Finally, it was time to leave
Kalbarri after out not so exciting festival.
We were up really early as we were in a hurry to get to Geraldton. We’ve been having an LPG problem with our
fridge and had an appointment with a service department to get it looked
at. It was a couple of hours drive and
along the way we passed Hutt Lagoon, otherwise known as Pink Lake. This beautiful salt lake is about 14kms long
but only quite narrow and runs along the coast.
The water is naturally pink due to the presence of some odd algae. Unfortunately though there was no great
viewing point as we drove past so the “pinkness” of the water in our photos is
nowhere near as bright as it looked in real life. There was another cute little town which we
passed called Northampton, but due to our rush we unfortunately couldn’t stop –
damn as it looked quite cute. Upon
arriving at Geraldton, we noticed it was a rather big town compared to those
before it, approx. 40,000 in fact. We
headed straight to the caravan dealer and dropped off the van for a fridge
inspection. We found things to amuse us
while we waited for a call with an evaluation of what the problem could
be. First stop was the information
centre. As we left the wind had picked
up again and the rain was falling lightly so we hopped into the car and drove
to the Western Australian Museum – Geraldton.
There were exhibits on Australian wildlife but of more interest were the
displays of four Dutch shipwrecks along the west coast, including the Batavia
which we were keen to learn about. This
display included the original Batavia stone portico, silver coins and numerous
other artefacts and relics of each of the shipwrecks. The other display which caught our attention
was that of the HMAS Sydney II which sank in November 1941 and all 645 crew
lost their lives. The display was very
moving and there was plenty of information about the discovery of the ships in
2008. We were pretty hungry by now so
stopped in at the shops to pick up some lunch items including wrap bread and a chicken. We found a park to sit and enjoy our lunch
but it was so cold and windy that we aimed for a quick lunch and clean-up. Across the road from this park was a lovely
old cathedral called St Francis Xavier and was originally built in 1870 but
later rebuilt in 1916. It is a lovely
building from the outside and quite strange on the inside as it was painted in
stripes. The kids found the most amusing
part of the church to be the confession booths.
Josh played priest and the kids entered the rooms – but apparently they
had nothing to confess – I’m sure I could think of a few things…. Our last stop for the afternoon was at the
HMAS Sydney II memorial atop a hill of Geraldton. This memorial I found really lovely. Four parts of the memorial were built before
the year that the ship’s remnants were found which consisted of: a silver dome of 645 seagulls representing
each life lost, a wall of remembrance inscribing each of the crew’s names, a
stele representing the shape of the bow of the ship and a bronze woman looking
out to sea as she awaits the ill-fated news.
There was one more element added after 2008 when the ship was found at
sea and this is a circular pool of remembrance again with seagulls symbolising
each of the lost men. We headed back to
our van for the fridge verdict and were able to pick up our home – they were
ordering a part that they suspected would fix our gas leak. We hooked it up and went to find our home for
the night at the local top tourist van park where some other friends were
staying. Kylie and Andrew and the kids
had invited us out for dinner tonight which I was more than happy to
accept. Good food and good company - we had them both and it also meant a night
off from cooking. Surprisingly, we don’t
eat out much these days which is a huge change to our lifestyle back home.
Tuesday morning, and I was up
with the birds. I’d decided to join
Kylie on her 10km morning walk and although it was a bit cool, the walk was
lovely, refreshing and again great company.
Back at the van, my other three munchkins were all awake so we slowly
had breakfast and got moving. I sat at
the jumping pillow for a while this morning with all the kids playing nice
together – that was until our friends were driving off onto their next
adventure. Josh had decided to give the
underneath of the car a wash so I figured it was a good day for the kids and I
to spend some time together at the shops.
Now Geraldton shops are nothing to rave about but we did find a small shopping
centre with a Target, Jay Jays, etc. so that’s where we headed. First off we had a bit of lunch and a coffee and
then spent a few hours wandering around.
By the time we walked away the kids were pretty happy as they ended up
with a pair of sparkly jogger shoes each, a singlet, some new magazines and a
few other bits and pieces – I can’t say Josh was too impressed as this just
adds to the weight of the caravan – but us girls had a lovely day together and
the kids were very appreciative for it.
When Josh picked us up, the car was lovely and clean both in and out as
he even vacuumed in it. Back at the van,
the weather was getting worse. Josh had
bought some new runners for the fridge in the back of the car so quickly
changed these before it started to sprinkle.
Then we packed away all the outdoor gear before the rain picked up and
we headed indoors for the night.
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