Geraldton - Jurien Bay

After leaving Kalbarri we travelled through semi arid countryside once again, until lush green rolling hills appeared with paddocks of wheat and grazing cattle emerged as we approached the town of Northampton. We arrived in the big town of Geraldton to be greeted with gusty winds and intermittent downpours of rain. Time to pack the beach gear away. When we first arrived we initially had our awning out, but after talking with other caravaner's in the park we decided to pack it away, as at least four other caravans had lost their awnings and incurred damage in the gusty conditions the day before, better to be safe than sorry.

On our first afternoon in Geraldton we thought we would visit the HMAS Sydney Memorial, upon pulling into the car park a tour volunteer approached us to became part of a group for a photo shoot for the next Coral Coast magazine. So we were lucky enough to hear the extremely moving story of how the Ship was sunk and the 645 crew were lost as the tours are usually held each morning. It is a beautifully designed memorial, a silver dome of 645 seagulls to represent each of the lost Sydney sailors, the wall of remembrance shows photo's of the ship and the names of all the crew.
The next day we made our way to the Geraldton Museum where we again enjoyed another good presentation this one on the Batavia Shipwreck and the hardship faced by the survivors. They also covered the discovery and the raising of the wreck, with many artifacts on display. We have now had new tyres fitted to the Pajero, so we are feeling much safer on the wet roads we are experiencing. Later that afternoon we went for a drive out to Ellendale Pool, a picturesque bbq and camping spot, would be a lovely place on a nice warm sunny day.

Yesterday we left Geraldton to travel the relatively short distance of 200klms to Jurien Bay. Jurien Bay is a lovely little seaside town with the caravan park right beside the beach which also exposes us to the gusty conditions of WA. WA stands for, Windy Always! We thought we would use this stop as a base for a visit to the Pinnacles in the Nambung National Park, these are amazing natural limestone structures that were left exposed after coastal winds removed the surrounding sand. It was quiet a unique experience to view these structures in a desert like environment.

The rain squalls have gone but we are now enduring 43klm/h winds gusting up to 57klm/h hoping it eases up soon.

HMAS Sydney Memorial

Wall of Remembrance 

Propeller depicting a dead ship 

Sub used for researching crayfish

Wintery view of Geraldton 

Ellendale Pool

Jetty Jurien Bay

Storm approaching Jurien Bay

Pinnacles