19^th August: Carnarvon

Today was a rest day and so after I had finished the washing, we washed the car. That took over an hour and cost $10! I couldn't believe the places that red dirt had inflitrated and settled! It was a mess but now looks a lot better. The van? Well, it will have to stay dirty! Shopping for groceries etc filled the rest of the morning while Gail had her hair cut and coloured.

After lunch and a nanna-nap, we went to look at the Big Dish that was made famous by the film, “The Dish”. It was shut down in 1987 and then bought by the local council as a tourist icon. Birds are nesting in its framework but there is a staircase to climb and view the surrounding cultivated lands – usually under netting!

 Near-by, in restricted area,are the two satelite dishes for the NBN, just finished last week, and the now mothballed casse-horn (or the “sugar scoop” because that is what it looks like) which was built to track Haley's Comet. 

They are all lit up with red and blue lights at night as the airport is nearby but in thedaylight they look rather forlorn and forgotten as their brillant past fades into obscurity. But Carnarvon is taking advantage of their presence by hyping the centre up for tourism!