interesting long term project. Do let me know, I could contribute useful information if it is likely to be used. Each place we go we get the free welcome to our little town book. Full of stuff kids might like to know. And a red line on a map might get some interested in geography.......
Sounds fantastic!! We had a quiet night after saying good bye to our exchange student. Steve went to the basketball and Jessie and I sat around the fire for a lovely mother/daughter chat. Decided the fire was ready for potatoes in foil and made ourselves two batches. I thought they were Ok, but Jessie declared them "dreamy". Got to love kids that are easily pleased!!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Who is that skinny man in the photos?? Woo hooo, go Keith!!
ReplyDeleteAre you going to Coral Bay? Turquoise Bay is stunning, closer to Exmouth, but in between the two. Coral Bay, you can feed the fish (3pm daily), all nor west snapper, they are friendly too, they like to swim between your legs.
ReplyDeleteYou lucky things, seeing the whales! I am so jealous! One of the things I would still like to cross off my bucket list. Glad you guys are enjoying the benefits of the nomad lifestyle - fresh local produce at reasonable prices!! Not to mention beautiful views and the ability to move on whenever you like - again - I am so jealous! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteWe drove right past the turn off to Coral Bay so I guess the answer is no I am not going there, such is my destiny, I still have not seen Coral Bay...lol. Daddy is off to feed the fish tomorrow on an all day deep sea fishing charter, and please remember I DO NOT SWIM so most unlikely to go in water to allow fish to swim between my legs!!!! pmsl
ReplyDeleteyes debbie was so thrilled to see the whales am hoping to eventually see some closer to shore or at least more visible in my binoculars however can die happy now I have seen at least one whale in my lifetime! That said will probably choke to death on the fresh pumpkin soup I plan to make with the good buy.....lol
ReplyDeleteyay for pics, does this mean i can take the tutorial off my blog? also, to save bandwidth you should resize them in paint first. on computer right click on picture, select edit (this will open it in paint) then click image and select resize/skew (or just ctrl+w). then under horizontal and vertical go for about 50% on each. then save as (and re-title as small or whatever) this will cut your pic down from 1028kB to about 60kB. then use that one to upload here :). remember, Helstra counts uploads and downloads in your bandwidth total.
ReplyDelete