Geraldton Photos & Diary

Here we are in wild and windy Geraldton, have been here over a week now and the wind and flies have not abated, we even had rain last night. We havent got any fishing in again, Tony went down to the beach yesterday morning and was back in half an hour, the weed was so bad he couldnt get his line after he had cast it, the stuff stinks like you wouldnt believe.

We left Kalbarri after a great birthday brekky for Mary, some other friends Chris and Heather turned up the night before, we didnt know they were coming and they didnt have a clue which van park we were in so it was a lovely surprise.. We had quiche, bacon, tomatoes crusty rolls, and choc torte layered with cream and fresh mulberries ( there was a tree in the park) washed down with pink sparkling at 7am, what a way to go.

We had decorated the camp kitchen with pink balloons and streamers, it was a great start to the day. After brekky we left for Coronation beach not a long distance, once again we were indundated by flies and had to put the awning down because of the wind, when will it ever abate!

We decided to only stay one night here as there was no fishing to be done and there had been reports of snake sightings, enough for me to leave! We only had a half hour drive to Geraldton next morning and by coincidence most of the group was in the same van park, even though none of us are travelling together we end up at the same places. We certainly are meeting some great people all doing the same thing, and a lot of them with the same interests.



Getting to Geraldton was a bit of a culture shock, there was lots of traffic and traffic lights, its amazing how you forget about big towns, this town is about 25,000 people. It was a treat for us girls to go for some retail therapy, the boys also found super cheap, and bunnings so had their own therapy. The beauty of travelling is that you have limited room so cant be tempted to spend too much.

On Sunday the 4 of us went for a drive to historic Greenough, the Pioneer settlement was extremely interesting, a large number of buildings still in very good condition. After that we went to the Alinta wind farm which has 54 turbines and supplies power to 60,000 homes the propeller arms are about 40 metres long and are limited to 65klms an hour. They were amazing.

We were hoping to go to a Restaurant called Bentwood Grove which we had read about but they were fully booked. Getting back to Geraldton we called in at the old gaol and craft centre, the visitors centre which was once the Victoria Hospital. There are some beautiful old buildings in the town.

Next day we went to the HMAS Sydney memorial which was a very fitting testament to those 650 sailors who lost their lives when two boats apparently collided, I think in the 1960's. There are a few different memorials along the coast but this one is the best. The red and white striped lighthouse on the point can be seen 26klms out to sea.

The churches are also great to look at, St. Francis Xavier has the strangest colours inside, orange and grey stripes. Was planning on seeing Oakabella homestead which is supposed to have a ghost but it was closed so we went for a drive around the Chapman Valley and a few of the wineries.

We have had a few days where we havent done anything but I think sometimes you just need to do that. We have been trying to fit as much in as we can and see everything but its not possible, you couldnt do it in a lifetime.

We rang our friends Peter and Carol who are now in Pemberton down the bottom of W.A. Our plan is to go to Dongara, check out the fishing then to Cervantes and Jurien Bay before heading inland to New Norcia which is a monastry. Tomorrow is the annual "Blessing of the Fleet" where all the crayfish boats are blessed by clerics before the start of the season, hopefully it will be a nice day, we are looking forward to it.

Last night we had roast duckling again, thats twice in a month, getting to be a habit, thankfully Tony hasnt lost his touch, he is missing the cooking so I let him cook dinner nearly every night( arent I considerate!!!!!!!) mind you I still have to clean up the mess he makes. I am pleased that we only brought the minimum of cooking equipement so he doesnt have much to dirty. We also had sushi for starters and Mary made dessert, it was all yummy.

Dont know when we will be in touch again but stay safe everyone