Friday June 28th

After spending the night in a small town called Perinjori we arrived in Geraldton on Tuesday and decided to have a break and stay for five days before moving on.

Temperatures here are a little warmer, 20 – 22c during the day and 7-9c at night.

The break is great. We get up when we want, laze around, take a walk, read, watch a movie or TV, chat and generally enjoy not having to move on for a while.

Geraldton is a big contrast to the other towns we have seen since we left home. Geraldton City is a service city for neighbouring towns and also services regional mining, fishing, wheat, sheep and tourism industries with a population of approx 27,000.

I must say that being in a city rather than a small country town is a lot different. I am enjoying the shops, but not all the traffic. The friendliness you find in smaller places is missing. You are anonymous amongst all the other people even in the caravan park the atmosphere is different – not in a bad way, just people keep more to themselves.

The caravan park is quite nice, set in Sunset Beach which is a popular surfing spot. It is a Big 4, seems like it has just been recently acquired and is in the process of being upgraded. It is in a popular spot extremely close to the ocean, unfortunately little of which can be seen from the park as sand dunes hide the ocean. However the sounds of the sea are very close and loud, especially at night. Going to sleep with the sound of the waves rolling in and crashing on the shore is wonderful. We went to look at the beach which is a walk of no more than 50 metres, with a walkway access just opposite our van. There were quite a few surfers trying to "ride" the waves in what looked to us to be a very rough sea, but was probably normal to them

There are several must see places in Geraldton such as the HMAS Sydney II Memorial, The Francis Xavier Cathedral, The Lighthouse keepers cottage, the Fisherman's wharf and the drive around the foreshore.

Today is the day we intend to go looking at some of them. We went for a drive yesterday, but thought we would go for a better look today.

The first place we went today was the HMAS Sydney II Memorial. It is in a beautiful position which overlooks the Indian Ocean and the city of Geraldton. It is a moving experience to walk around the memorial, to read the names of all the men lost (645) and to read the history of the ship. The sculpture of the waiting woman was very touching.

The loss of HMAS Sydney (II) is Australia’s greatest naval tragedy. Its disappearance in 1941 without a trace left a legacy of uncertainty for decades.
Celebrated for her successful battles in the Mediterranean, where she famously sank the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni, HMAS Sydney (II) and her crew of predominantly young men received a hero’s welcome on her return to Australia in February 1941. She was then tasked with escorting troopships to South East Asia, following an Indian Ocean route along the west coast of Western Australia.

It was on the return of one of these voyages that she encountered the German Raider HSK Kormoran, on 19th November, 1941. The Kormoran was disguised as a Dutch merchant vessel that was seemingly incompetent at returning the Sydney's signals, unaware, the Sydney approached the unknown vessel. Once within range where her superior armament could not advantageously defend her, the Komoran used the advantage of surprise and brought all its armament to bear on the Sydney. The 645 men on board the Sydney lost their lives, 318 out of 390 on the Komoran survived. In March 2008, renewed efforts to find the Sydney came to fruition, confirming her fate and bringing closure to the mystery.


Next we went to The Cathedral of St Francis Xavier. It is a very impressive looking building. It was built by an Anglican minister who was also a qualified architect who converted to Catholicism and studied for the priesthood. He designed and built many churches in mid west WA. The inside of the cathedral is different to what I expected. See what you think?

The Fisherman’s wharf was interesting, but not a good subject for photos, also the lighthouse keepers cottage was another pioneer house and we have seen quite a few of those, so gave it a miss.

The drive around the foreshore was enjoyable but we left the camera at home so no pictures, but it is much like any well maintained foreshore these days, with green grass and picnic areas.

Today Saturday we went to Bunnings, the Great Outdoors and a caravan supplies place to buy some things we needed for the van. Later we went for a short walk on the surf beach to have a look at the surfers. Tomorrow we leave here and drive the 155km to Kalbarri.