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Published: January 10th 2011
We are packing our caravan to head off to Coorow, and finally say good bye to Geraldton, where we have spent the past week, and what a wonderful, wonderful week it was. I have long been drawn to Geraldton after studying Randolph Stow’s Merry-Go-Round In The Sea as a school set work, but travelling north was never on our holiday agenda (as a family we generally went down south to the wine region, or on a personal level, anywhere overseas was my destination of choice!). Anyway, after 25 years, I find myself, very unexpectedly, in Geraldton after discovering my former boss, Alex McKinnon, was based here as editor of The Geraldton Guardian. He invited us to stay with him at his family homestead - his mother Fay, sister Barbara and niece Cecily also live here - and even vacated his cottage for us. And the generosity of our hosts, and the beauty and experiences of Geraldton, have certainly raised the bar on what we now expect for the rest of our Aussie Odyssey!
Anyway, where to start??!! Geraldton (pop 40,000) is about 4.5 hours north of Perth and is essentially the key port and administration centre for the north-west of
Australia. On our drive here from Leeman we finally came in contact with some of the renowned Road Trains (but not yet the really really big ones) and evenings have been spent watching the ‘dragons’ as they thunder down the highway. Quite a sight. Apparently the road trains have been quite busy delivering and collecting goods from Carnarvon and beyond, areas which have experienced tremendous rainfall and flooding. The boys - particularly Quinton - are in awe of the mighty dragons (law has it that the road trains have to be well lit at night, and so the carriages are lit with many lights, as well as the cab, so that in the darkness of night they make quite a formidable sight, along with their ‘roar’).
One of the major tourist drawcards to Geraldton is, like most of WA’s coastline, its beaches, which are beautiful. The Indian Ocean waters are warm enough for me to actually enter (and yet, not too warm) and the main beach in town has a platform out to sea that you can swim to, and jump off. Great fun! Also, there is a great playground, and what made Quinton and William’s eyes light up
was the water fun park, a water playground with water jetting out of all types of contraptions. Many hours were spent here.
We also went to the river mouth which, due to the flooding further up north, finally broke through to the ocean. The river was quite low so the younger kids played in there, while the bigger boys (aka Paul and Oliver) tried their hands at boogie boarding in the sea. We also visited Ellendale Pools, a natural pool with, on the one side, impressive river cliffs to climb and jump off, as well as a rope swing to let free any latent Tarzan inclinations any boys might harbour (guess who?). Interestingly, we had to drive past a town called...Walkaway!
We had a bit of a scare at the beach one morning when an elderly Dutch lady tried to jump over Quinn, who was on a skimboard being pulled by Paul. She landed badly and was in a lot of pain so we called an ambulance. Hugely relieved when her son told us the next day that she was up and about again and with no serious damage.
We also took advantage of the many cultural
and historical attractions Geraldton has to offer. What I have found so fascinating here is its history. I mentioned we are staying with Alex, but his mother is a Maley, one of the pioneering families of the area. Their original homestead is now a museum, which we visited, and it was fascinating. Did you know that baby bottles in those days were made out of porcelain, shaped like a fat banana, with a small opening at one end for the baby to drink from, and a stopper at the top to put the milk in. So delicate and so beautiful. You also realise that, for the early settlers, life was tough (as I am sure it was for the Boer trekkers as well) - we have it way too easy, even in a caravan!! We also visited the WA Museum, primarily to visit the Shipwreck Gallery, to learn more about the many shipwrecks which lie off the coast of Geraldton.
The most disturbing was the Batavia shipwreck which, on its maiden voyage from Holland to the Dutch East Indies, came to grief on the reefs of the Abrolhos Islands in 1969. What is disturbing about this particular shipwreck is
the mutiny that followed. The captain set off in a longboat with one other to try to find help. On the tiny islands where the shipwrecked were stranded, however, evil was afoot. One Cornelius set himself up as a despot, dressing himself in the finest clothes that had made it to shore, forcing several of the women to be his concubines, and then, with his henchmen, murdering 125 people, including women and children. Several soldiers were forced across to a neighbouring island where they were left, without food or water, to die. But they discovered fresh water, raided birds eggs, ate a few wallabies, and then built a fort to ward off Cornelius and his goons, who came to realise they were on an inferior island. The fort still stands, the oldest building in Australia.
Having made it, amazingly, across the 1500 miles to Jakarta, the captain then returned with another ship (mainly to pick up the treasure the Batavia was carrying, but also to see how the passengers were doing), and promptly tried Cornelius, chopped off his hands, and hanged him. Two younger mutineers begged for clemency and were dropped off on the shore just north of here.
