We are now at Geraldton, the furthest point from home on this driving trip. I didn’t write a post yesterday as after a drive from Jurien Bay and then cooking dinner, I ran out of time and energy We are staying in a cabin in a very large caravan park. We thought that it would be more comfortable for a three-night stop – we have a lounge area, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom – much more space than a hotel room. This view from Google Earth shows just how much space this caravan park occupies.
After leaving Jurien Bay yesterday, we drove a little way east to the Lesueur National Park that was described as a wild flower hot spot. We followed a 28 kilometer loop road seeing dozens of different flower species along the way. Some of the flowers were stunning in themselves but the thing that cmost aught our eye were the fields and even hillsides of wild flowers.
After completing the loop, we returned back onto the main main highway at Green Head. The view along the coast was interesting and by this time, we were ready for lunch. We looked around for a suitable place to stop but couldn’t find one until we were further up the road in a little town called Leeman. We ended up having a picnic with our own crisbread biscuits, cheese, salami and pickled cucumbers.
After arriving in Geraldton, we had a quick look around the city, unpacked and then cooked some Fetticini Carbonara for dinner. We were in bed early, feeling very tired.
This morning, we had planned a maintenance day. We did some washing, gave the car a wash and vacuumed eleven days of sand and grit from the inside. We spent the rest of the day looking around the town.
The highlight of this city is the HMAS Sydney Memorial that sits on a hill above the CBD. It is located in Geraldton because this city sits roughly on the same latitude as the one on which the Sydney was sunk.
HMAS Sydney (II) was a modified Leander-class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. She was lost with all 645 hands on 19 November 1941 after a fierce battle with the disguised German raider HSK Kormoran off the coast of Western Australia. She had early successes in performing patrol and escort duties, then achieved fame in the Mediterranean Sea during 1940 by sinking the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni.
The Final Battle in which she was sunk happened off Shark Bay when she intercepted an unidentified ship later revealed to be the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran, which was disguised as a Dutch merchant vessel. Due to the close range and surprise attack by Kormoran, both ships severely damaged each other. While Kormoran was scuttled after most of her crew survived, Sydney sank with the loss of all 645 personnel—marking Australia’s worst naval disaster. The exact locations of both wrecks were finally discovered in March 2008 roughly 100 nautical miles off Western Australia.
Along ‘The Espanande’ a walkway along the previous railway line to the original jetty by the port. I found a Yellow Submarine. This vessel was built in 1968, the same year the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine hit movie screens. It was intended to help search for rock lobster but that role was abandoned when battery emissions made it impossible to work in.
Geraldton Port has been servicing the Mid West as the major seaport of the region since 1840 when the first ship, the HMS Champion, first anchored off its coast. The port primarily ships bulk commodities including iron ore, grains, mineral sands, and mineral concentrates. There were three ships docked in the port today with at least four anchored off the coast waiting for a berth.
I wouldn’t call Geralton an especially interesting city but it does have some nice beaches.
One of the more interesting sights was this family of sea eagles nesting at at the top of this pole.
I don’t think that there is any more in this city that we haven’t seen so tomorrow, we plan to do some more exploring around the local area. Perhaps we can see another brilliant sunset.
