Exmouth to Onslow

On our last night in Exmouth we met up with JL’s grandson Tim and his girlfriend Jayde and took them out to dinner at Whalers Restaurant. They have come to live in Exmouth for the winter as they both have jobs which can be done from anywhere. They rely on an online presence and mail order. Jayde designs and sells jewellery. Tim, a qualified plumber, set up a business inventing and selling special protective glasses for tradies. Jayde carries all her stock with her on the road, whilst Tim uses a fulfilment warehouse in Perth. They both work their computers daily. Tim spends all his spare time fishing, catching some monsters up here. They are currently living in a caravan park in Exmouth, but are looking to buy a house in town. They showed us their vehicle which has an ingenious pop up “bedroom” on the roof, accessed by a ladder.

At Whalers Restaurant we had a surprisingly good meal. We started with chilli poppers, the latest trendy entree. For mains I had fish of the day (goldband emperor), JL had a vegetarian curry and the others had gnocchi with prawns. Everything was delicious! The restaurant had moved from its long established position in the town centre to a site in the Escape Caravan Park. It is highly recommended and was very busy on a Saturday night. 

Jayde shows off her rings.

We left Exmouth at 9.00 am for a 394 km drive to Onslow. The roads were very quiet on a Sunday so we made good time. Onslow is the site of one of JL’s major civil engineering projects: the construction of a jetty that would withstand cyclones and service the export of salt from the solar salt facility.

The stockpiles of white salt are prominent in the landscape, as salt is harvested 24/7 from the shallow ponds lining the road on the way into Onslow:

It then goes on a conveyor belt to the jetty when a boat arrives to collect it. The facility is now owned by Mitsui so most of it goes to Japan for chemical production.

We collected some shells on the beach near the jetty and returned to our unit at Onslow Beach Resort for a G and T.