June 13 ... Geraldton

We are enjoying a little bit of luxury here in Geraldton with an en-suite site ... how easy it makes things! It was only a few dollars more and what a good decision it was.
When we left Dongara, the wind was really blowing. The pattern of the last six days has been that the wind starts around midnight and steadily gets stronger until about 11am and then starts to quieten down until, by about 3pm, it is almost still and hence, the afternoons are lovely. Knowing this, we sleep in and plan to do all our walks after lunch.
The intensity and regularity of the wind explains the "leaning trees" of Greenough. The constant strong southerly winds cause "flagging" to the river gums. This is when all the new shoots are burnt off by the hot wind on one side and the tree only has growth from the sheltered side. We noticed that most of the trees in the area are affected but some more than others.

The leaning tree(s) of Greenough

Greenough itself is an historic early settlement and it is now largely a heritage village. It is quaint to look at but many of these buildings contain a similar history to the one we have seen and read about many times before, so we rarely stop these days.

Greenough

Historic Village

Flour Mill

Geraldton has a number of major attractions but it is easily recognized by its iconic lighthouse. After a quick tour of the town, and after checking in to the park, we headed over to the Visitors Centre where there was an amazing shop, with the best selection of things to buy. I assured Garry he was really very lucky that I only bought two pairs of earrings! We also got some information about what to see around town...

Geraldton's Lighthouse

Geraldton's Visitors Centre

 As it was Sunday and many places were closed, we were persuaded to visit the new Art Gallery, and we were so glad we did. On the ground floor was an exhibition of mainly landscapes from around WA, but upstairs was a contemporary indigenous exhibition, and many of the art works were striking.

The Art Museum

"Yubu Stones"- B Merritt

"The Murchison River"-M Whitehurst

"The Eighteen Circles"-T Lawson

"Wildflowers"-W Jackaberry

After this, it was such a lovely afternoon that we drove up to the HMAS Sydney Memorial. This has a beautiful view out over Geraldton towards the sea and it is a moving tribute to the sailors who drowned in 1941. The dome is made up of 645 stainless steel seagulls, each one representing a member of the Sydney's crew. The seagull is supposed to personify the souls of lost sailors. There is also a steel prow of a ship and a bronze statue of an anguished mother, searching the sea with her eyes.

The dome of seagulls

Statue of a concerned mother

The ship's prow

Not wanting to waste the sunshine we then stopped at the St Francis Xavier Cathedral. It was designed and constructed by Monsignor John Hawes and it was built in stages but finally finished in 1938. Without any doubt, this priest was ahead of his time and I am sure his design would have been quite shocking to many. It is however, absolutely spectacular and we enjoyed the tour we had of it this morning. Most of the internal walls are in grey and orange stripes and the effect is stunning.

The Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral

View to the altar

Just to finish off the day we drove out to Separation Point to look out over the harbour and the ocean. For the first time, the true colour of the water was apparent and it looked beautiful.

Following our Cathedral tour today we spent some time around the town. It was still really windy so we opted for a visit to the Museum. We had been there before as it has an excellent collection and history of the Batavia, but it currently has a display of the mineral deposits and exploitation of the central west called "Unearthed".

And so we have enjoyed two full days at Geraldton. Our one disappointment is that they do not have tours of the port. There are ships, trucks and trains continuously on the move there and they export cattle, iron ore, talc and grain. Due to more mineral discoveries they are in the process of building a new, much larger, port to the north so that will be something to see in the future.

The Indian Ocean - Geraldton