Geraldton

Before I go into detail about Geraldton, let me tell you it is the windiest, coldest place we have been to on this holiday so far. The locals tell us it is windy every day and it just changes in intensity. The  weather has been sunny but you can't sit outside and enjoy it as you get blown away.

We arrived here on Sunday 4th September and it took us a while to set up as the first site they gave us had someone on it already, the second site we couldn't fit on and the third one was just right. A bit like the story of the three bears.
The next day we had the van booked in for some repairs so we dropped it off about 8.30am. We then went for a drive around the local beaches and points of interest.

We got a phone call from the van repair place to say that the water tank needed replacing so we now have a new water tank. But the toilet couldn't be fixed without a new part which needed to come from Melbourne so we came back to the caravan park for another few days.

The next day, Tuesday we decided to go for a drive. We drove south from Geraldton down to the entrance of the Greenough River. As the wind was up, there was quite a good surf running and there were a few brave people out there catching waves.

Next stop was The Leaning Tree. Because of the strong winds some of the trees actually turn and grow horizontally. Quite a weird phenomenon.

We then went to a hisoric village in Greenough but it was too windy to walk around.
So next we drove to Mullawa which is the main town in the wildflower area. On the way we stopped at Alinta Wind Farm, which is the biggest wind turbine farm in Australia. 54 wind turbines producing enough energy to power 60,000 homes annually. It's good to see that wind is good for something.

Next stop was Ellendale Pool which is surrounded by a pretty gorge and those wildflowers again.

Then Mullawa which I found a bit of a disappointment as there were only a few wildflowers around.

On Wednesday we had another quiet day. We drove into town and the cruise ship "Sea Princess" was anchored in the bay and ferrying passengers in to the dock at Geraldton for them to have a look around. Apparently about 20 cruise ships stop in Geraldton each year. It beats me why, unless all the passengers love that wind.

Now to today. We got a phone call from the van repairers. The part we need isn't sold as an individual thing , we have to buy a new base unit There is only one in Australia at present and that is in Queensland so it is being shipped to the Dometic offices in Perth and we will pick it up there next week. We had to pay for it in advance as well as the cost of shipping but hopefully this will be the end.

So we are leaving Geraldton tomorrow to head to Jurien Bay for 4 nights. From there we will be able to go to Cervantes and to The Pinnacles. Ray is looking forward to that. If any of you like Billy Connelly, when he did his show of travelling around Australia, he did a great show at the Pinnacles. He actually did a streak around some of the pillars. I hope Ray doesn't want to do that!!!
I will do some more Blog from Jurien Bay and let you know what happens.