I needed to talk to the person who does the Wanderer at HQ in Newcastle so I decided to go to Onslow, the nearest CDMA coverage area. We arrived before lunch. I made my call to HQ and settled my business with them. They have done a full page spread of Highway Wanderer itineraries for the September edition but cannot afford the space every month so we can expect another entry in six or twelve months time. Meanwhile I will put a current one in every newsletter we send out (as long as people keep sending in details).
After lunch we took a drive round the town. Sunset Beach on the west side of the peninsula is pretty well deserted. There is a salt loading jetty there and I later discovered that the salt works here is only a few years old. The other industries that keep Onslow from following Cossack into oblivion are a small fishing industry, a minor part in the NW Shelf oil and gas industry, and a little tourism.
We also visited the Sunrise Beach on the eastern side of the peninsula, as deserted as the Sunset Beach, the fishing harbour, almost deserted except for fisher folk, and the groin with more holiday makers trying for dinner.
The last place we had to visit was the Goods Shed Museum which was pretty much like every other local museum. The highlight for me was the collection of clippings about cyclones. 1958, 1961, 1963 and the big one in 1995. You have to wonder why people live in places like this. I also noticed the announcement of the opening of the bitumen road in 1986! Talk about getting into the 21st century. We modern motorhomers don't know what it was like way back then (16 years ago).
At happy hour someone said that the fish shop was open in the evening so we all sampled the local produce. It was OK but not outstanding as I had expected. Still, this is just all part of the rich tapestry of life on the road.