Way Away in WA 2023 – Day 29 – Carnarvon and Quobba

Lake Macleod is a vast salt lake

Wildflowers near Lake Macleod

Coastal sand dunes behind Lake Macleod as we near Quobba. Dampier Salt has a huge operation north of here on the lake.

Quobba Lighthouse

An important reminder of the freakish king waves that have caused deaths and severe injuries along the coast here.

The rock shelf and limestone capping gets a pounding from the Indian Ocean swells.

Quobba Blowholes

Is looks like a geothermal area but the bubbling and spouts are caused by cracks and holes in the undercut rock shelf.

The roaring sound from the blowhole can be heard a few hundred metres away.

An inlet protected by reef and small islands just south of the Quobba Blowholes is locally known as “The Aquarium”.

A reef shark cruised past….

…this guy didn’t tell us much…the first rule of bite club is do not talk about bite club.

Tern

Small offshore islands make ideal roosts

The sooty oystercatcher joined this group so it could be part of the egullitarian society.

We stopped to see more wildflowers on the way back into Carnarvon.

Desert-like vegetation just north of Carnarvon

Gascoyne River – at 865 kilometres, it is the longest river in Western Australia. It is said to be an upside-down river, as it flows for about 120 days of the year and below the dry river bed for the remainder of the year. It is in effect a huge water storage system with the river’s aquifers lying below the extensive sandy river bed.

White-faced heron

Juvenile Black-winged stilt

Mangrove walk at Babbage Island – in the Gascoyne River delta.

Australian kestrel on Babbage Island

“The Fruit Loop” drive trail past local produce stores and working plantations. Pumped aquifer water from the Gascoyne makes this an oasis.

The Big Dish – The Overseas Telecommunication Dish (OTC), colloquially known as the `Big Dish’, is an iconic Carnarvon landmark. It operated from 1966 to 1987 and supported NASA Moon missions, satellite tracking and some astronomical observations. Some people use small satellite dishes for good reception. They get a bit annoyed they had to pay after the installer had told them it was on the house.