After reaching the coast road again we head back up north to visit the places we missed by taking a detour to Karijini N P. The first stop we make is to free camp on the Ashburton River close to the ruins Old Onslow. (New) Onslow is now the site of the relocated town and is situated nearby on the Pilbara coast, 1,386 Kms north of Perth.
Onslow is not the place to live if you do not like cyclones !! Between late January and early March 1961 three cyclones smashed into the town and gave it 900 millimetres in five weeks, or just under 3 feet of water. On 15 May 1943, Onslow became the most southerly town in Australia to be bombed by the Japanese in World War 2, when a single plane bombed the airfield. However, there was no damage or casualties.
Onslow’s other claim to fame is to have been the site of a major supply base in the 1950’s in support of atomic bomb tests on nearby islands.
BOB AND SIOBHÁN'S CARAVAN ADVENTURES 