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27th July 2008.
Onto Onslow which I've heard mentioned many times and it's another long 6 hour haul with the caravan in tow. Believe it's a fishing mecca so yahoo :)
As we were approaching Onslow, started seeing a few termite mounds, then some more, then suddenly the whole landscape was covered with them.
Fortunately for the local housing community, they don't eat wood and timber like the locals in Perth, they only eat the spinifex grass. Apparently the termite tunnels go way underground till they reach water.
Then came across numerous what we thought were man made canals like in Mandurah, (housing and canal developments), but no, as we later found out, they were salt storage facilities. Onslow's main income is derived from sea salt, along with tourism.
The jetty is an extremely long conveyor belt for loading the salt onto the ships. We saw a container ship a day being loaded and that's a lot of salt.
Finally arrived in Onslow and it's a very small town with hardly anything there!!!
Once again both caravan parks were booked to capacity and we're off loaded into a very tight overflow spot. Can't believe the site fee, only $20.00 per night which is by far the cheapest we've encountered so far, as it's usually up around the $35 to $42.00 mark. So why are there so many travelers here if there's nothing here? Off the the Visitors Centre the next morning to find out more.
Discovered this is the second Onslow and that the old ruins are still there on the banks of the Ashburton River. The new Onslow as we now know it, was re-established at Beadon Bay in the 1920's. Looked good in the brochure so decided to do the 95ks round trip.
There's a bush camp on the way at 3 Mile Pool with sites overlooking the river, really nice spot. Finally arrived at old Onslow and saw nothing but a few dirt tracks and some plaques. Went to read them and there's nothing on them. The sun has bleached and faded the writing so they're just plain white. Now we know there's something here somewhere, coz we saw it in the brochure so we continue driving up the tracks and side roads. Saw loads of the white plaques everywhere which we presumed tell a story of what was there. Eventually see a chimney in the distance and head towards it. It's the original prison and surprisingly, the structure is still in quite good condition seeing it was built last century. Drove around some more looking at nothing until we eventually see a road sign to the old cemetery which was overgrown and neglected. Overall, it was a wasted trip as far as were concerned.
Most travelers in the camp sites had tinnies (small tin boat) and were all here for the fishing which apparently is very good once you get out there. The beach fishing wasn't much good. Caught a few Snook and gave them away, all the others on the beach caught nothing, so suppose I should be happy.
Life On The Road:
Marlene's been hanging out for a decent bakery and as soon as she see's the sign, that's it "stop Ken, there's the bakery"
Didn't have much in there so only bought a jam donut. I took one bite and it went straight into the bin. It was as old, stale and hard as could be and couldn't believe that a bakery would have the cheek to sell it, unbelievable
Off to Karratha in the morning to get our air con fixed. |
Our Trip 
