I’m now back on the coast at Geraldton after a leisurely drive to Perth and then north along the coastline. The first day, to Meridian, was mainly mining county. I stopped in at a little place called Southern cross, 2 men and a dog town, but an amazing footy oval with enclosed grandstand, along with tennis courts, pools etc. The benefits in having mining companies as your neighbors presumably. The second day into Perth was largely grain growing – hundreds of kilometers of it.
I stopped on the outskirts of Perth overnight, then the next day headed towards the coast via the Swan Valley, which is the wine growing area. Completely different landscape. Too early in the day to stop though.
I did stop at the Numbung National Park for a walk around the Pinnacles desert. The pinnacles are limestone pillars, which can be seen from the nearby coast line. Thousands of them.
Overnight at Cervantes which is a small coastal town a couple of hours out of Perth. Still school holidays here so the park was a bit of a circus with kids on bikes and in a massive pool having a great time. Cervantes has a beach, and a cray fishing industry including a processing plant and “The lobster shack’ which serves up all sorts of lobster and seafood
I was a bit worried about the drive up here as they were expecting 20000 visitors to Exmouth, a bit further up the coast, for yesterday’s eclipse. However I’ve primarily been driving along the coastal Indian Ocean Drive in lieu of the A1 Brand Highway, so missed most of it and all of the trucks. But beautiful coastline with lots of reefs and historical shipwrecks. I’m hoping by the time I get back on the A1 on Sunday they will have all gone home.
I spent yesterday exploring Geraldton including a visit to their museum. This holds the artifacts from the Batavia shipwreck. Following advice from Val’s brother in law John, I had been listening to the audio of Peter Fitzsimons book on the Batavia as I was crossing the Nullarbor but had abandoned it when the wreck survivors were stranded on a rock with no food or water and discussing dinner plans. Anyway I gather from the museum that while there was murder, rape and presumably some cannibalism, eventually there was a happy ending – so I might just go back to it.
Quiet day today catching up on washing and cleaning and recovering from a bit of a session with my neighbors last night. They’re down from Perth, baby sitting 18 month and 3 year old grand kids pending birth of a new sibling. He was the local copper in Geraldton for 15 years, so I got lots of direction about securing the van and valuables and not stopping on the highways to help out stranded travelers. Nice couple, albeit a bit religious right wing – which was interesting in itself. 25 degrees here so I’m about to adjourn under a tree with my book for the afternoon.
Round about 