Apart from the significant number of extremely friendly and “buzzing into any orifice” flies we had a good night at the rest area and were on the road in good time heading south again towards Carnarvon. The scrubby vegetation and scrawny cows alongside the road continued with the odd groups of feral goats being sighted in the distance. None as road kill – they must be too smart for that.
After a couple of hours we reached the turnoff to the Quobba Point Blowholes and the camp area. This area is some 72km north of Carnarvon and looked like it might be worth visiting and if camp space allowed then we would stay the night as well. In our camps book it appeared to be the sort of camp run by the local Shire (council) with a resident caretaker and minimal overnight charges.
On reaching the camp area we found however that there is no caretaker on site until October with the resulting benefit that there is no one to pay fees to and no self registration system therefore no charges for the night. All good as we were down to our last $18 cash and eftpos would not have been an option so far out in the sticks. We drove a couple of km down the sand track past the lighthouse and found a site just back from a sandy beach that gave us a nice view of the ocean. It was quite impressive with huge swells and the resultant surf crashing in. Being south of Ningaloo Reef means there is nothing to act as a barrier anymore and the continual onshore westerly wind ensures significant wave action.
With setup and lunch out of the way we took ourselves off for a look at the blowholes and sure enough the bursts of spray into the air were higher than anything we could recall having seen anywhere before. The large waves crashing into the very rugged coast made for spectacular viewing and we spent quite a bit of time waiting for a number seven to arrive but unfortunately had to settle for the normal swag of ordinarily sized ones that rolled in.
The camp area has a shanty type settlement at one end that looks like quatters probably constructed years ago. Most are corrugated iron with the odd derelict caravan and none looked occupied. We were not sure if it is just not the time for people to be here or if the Shire is trying to tidy up the area as it is quite shabby when one considers Coral Bay further north. The remainder of the camp area is pretty disorganized but without too much effort could be made into a really attractive camping location. For our purposes however it was great, especially being right next to the ocean.
