It has been a very different week in Carnarvon, weather wise and bowls wise.  Some nice sunny days for the start of the carnival, but still quite cold in the mornings and at night.  Then the rain came on Sunday night and Carnarvon received over 25 mls.  It was too wet for the men's pairs and they abandoned play at lunchtime on Monday.  It was too wet for me to do the washing as I have done in previous years, so it became Peter's task on the Tuesday, when Dorothy and I played in the ladies pairs.  And we won our four matches and came second with 24 shots up.  The winners were only won shot more.  We were wrapped!  In our last game, we were 6 - 5 down on the last end and we got a six to win by 5.  Amazing!  It wasn't that we had six bowls very close to the jack, our opponents Vandy and Anne from Safety Bay, just went to water.  Well that was the way it appeared.

We won four of our five matches in the ladies fours to pick up third place money.  $75.00 for the fours and $100.00 each for the pairs.  But this game of bowls always brings you back to reality!  After Dorothy and I played so well in the pairs, we didn't play so well the next day in the Farewell Mixed Fours and didn't win a match.  Peter did say he and John would bring us back to reality playing with them the next day!  Not really.....it just wasn't our day on the Wednesday.  We had some great matches on the first two days of playing Mixed Fours at the Carnival.  The highlight was a great game against Lee Farrell's team and a win to us. 

On the Saturday we only played two matches of the Men's and Ladies Fours and we were back at the caravan by early afternoon.  We chose to go for a drive and see the Gascoyne River with some water in it.  Whenever we have visited Carnarvon the Gascoyne River has been dry.  I believe it was three metres deep over the the crossing between South and North River Road a few weeks ago.  You could see where the Shire had been scooping the sand away from the crossing and evidence of the water level was still noticeable.

The Gascoyne River is said to be an upside-down river, as it only flows for about 120 days of the year and for the rest of the year it flows below the dry river bed.  It is in effect a huge water storage system with the rivers aquifers lying below the desert sands.  That is why it is said 'Carnarvon is the only place in Australia where the desert reaches out into the sea'.  The most severe flooding of the Gascoyne River was in December 2010 and this was triggered by record breaking rainfall of 313.6 millimetres in just four days.  The flooding was widespread and damage to the region was estimated at $100 million.  Fortunately no people died in the event, but an estimated 2,000 head of cattle perished.  Following the devastation to the district, the State Government invested $45 million and the Federal Government $15 million into flood mitigation works.  The 16 kilometres of levy banks was officially opened in June 2014.

There have been a couple of noticeable new additions to Carnarvon since our visit last year.  The clock on the roundabout near the Visitor Centre (which is named Camel lane Roundabout) was reported in the Geraldton Guardian recently and the totem poles on the other CBD roundabout are an addition.  A number of scupltures have been placed around Carnarvon and the clock is the fourth sculpture it be finished.  It is called 'Windmill Clock'.  This contemporary sculpture is a tribute to the Pastoral Industry of the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia.  It acknowledges the original Lions Club town clock and is a French clock that has been designed with a constant satellite connection with the Atomic Clock in Geneva, Switzerland so it is expected to stay in correct time.  The fifth and final piece of sculpture is planned to be installed shortly and will pay homage to the fishing industry and culture and historic whaling industry that is synonymous with Carnarvon. The sculpture, named ‘Fascine Fishing’ will be located on the Fascine.  The totem poles sculpture is named 'Garla: Campfire Welcome'.

The 'Fascine' in Carnarvon is a beautiful area, but issues with the corroding of the walls has been in the news of late.  It appears there will be a battle and Council will be attempting to prove the sheet piling was inappropriate.  $8.5 million was spent on Stage 5 of the project in 2013/2014 for retaining walls and seawalls.  We also went into town on Monday afternoon to check out the gorgeous little flower shop on 'Sheltons Corner'.  There used to be a book shop there years ago and now there is a lovely mural as a reminder.  The shop is called Floral Graffiti - Flowers Decor & Giftware.  We met the owner when we were in Carnarvon last year and she was just setting up her shop.  Unfortunately Julie was closed as it was a cold, damp Monday afternoon and the CBD was very quiet.  It was a good day for her to catch up on some book work.  Julie had an apology notice in the window.  

Carnarvon is the 'Food Bowl of W.A.' and we did go for another drive to the area on Monday after the rain.  It was still raining in fact and what a sight to see that red clay/loam saturated.  We came back on South Road this time.  On Saturday we travelled North Road, over the bridge and back into town on the highway.  We also checked out 'Chinaman's Pool' on the Gascoyne River on Saturday afternoon.  Pete knew where to go and we came across a big water tank that someone has converted to their home.  It was quite a sight to see too!  

During our eight nights in Carnarvon we went to the Gateway Motel for their seafood night on the Friday night, which just happened to be Judy Cream's birthday.  The cost was $40.00 each for a smorgasbord of seafood.  On the Thursday night we paid $8.00 each for the 'Surprise Dinner' at the caravan park.  Thursday night is their charity night each week and with so many bowlers staying in the park they raised $400.  They have a quiz that provides a bit of entertainment.  Dinner was curry and rice and then desert of Bavarian cheesecake and icecream with a warm chocolate sauce.  The evening was okay, but it was cold and the guys really didn't get enough to eat.  We told them to focus on the fact they were supporting a worthy research organisation and it was only $8.00.  They didn't need to dwell on the fact that their belly was still rumbling!

But one of the best nights we had during the eight nights was a pre-dinner drinks hour or so, in the annex of our caravan.  It was Tuesday evening and Dorothy and I were the only two that had been bowling that day.   Everyone was just about ready to go back to caravans and get dinner, when a lady by the name of Carlein Trotter popped her head into the annex to invite us all to come to Denmark sometime and play bowls.  Sue and Nick Waldon had teamed up with Carlein and Mostyn for some of the events and Sue had happened to mention to me that they were enjoying their company.  I had this sudden thought that Carlein may have been Dean Trotter's Mum, so I asked her!  And she was!  Dean worked for us for six weeks, back in the early 1990's when he was a Muresk student.  Peter and I had only been talking about Dean not long ago.  So we had chatted a few times during the carnival and found out Dean has a Sparky or Peter said Spunky wife.  They have two girls and Dean was diagnosed with leukemia not long before they were to be married.  He had chemo and was still able to have two children naturally.  They feel very blessed that the eldest of the girls is now 20 or so and to date there has been no sign of the cancer returning.  "Life with Dean and Mostyn on the farm in Denmark is interesting" Carlein said.  And Dean's Sparky or Spunky wife keeps the sanity on the farm.  We all loved Carlein's phrase "That they would soon be going home to 'Mostyn's Mistress'!  The farm of course!  And I guess this was a great night for Dorothy and I because this was the night of our success in the pairs.  On that note I will say no more and this long Carnarvon blog is done!