Many think that the blonde hair so many of the aborigines here have stems from their incorporation into Aboriginal society.
Another very disturbing incident in Geraldton’s history was the disappearance of the HMAS Sydney II in November 1941, again not far from Geraldton’s shores. All 645 crew died after it engaged with the German Raider Kormoran, which incidentally, also sank, but most of whose crew was rescued. Marine explorers only recently located the shipwreck, but many questions still remain as to why no crew made it on to any of the rescue boats. We also visited the ‘dome on the hill’, a memorial to the HMAS Sydney. It is a beautiful dome comprising 645 steel gulls, as well as an obelisk shaped as a ship’s prow complete with Plimsoll line. All the names of the dead are listed in a protective arc around the memorial. The reason for the gulls? Apparently on the anniversary of the tragedy on 19 November 1998, as the Last Post was played at dusk, a flock of silver gulls swooped over the mourners, fulfilling the seafarer’s myth of gulls as souls.
Geraldton is also known as the windy city, which is demonstrated by
the many leaning trees, Red River Gums (eucalyptus camaldulensis) which have been so consistently buffetted by the southerly winds that they have adapted by leaning with the wind, and then putting down more roots where it comes into contact with the ground for strength. We had problems believing the wind could be so strong during our first few days here, which were (apparently unnaturally) still and HOT! But our last two days here we have felt the full force of the wind - in fact, last night I slept in the caravan (have unfortunately been struggling again with insomnia and thought I would try and escape a bit) and I seriously thought the caravan would be blown away! We even saw the oldest Red River Gum in existence - more than 800 years old! Can you imagine? The wind has also made the area suitable for a massive wind farm, the largest renewable energy generator in Western Australia. These 54 windmills (correct terminology: Vestas 1.65 Megawatt Wind Turbines) are capable of powering the equivalent of 60,000 homes. We stood underneath one, and it was quite eerie, almost alien!
Here is a rather apt excerpt from The Merry-Go-Round in the
Sea: “The horizon was spiked with windmills, turning and turning, their broad tails shifting, meeting the easterly. The town was a town of wind, horizons of windmills, a town for kites, a harbour white-petalled with sails. In his grandmother’s house the wind sang in the keyholes. On the windswept flats, crippled gumtrees washed their hair.”
And then there was the highlight of our trip - a visit to the Abrolhos Islands. On a very small plane (an Air Van which seats 8 people which Paul informed me is not very small at all!) we flew over an archipelago of 122 islands surrounded by reefs and wrecks, most famously the Batavia. The view from the air was magnificent, the waters a fantastic array of colours, from bright azure blues, to deep emerald and everything in between. I am not sure if my photos do them justice. Some of the larger islands had permanent homes/villages for the cray fisherman and pearl farmers during the fishing season.
We then landed at the top island - Wallaby Island (named so because somehow, wallabies live here, far from the mainland and cut off from any visible source of water) where we could snorkel.
And then, as we arrived at the beach, a huge bull sea lion came close to us. Paul dashed into the water to swim with the sea lion, and Oliver followed. I stayed behind to take photos, but then decided to also participate, and, a bit nervously I admit, swam with William and Quinton to join Paul and the sea lion. Such an amazing experience. The sea lion was like a large marine dog, inquisitive and playful, gambolling around for the fun of it. It was wonderful. Then Paul swam out to fetch our boogie board we had lost, and while swimming, suddenly realised that the sea lion was swimming alongside him. Watching from shore, I saw the two frolicking together. The sea lion was twisting and turning around him, and even leapt fully out of the water, showing off. I am sure it was a big thrill for Paul. And apparently this is a very rare occurrence - only a few times a year do sea lions come visiting, and then usually it is a younger pup or a smaller female. This was apparently the first time that a bull sea lion came for some entertainment. Later we snorkelled
in peace, over coral beds, and that was also so wonderful.
Yesterday afternoon was spent at the Geraldton races. The boys placed a few bets and have decided that gambling is a horrible pocket-money-eating pastime! None of the horses was as excellently named as the infamous Aussie racehorse Far Canal!
Anyway, must sign off now. We need to make tracks to Coorow, but first we have to visit the museum as Oliver made a discovery at Abrolhos - a very old sword or remnant from a wreck perhaps? - so we are going to donate it to the museum!
We are not sure if we have internet connection at Coorow, but will be back in Perth for a couple of days towards the end of the week! Until then, have a lovely week!
PS, we are tracking where we have been on googlemaps. Here is the link: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=207166179336504107160.000499028c98260af7271&z=7
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Dennis
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Nice pics. Hope the heat has gone away!!