Another day in Onslow

Today we drove a red dirt road, saw a jail, walked on the beach, looked at a salt mine, observed a distant gas plant, hurt my toe, went to a museum, fueled up, went shopping, had a nap, did some minor repairs & I am about to try some night fishing. When I write it down like that it seems like a lot, but it was pretty cruisy.

 The Onslow jetty during war time.

The same Onslow jetty today. Some slight deterioration has taken place.

 There is one of the wildflower plants here that produces green flowers exactly the same shape as birds.

As above, still on the plant.

 Some kind of bird on the beach.

 The long conveyor from the salt mine to the end of the loading jetty.

 Another interesting view of the jetty.

 The new Chevron gas works.

 Blue bells, wild flowers. They are blue but the camera doesn't seem to pick it up.

 The little boxy, work train coming back along the salt loading jetty.

 There is a vey long boardwalk through the dunes.

 Kapok plant, brought here in the 1800s by Afghan cameleers. It has now run riot.

 Kapok has become a weed. It was once used to stuff mattresses & pillows & to put under camel saddles.

 A plaque showing the location of offshore islands, including Montebello islands, 70 miles straight out. That is where the poms let off 12 atomic bombs in the 1950s. Contamination spread across half the continent & there are still people suffering radiation sickness to this day. Fortunately we have balance as the frogs let off a heap of atomic bombs off the East coast at Mururoa.

 The remnants of a ship destroyed in the nuclear tests.

 An old steam train used on the old Onslow jetty.

 The namesake sub paid 2 visits to Onslow,  1972 & 1974.

 The local salt mine is one of the smaller ones, but still exports 2.5 million tons per year.
Notice the little bull dozer on the salt pile. Well its not, its enormous,

 The dozer, a very glary place to work.

 The goal at the old Onslow township.

 A big underground tank at the jail.

 Even the grafiti is starting to become historic. I notice 1 here from 1945.

 Date palms. Everywhere the Afghan cameleers operated you will find these.

 Old Onslow goal.

 I kicked a piece of buried steel on the beach & it split my toenail completely in half.

 Another red dirt road on the way to the old Onslow township. You never get tired of a good thing.

 The jail.

Ashburton river crossing.