Before travelling to Carnarvon, in the North West portion on Western Australia, I always associated the place with bananas and the Space Program. Having visited, I've learned more, but it's still largely bananas, a space centre and the one mile jetty, which I get the impression has been closed for some time.
W arrived late in the evening to Carnarvon and went straight to our accommodation, the glitzy Carnarvon Motel. It had that stereotypical motel feel with the extra luxury of being gated once the sun went down. Dinner was at the Motel at the Hot Rocks Restaurant, famed for the hot rocks that they/you cook food on. I chose the duck, as I haven't had any in a while. It was a mistake I've learned from, because when the duck came out, on the hot rock (more of a slab really), I had no idea how long to cook it for or how to tell when it was cooked. It took a few tries. Being a member of the hot rocks club meant the buffet of pasta, salads, fried chicken, noodles etc was free for the taking, and...it wasn't bad.
In the morning we ventured to the north side in search of the one mile jetty. It was closed and most of the jetty itself stretched over land whilst the tide was out. There was also the tired Jetty Train Museum next door which certainly didn't inspire us to stick around.
We left Carnarvon the same way we came in, along the North West Coastal Hwy. However, just before we left the township completely we quickly turned into the site of the Carnarvon NASA Tracking Station. The station was used to track during the Gemini and Apollo missions from 1963.
We were too early to be able to fully explore the site, but no question about it, definitely going to re-visit this one.
We perused the banana plantations on the north side of Carnarvon, on the other side of the Gascoyne River. The river was completely dried up and clearly had been for some time, given the extensive tyre marks on the river bed. Apparently it is the location of a few car races when the bed is try.
We headed south on the North West Coastal Hwy, on the incredibly long and straight section of this Highway. An easy part of the journey to fall asleep on, with hardly any traffic during the morning we left on.
Our journey was to take us to Denham and Monkey Mia. A 4 hour journey, taking us below the Tropic of Capricorn, then onto Shark Bay Road, back up above the ToC and up to Denham, also known as Shark Bay.
We stopped at the Wooramell and Gladstone Scenic lookout three quarters of the way to the Overland Roadhouse, at the Shark Bay Rd turnoff. At this stage it was past midday and every time I stepped out into the sun, it very quickly became incredibly hot. It was very close to the 40 degree mark.
The views were great, and Gladstone lookout was the location of some sort of memorial for loved ones lost, although the location didn't seem connected to the lost ones.
After an unimpressively greasy sausage roll lunch at the Overland Roadhouse (I bought a magnet), we ventured west on Shark Bay Road. We stopped at Shell Beach, a sand free beach made up entirely of cockle shells 10m deep and stretching for 70km along the coast. No sand was great news for my shoes. The water adjacent to the beach is very salt heavy and popular for tourists. Next time I'm wearing my boardies and thongs (flip flops), I'll be sure to pop in.
Accommodation for the night was at the Monkey Mia Resort on the east coast, on the edge of the Francois Peron National Park. Denham is on the west coast. The RAC resort is a mix of self catered permanent chalets and a bunch of camper spots for both caravans and tents. The reception is attached to a souvenir shop that also sells groceries, and there's also a restaurant (which requires mandatory reservations - but it doesn't matter if you don't), and a bar which we never visited. The food at the Boughshed was excellent, as was the scenery.
The resort of Monkey Mia is lovely and there are lots of things to do to keep busy, but the place just felt a little bit run down, tired, and definitely isolated. But that is of course part of the appeal.
The town of Denham, a 30min drive to the other coast is a well equipped town with supermarket groceries, fuel and plenty of eateries to choose from. Though by no means is it bustling.
Would visit again, another day.
