Carnarvon

Carnarvon was once a thriving port town. Trains and wagons loaded sky high with bales of wool would converge at the mile long jetty for shipping to European markets.

Around the time of World War 2, as the world demand for wool lessened, a brave entrepreneur imported banana plants from Singapore and diverted water from the  Gascoyne river to irrigate them. His experiment was a success and Carnarvon is now one of the leading banana growing regions of Australia,  and proud home of the “original lunch box banana.“

As you approach the town from the North West,  the arid scrubby landscape alongside the highway is suddenly replaced by plantations growing bananas,  mangoes,  avocados,  tomatoes,  potatoes,  onions and even some citrus.

The primary growing season is over the cooler months, so many of the plantations were between crops,  however we visited Bumbak’s Plantation to try their famous home made mango and banana ice creams.

The historic district is based around the jetty and adjacent lighthouse, and comprises a railway museum,  shearers hall of fame and the lighthouse keeper's cottage.  The One Mile jetty is a famous landmark and the antique Coffee Pot train provides a unique perspective but unfortunately it was not running at the time of our visit due to high winds.

We braved the wind and climbed to the top of the old railway water tank for spectacular views of the jetty and coastline.

The highlight of the historic precinct was undoubtedly the Lighthouse Keeper's cottage. It is fully furnished as it was in the  1930’s and we took great delight in quizzing the children on what the various old appliances and household implements were.

Our favourite attraction in Carnarvon was the Space and Technology museum.   We enjoyed our visit so much that we returned the following day!

The site is dominated by several enormous communication dishes which can be seen all over town.  These dishes played an instrumental role in communicating with the Apollo 11 space mission,  among many others.

The museum is packed with memorabilia and artefacts of the assorted space missions,  educational resources about space,  and souvenirs of visits by famous astronauts including Buzz Aldrin. There's also an Apollo 11 launch simulator,  which Mats,  Luka and Freya thoroughly enjoyed.