Off the Grid

by Janine Toms

With the working segment of my holiday visa behind me, I had plans to put the finishing touches on seeing Australia.

Setting out from Perth in a circa ’84 Nissan camper van, the first turn off was the ancient Pinnacles (pictured above). A desert filled with ridged peaks of limestone; it had an alien planet look about it.
As the miles pass behind us, we celebrate the onset of the trip with a freshly caught Rock Lobster. Christened ‘Pinchy,’ the nod to pop culture was poorly placed, as it turns out these crustaceans are sans claws. Differences aside, Pinchy made for an appetizing plate setting. While the van made an unexpected stop for an alternator overhaul, we embarked on an informal walking tour of the town of Geraldton. Visiting the local maritime museum, I read up on the early explorers’ sailing of the Batavia’s shipwreck of mutiny,’ which pretty much sums it up. I also took in the local art gallery, war memorial and the gaol-turned-craftshop; how quaint.
Eventually we stopped shuffling our feet and got back on the road. In Kalbarri National Park whales made tiny grey cameos off the coastal cliff. The rugged limestone below had worn into unique formations including a natural bridge and an oversized mushroom. Climbing onto the rocks, I encountered tiny crabs hidden within the cracks as the salt water rushed out to sea. After exploring the outdoor offerings we nipped into a nearby pub to watch a highly anticipated game of ruby. The banter between the Kiwis verse Aussie supporters was nearly as lively as the match itself.

Winners and losers aside, the next adventure came in Carnarvon where in 1897 the town took a gamble building a one-mile jetty, eventually creating a viable trading post with the Fremantle docks. But the town’s true virtuosos came in the form of a mammoth satellite dish. The town’s OTC (Orbital Tracking Contraption?) dish was enlisted by NASA when they lost the Apollo signal in 1966. Now it’s ‘closed until further notice.’ Apparently tourism hopes to enlist it into a soon-to-be pacified tourist stop. All the enticement needed to squeeze through the fence.

Janine Toms is a journalist who once worked in the Columbia Valley and is now exploring hunks and chunks of the planet

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