Advertisement
Published: April 7th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Well four pubs and fifty tractor dealers later gerraldtown is finally starting to grow on us, our arrival in the pissing rain, seeing the town dominated by the biggest grain silos I've ever seen, and no wind was a real downer, but after a day of drizzle sol returned to our lives.
Gerraldtown sports many sights, probably the best being the HMAS Sydney memorial; This large dome sitting atop a ridge looking over the town to the setting sun is to commemorate the sailors who died when a German raider disguised as a merchant ship sunk Australia's most famous battle ship, the Sydney. Although smaller and much lighter armed the sneaky Hun managed to engage the Sydney causing severe damage before sinking itself, though most of the raiders were captured when there life rafts reached shore, the Sydney was last seen abase 20Ks from the coast heading East. No wreck and no sign of the several hundred sails aboard the Sydney remains to this day a MIA Ghost ship riding the high seas of the Indian ocean in a cloud of perpetual fog!
Another of Gerraldtown's famous monuments includes its Cathedral, which is described in the LP as 'A
fabulous building from the late 1800's that is reminiscent of Brunelleschi's Basilica in Florence'. Having visited the Duomo in Firenze many times i could say that this is an accurate description, if that is the basilica were made of corrugated iron and about a sixth the size. Another wicket to the Lonely Planet, Hazzzat!
Gerraldtown is another big Crayfish or Rock lobster fishing port, it doesn't take us long to find the fish market and get some of these beauties on the Barbie, not cheep at AS$18 a piece, but really worth every penny. Jim picked them live from a tank and had some burly fisher type chop them in half then and there, BeaUtifull!
We visit Shane at the Holden garage with a uncomfortable feeling in our bellies, there is nothing worse than trusting a man who rubs his hands together a lot with your car, or more acculturately with the economical repair of your car. As we arrive, Shane nips out to meet us with a look like a scolded puppy on his face, it doesn't take long to work out why. Betty's it seems is very ill, there are bits all over the workshop, as
Brunelleschi's Lesser Know Feats
Ok ok its a nice building, but realy how can any European get excited about a church only a hundred years old! Were so spoilt with our religous archetecture, but then it does rain all the time. Shane has stripped down the engine exposing the cylinders and piston heads. 'Look at that mate' he says pointing to two large grooves down the inside one cylinder block, 'Obvious as dogs balls on a cat that is mate, shes fucked'. There follows several moments of stunned silence broken by Jim giving a little whimper 'Betty?' i follow it with a plaintive 'Why Betty, Why!' from there on it got a bit messy, Blood, Engine Oil and Tears. It seams that some foreign object got into the cylinder and subsequently scratched the cladding to bits, the ticking noise we heard was the cylinder not firing as there was no pressure in the head. Shane gave it to us straight, 'She needs a new engine mate, i could give her back to you like that but soon the whole thing will blow and thats gonna totally fuck the rest of it'. He gave us various options including taking Betty of our hands, getting a re-conditioned engine from his mate 'Beardy' or finding a second hand engine from somewhere else. An on the spot decision seems impossible with Jim and I in a state of shock so Shane suggested we go out
Crayfish.
MMmmmmmm, These beauties live for up to 5 years before there big enough for the Barbie. Apparently the WA Rock Lobster industry is one of the only 'Sustaneable' fisshing industries in the world due to their heavy leglistation and controll of fishing licences. + they make some as$400 Mill a year! and get pissed and then sleep on it, so we did just that.
Well not exactly, first we went bowling, not ten pin bowling, but lawn bowls, a game loved by the wrinklies out here, requiring great patients, control, and a regular supply of beer. Though i don't think the bowls really helped our state of mind, so distracted were Jim and I that Bruce managed to pull some beginners luck throughly beat us i think the score line was 6 - 1 - 1 to the cheeky Welshman.
The following morning Jimmy did made some calls while i did some maths and looked at all the things we still have to do, do we sell Betty and use the cash for a hire car, if we fix Betty there is a chance that we could get some of the money back selling here later, lets face it she is customized and PimPed to the Max! So thats what we do, a reconditioned engine makes its way up from Perth and we book an extra night at our lodge. Job done, ooch!
With all this and still no bloody wind, insane, Gerraldtown a Kite and Windsurfing mecca,
Bowling For Betty...
Jimmy showing us how its done.... totally windless. We manage one down winder day, getting Bruce to drop us 3 Ks north of town and then sailing back to our lodge, but my god it is gusty. One minute I'm looping the kite trying to stay on top of the water, the next a wall of air hits it and I'm jumping without intent, Narley.
So we have amused ourselves with Music, Books and Sand antics. Paticuarly the making of a proppa sand castle, sea defenses, loopholes, battlements the lot! To he south of town there are some of the most stunning sand dunes, just check my pics of our Sundowner there yesterday, if there is not going to be any blow today i have every intention of taking the fins of my Kiteboard and seeing if i can dune surf, i expect to get very sandy, probably when going fast downhill and putting the toe in for a righteous face plant!
Check this space soon for picks of sandy boys.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.111s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 15; qc: 53; dbt: 0.05s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Hermione
non-member comment
Aaaaahhh... looks great. Good luck with the sand boarding - don't forget you can also buy a piece of cheap shiny plywood and use that! Very fun. $18 for lobsters expensive? You are kidding... about £30 in London! Kisses to the three Bruces! xhxhxhxxhxhx