Geraldton

Pink salt lake near Port Gregory.

It is only a short 200km from Kalbarri to Geraldton, so it was a late and lazy departure. We soon were out of the Kalbarri NP and the countryside became more rolling hills. We passed alongside the pink lakes near Port Gregory, that are all a part of the salt mining thing that stretches along the coast from here to Dampier. Didn't realise we had such a big salt industry! Port Gregory sounded such a noble, almost aristocratic, kind of name, so our expectations were high. We quickly crashed and burned. It is wall to wall asbestos shacks, and we were certain we could hear the sounds of duelling banjos!! We didn't even slow down. We chucked a U turn at the waterfront, and high tailed it out of there!!

The Catholic Church at Northampton.

Huge wheat silos near Northampton.

Next town was Northhampton, which turned out to be quite an historic town from the mid 1850's, as we quickly learnt that we were now in the grain belt of central WA, a far cry from the deserts we have crossed the past few months. We drove through town, and saw the huge old Catholic Church and Convent, and much evidence of old dwellings from a time long gone. We figured such a town would have a quaint little Tea House or Cafe, and spied a sign beside the pub. We pushed through the flyscreen doors into the dingiest, darkest little room. I looked to turn on the lights, then realised they were already on!! A voice beckoned from somewhere, and as our eyes adjusted we saw this tattooed & pierced apparition on the far side of the room. "Wadda

The old convent at Northampton.

yous want?" Carolyn, never to be put off in the quest for morning tea, announced "Coffee & Cake!" She took our coffee order and pointed us to a glass cabinet that contained one slice of something that we are certain, once was a cake, and I announced I was going over the road to get Father Frank to come and administer the last rites!! When she fumbled in the drawer and blew the dust off two "coffee pods", I knew we had made a huge error. Carolyn's latte and my flat white, arrived looking like tortured twins. They were super heated, and I was in fear of the spoon melting if I dared to add sugar, which in itself would have been a major feat, as it had set like concrete in the bottom of the bowl! To fill in time, I asked if she'd lived in Northhampton long, and then got the family tree back about four generations with no illegitimate children, or greater scandal, left out! She took a breath and headed out the back, and before she could return we were well on our way to Geraldton!

Lots of grass at Belair Gardens.

Geraldton city centre & port.

We drove into the outer suburbs of Geraldton. It is a city of 35,000 plus people, and even has traffic lights and parking meters! Welcome back to civilisation! We wound our way around to the Belair Gardens Big 4 Caravan Park, and got set up on a beautiful, big grassy site, for a stay of one week. So nice to have grass under our feet, and not shell grit! We armed ourselves with lots of brochures from the office, and were pleasantly surprised at how much there would be to do. Geraldton is a large commercial centre with a big harbour. The harbour is the focus for industry, with wheat and minerals being exported in huge volumes. You can see the bulk carriers anchored out to sea, waiting their turn. There is also a huge crayfish industry. The coastal area and the offshore Abrolhos Islands, breed some of the world's best crayfish, which are live exported all round the world. And the good news is, it is a sustainable fishery, so prolific are these delicious crustaceans at breeding! As is happening anywhere there is a town with a harbour, it is undergoing a rejuvenation, with great recreation areas for the people, and new residential and commercial properties.

Crayfish a la Carolyn.

First stop was the crayfish shop! Our caravan park is very close by. The lovely man in the shop tells us he has just freshly cooked up a batch, so we buy two good sized little suckers, for $50.00. Carolyn does the rest, and voila, Crayfish a la Carolyn!! Out with the good sav blanc and let the good times roll!! We are determined to be sick of crayfish by the weeks end!! He also has some lovely fresh local prawns and calamari, and lots of fish. This is a great seafood centre, and we have the freezer stocked up for the next couple of weeks.

St. Francis Xavier Cathedral

HMAS Sydney Memorial.

