Exmouth to Onslow

There are long stretches of road off the North West Coastal Highway to actually reach the coast itself at Exmouth and Onslow, but it’s worth it to find better places to stay than at a roadhouse. At Exmouth, it’s always interesting to chat to other travellers going north or south and hear about their experiences.

The rain held off and there were only high level clouds and sunny patches on my way north. I stopped early on to take a better picture of a termite mound:

These mounds are everywhere, dotted across the landscape on the Exmouth road.

The journey to Onslow was uneventful. As soon as I arrived, I wanted to stretch my legs with a decent walk after doing zero kms the day before. There was no sunset over the sea; I walked the length of the boardwalk, built in commemoration of a policeman, Ian Blair, who lived in Onslow for many years. From the boardwalk, there is a view of the jetty which serves Onslow Salt (one of JL’s most successful civil engineering projects). Salt is transported along the jetty by a conveyor belt to the waiting cargo ship at the end:

One of my favourite plants on this coast is the Green Birdflower:

I plucked one, to demonstrate the “bird”:


The “mountains” of salt can be seen in the distance:

Shipments of salt began in 2001. It is now owned by the Japanese company, Mitsui.


From the beach at the end of the boardwalk:


All along the boardwalk are informative plaques like this one:


At the Onslow end is a war memorial. This is a bench with soldiers’ hats in bronze: