I was feeling motivated this morning, so I pushed Risa and we were on our way to Carnarvon by just after 8AM. It was about two hours drive to Carnarvon, with nothing worth mentioning along the way.
About 40km from town, I got my first glimpse of the enormous, and now obsolete, satellite dish. Strangely, we probably first saw Uluru from about the same distance away! Anyway, there are two dishes; a sugar scoop shaped one was built and used by NASA during the Apollo missions in the 60s, the other was a standard (but enormous) parabolic dish whose purpose wasn’t quite clear. The area was very run down, almost abandoned. There was a museum which would have probably explained it all, but… we didn’t go there!
The area is also famous for tropical fruit and vegetables and it just so happened that we were ready to buy some bananas. The small farm stand that we went to also had a very curious fruit that he described as tasting like chocolate pudding – black (something, I forget the name…).
The town was nice – old buildings along wide streets and a nice relaxed feel. There was a giant, 1.6km long jetty that cost $4 to walk along (I really didn’t feel like walking 3km along a jetty, especially with the howling wind that was blowing today). There was a historic train that went up/down the jetty for $7).
We left Carnarvon just after lunch and followed the NW Coastal Road, which I have dubbed, ‘The Road of Bones’. I’m sure its not as grim as the Russian ‘Road of Bones’, but on this road you’d be hard pressed to find a 500m stretch without the skeletal remains of some unlucky animal. We’ve become quite desensitised to all the dead kangaroos and cows that we see on the side of the road, but the last two days have been phenomenal.
About 160km from Carnarvon we came across a scenic lookout upon one of the white sandy mesas. The view was nice – amazing how far you can see when the landscape is so flat and featureless. But, the biggest surprise for us were the cairns adorned with garden gnomes with messages/memorials for the deceased. There was also another cairn that had random belongings with messages written on them (including a ‘Summer Heights High’ DVD), like a pile of junk inscribed with the greetings of the previous owner. It was really odd and unexpected to say the least.
We couldn’t quite make it to somewhere nice to spend the evening, so we pulled into a clearing on the side of the road, had an early dinner (pasta using leftover naked sausages). While Risa was cooking I found a goat skull and thought that it would make for a most excellent hood ornament. I’m hoping that the sky will clear and we will be able to see the Perseus meteor showers tonight – it’s cloudy for the first time since Darwin.
９１日目
今日は、ひたすら南下をしてきました。のでさほどイベント事はないのですが、、外の風景は、西海岸に入ったときから同じような、乾燥した背の低い木と草。 あとは、色とりどりの野生のお花が所々に咲いています。 これは、本当に癒される〜
途中の名前忘れちゃった町では、有機栽培のバナナとアボガド、あとは名前忘れちゃったけど笑チョコレートムースのような味がするらしいナゾの果物を買いました。 まだ熟するには、時間がかかるみたいだけど、見た事も聞いた事もない果物。。楽しみです。
現在は、使われていない大きなサテライトデッシュも見学してきました。 でかい！！
あとは、道路沿いの果てしなく広大な放し飼い牧場は、（というか本当に管理されてるのか？？） は、牛ではなく、羊さんとヤギさんでした！
青々とした牧草ではなく、赤い土にところどころ草が生えている場所なので、羊さんたち赤茶色してます笑 あんまキレイじゃないけど、なんだか野性味があってかわいらしいです。 ヤギもよく走ってて、みなさんワイルドでちょっと楽しそう。
あとは、色んな動物の白骨死体があちらこちらにありました。ロスは、骨の道だ、、、とずっとつぶやいていました。
そういえば途中、見晴らしのよい岩山の上に、たくさんのガーデンノーム（庭によく飾ってある小人の置物）が飾られた場所がありました。 だれが最初に始めたのか、他の人たちはどうやって知ったのか、とにかくなんにもない僻地の景色のよい岩山の頂上に、いっぱい飾られて、その半数は、亡くなった人の記念のメッセージが書かれていました。 なんか勝手にメモリアルな場所になっちゃってる不思議な場所でした。
その他にもDVDとか、スリッパとかランダムなものが飾られた山もありました。
夕食は、パスタ。 今日は、流星群がみられるって聞いてたけど、あいにくの曇り空。 曇り空は西オーストラリアに入ってからは初めて！！
風も強くて、けっこう寒い！ 知らないうちにけっこう南下してきてしまったのね、、
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