Egad! Our penultimate day on the loose. What is a body to do? These bodies decided to take a little run up the coast to Narooma. The first thing you notice is how much the place has changed in the last few years, especially around the main tourist area. Big wide road, roundabouts, off street parking. First we had a poke around Black Bream Point, where we spent a few days back in 2002 when we had the boat. Black Bream Point is the name of the cabins and the point out on the back lake where we stayed. It's still there, which surprised me a bit and even seems to be a bit more up market than before, and certainly the prices have moved northward. Our favourite memory was cruising around the lake and going over to the cafes on the other side for lunch. Is there anything more satisfying than tieing up your boat at the cafes own jetty before strolling in for lunch and coffee? But Narooma to me means the breakwater and the bar and the rock with the Australia like hole in it. We drove ar...
Day 10 - Seven Spirit Bay and Port Essington For me, today promised to deliver one of the highlights of the trip: a visit to the Victoria Settlement, popularly known as Port Essington. This is the ruins of a fort established in1837 to protect Britain’s claim to Australia against the French and the Dutch. It was established strictly as a garrison town, as opposed to a free settler town. The idea was that it would be easier to maintain discipline and morale if they excluded free settlers who would want to by freehold land and indulge in commerce. As it was, the position was strategically chosen: the guns were mounted on a not-so-high cliff overlooking the water course, with a reef on the other side, thus forcing any vessel entering to come into range of this guns. Not that they were ever used in anger; now there’s a recurring theme in Australia's defence history. Anyhow, it was established and many prefabricated building erected on stone bases, such as the store, the marri...
On our way from Carnarvon to Exmouth, we took a short detour into Coral Bay, where we spend a very pleasant few days, 16 years ago. The first thing that hits you is that the place, which is virtually one street that goes down to the water, is absolutely heaving with people. Last time we were here it was us and a stray dog. Even allowing for it being a long-weekend in WA, it doesn't really account for the hordes, which includes heaps of children. The place itself has a few new buildings but is basically the same, except bigger and full of people and has two new (from when were there last) huge caravan parks. We only went for a look, and having done a u-turn at the edge of the water, headed back to the main Exmouth road. We made it into Exmouth in a reasonable time, although it seemed like days. You find yourself driving for hours through a sandy dessert, and then you get to the dull grey flat plains. Surprisingly, to us at least, is that the caravan park is packed, just like Cor...
You're welcome. It's taken me an eternity to read it that many times��
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