The town of Geraldton is nice. It has a good main street of varied shops, and it has a couple of small malls, each based around a supermarket. The old part of town around the waterfront, has a number of beautiful old buildings, including the old railway station, the old gaol, the old hospital, and there is a beautiful catholic cathedral, St. Francis Xavier, as well. On a hill above the town is the relatively new memorial to the HMAS Sydney. This is without doubt one of the best memorials we've seen. It has a number of elements to it. There is the huge stainless steel dome, made up of 645 sea gulls, one for every man lost in the tragedy, then there is the bow of the ship, a bronze statue of a lady looking out to sea, and a whirlpool with a sea gull touching the water, signifying where the ship went down. It is all wonderfully well done, with black granite walls containing the names of the entire crew. 

The Jaffle Shack.

High Tea at Fleur.

Didn't take us long to find a couple of excellent coffee spots, as there are a number of choices. There is the Dome, which is a chain based out of Perth. It is beautifully placed at the town beach, and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our two absolute favourites were The Jaffle Shack and the Fleur Tea Room. They are side by side, and are run by the same people, but offer such varied choices. The Jaffle Shack is beachy and casual and serves good old fashioned jaffles and great coffee, whilst the Fleur Tea Room is a formal tea room serving high tea to order. We really enjoyed both, and favoured the Jaffle Shack more often. Didn't quite feel singlet and thongs was the right dress for high tea!!  A couple of doors down the street, was a fantastic Second Hand Bookshop, run by a passionate and eccentric middle aged woman. The shop was neat and tidy and beautifully laid out in named sections. This woman must have known every book in the shop, and boy could she talk! She got me a couple of new authors, guaranteed to please. I took some of my old books in and did some trade ins. What a character!

Changing Room!

Mr. & Mrs. Osprey.

On Saturday there were markets in Middleton Park. They were quite small, but we did pick up some nice fresh produce to go with the crayfish. Even picked up some beautiful stone fruit from a local grower. It has so much flavour. In town we visited the craft market in the old gaol. Quite a unique concept, with local artists taking a cell to display their wares! Many of the cells were locked when we were there. The hours seemed a bit all over the place. Non the less, a unique place to shop, but no way were they getting me into a changing room! It had a peep hole in the bloody door and the lock is on the outside! The Visitor Information Centre is situated in the old hospital building next door, but we didn't really need it, as the caravan park staff had been so helpful and had all the brochures. The old lighthouse, and the old lighthouse keeper's cottage, are also worth a look. It was quite funny down by the lighthouse, as a couple of Osprey had made a nest on one of the shipping markers. You could hear the little ones kicking up a stink, as mum & dad flew in with dinner.

Horricks Beach General Store.

A message for master and pooch!

We took a Sunday drive out through the Chapman Valley, part of the rich grain belt. We stopped in at a lovely Lavender Farm, for morning tea. It was lovely sitting out on the veranda looking out over the rolling hills all recently harvested. We continued on out to nearby Horricks Beach, a place we had seen featured on a TV lifestyle show. It was a real sleepy little seaside village, with a nice caravan park and rows of little fibro beach shacks. The General Store was doing a roaring trade in Fish 'n Chips and Hamburgers, so we joined the throng on the shady deck for lunch, sharing a delicious hamburger and chips. We wandered up to the lookout and checked out a nice beach, with a number of Crayfishing Boats bobbing up and down at their moorings. This looks like a nice place to spend a lazy week or two. It will probably be going crazy over the Christmas/New Year holidays. We also couldn't help but be amused by the sense of humour of the local council. They are obviously a very dog friendly lot. Check out the photo of the sign. 

One last coffee at The Jaffle Shack.

The museum at Geraldton is excellent. We spent an afternoon looking through the fantastic exhibits. The absolute highlight is the Shipwreck display. Here you can read the wonderful history of the wreck of the Batavia, and numerous other Dutch ships. The way it is done, and the volume of treasures salvaged from the wrecks and on display is mindblowing. Old canons, anchors, even the complete stone entrance portico, destined for a city in the Dutch East Indies, that had been cargo on one of the wrecked ships.

We managed to attend to our Christmas Card list whilst in Geraldton. We really started to get into the spirit of Christmas. We will definitely come back to Geraldton. We like the feel of the place, and found all the people we met friendly and helpful. The surrounding area we hardly touched, and those Abrolhos Islands fascinate me with their history and colour. Not far to get to Perth now.