Carnarvon
As we sail north from Cape Peron, we start messaging Nicky’s brother, Drew, who with his wife, Gosia, lives in Carnarvon and is keen to come and meet us in his dinghy. The winds are light so we are hoping that he can come out a few miles and jump on board for the last part of our sail into the local anchorage at Tegg’s Creek.
As we close within a few miles of Carnarvon, we spy a dinghy in the distance bouncing its way across the flats, and into the wind, and know that it must be Drew on his way to rv with us. Soon enough he pulls up alongside, and after some deft maneuvering we get him onboard with the dinghy tied off and trailing behind us. Great to catch up with family again and after hugs and kisses it is time to negotiate the channel into Tegg’s Creek. Carnarvon has a lot of sandflats, so entry via the channel is a must or you very quickly become stranded. The situation is also exacerbated by the tides which are strong in this anchorage.
All secure in the anchorage, we have some time to chat and plan out the next few days - catching up with Drew and Gosia, the obligatory rubbish and laundry run, fuel and gas, plus provisioning for our next month in Ningaloo where we won’t be accessing any shops for a while. We know that one of the great things about Carnarvon is the fresh produce so a markets and farm run are high on our list of jobs.
We plan for Drew and Gosia to come out to the boat for lunch the next day, so we are up early for a dinghy ride into the boat harbour and a walk along the Fascine into town for a coffee and to pick up some fresh goodies for lunch. We take advantage of being in town and are enjoying a coffee when we spy Gosia driving down the street in her very distinct car - which has sea life painted all over it. Gosia is a very talented artist and has been painting for many years, doing commission work as well as murals and a range of other creative stuff. She’s pretty much left her mark in every town they have lived in. Since arriving in Carnarvon, she has set up her gallery and runs art classes and a bunch of activities. Check out www.gstop.net.au to learn more about Gosia. Anyhow, we have another coffee with Gosia and catch up before a walk to the shops and then back to the boat harbour to get set for our lunch date.
In the weeks leading up to our visit, we did a bit of online shopping for various items needed for the boat, which Drew and Gosia collected for us from the Carnarvon PO. By the time we got to Carnarvon, we had quite a little collection… it was like Christmas all over again!
It has been unseasonal weather in the Gascoyne and Pilbara this year with a lot of rain in the area between Carnarvon and Exmouth, which unfortunately is where some great camping spots are, including Gnaraloo and Warroora Station. As the clouds rolled into Carnarvon, we watched on the radar as both Gnaraloo - where Greg and Jen Mickle were camping; and Warroora - where Rob and Sue Walker and fam were camping - were getting pounded by rain every day. Whilst it was overcast in Carnarvon, the rain held off right until we had the dinghy loaded up with a months worth of food and then dropped on us as we made the ten minute dinghy ride back out to Singularity. Typical!!
From a cruisers perspective, the biggest shame about Carnarvon is the current state of the Fascine which is a body of water upon which the main part of Carnarvon town sits, and is accessible from the ocean and used to be one of the best anchorages on the coast. Unfortunately, over the years, the entrance has silted up due to moving sand bars and as a result it is now very difficult, if not impossible, to enter for a large vessel. A ‘study’ is underway on the sand bars with a view to a permanent solution, however this seems years away and Carnarvon is missing out the opportunity of hosting cruising yachts every season. The Fascine anchorage is protected from all winds, is a stones throw from the main street and having a bunch of cruising yachts regularly in there would be great for the town, both from a visual aspect, but also on the $$$ spent re-provisioning, buying coffees, going to the pub etc. Hopefully, it is resolved soon because we would love to spend a week or so on Singularity in the Fascine and have better access to all that Carnarvon has to offer.
So, we tick off all of the jobs; the laundry being a big one as we’re keen to wash everything we can, including cushion covers etc.. Drew and Gosia very kindly allowed us to use their washing machine which saved us some time. The washing process would have been quick and easy if the sun had been out, as we could have hung everything on their washing line to dry whilst we were out sorting the other things we had on our ‘to do’ list. As it was raining, we had to utilise the dryers in one of the local caravan parks. A big shout out to the lovely staff at Coral Coast Caravan Park who had no hesitation in allowing us to use theirs even though we weren’t staying with them. Due to the consistent rainy weather, all the dryers in town were in high demand as campers and those travelling through tried to dry out.
Drew and Gosia are away for a few days (Gosia off to Poland for 6 weeks to reconnect with family and friends) so we are able to borrow a car and run all of our errands. With Nic from Blue Yonder in tow, we head out to the farms, firstly to Marias, on North Plantation Road, where we score fresh farm grown vegies super cheaply, including some beautiful big cucumbers - that aren’t wrapped in plastic or have been kept in cold storage! Then it is off to the Organic farm where we grab some more stuff, as well as the old Carnarvon faithful - choc coated mango stick, which is quickly disposed off in front of the farm’s free range chooks who are wandering around the sheds.
On top of our shopping run, Drew, who is a dab hand in the garden, provides us with a bountiful supply of whole chillies, chilli powder, lemons, frozen mango and Nicky’s favourite dehydrated lemon slices, all sourced from his or his neighbours yard. In return, we are happy to hand over some fish and the last of our Abrolhos crays. Happiness all round!
Once again, a weather window approaches that looks great to get us north to Cape Cuvier and then onwards into Ningaloo. We are most excited about the prospect of sailing the coast between Red Bluff and Gnaraloo, where over the past 30 years we have spent time camping and exploring with our girls, and family friends. To see it from offshore is going to be awesome. Even better, it looks like the cloud and rain that has been hanging around is gone and we are full sunshine for the indefinite future!!