Geraldton to Jurien Bay

We stayed in Geraldton for 2 nights enabling a quick stock up with food  (only had Sat as Sunday was certainly a day of rest with nothing much open!)  Just happened to have a Bunnings in town which I just had to visit as can't remember my last 'Bunnings fix', probable Darwin.  Drove south to Greenough a historical village which has a Saturday morning market - very small market with only 6 stalls and as it started to rain, yes rain well drizzle, we decided to jump back into the car, keep warm and head back to Geraldton.  The wind blows that much here you should see some of the trees growing parallel to the ground! 

The Leaning Trees - River Gum (Eucalyptus Camaldulensis) native to WA
The constant strong southerly winds burn of growth on the windward side.

Back in Geraldton we went to the Farmers Market at the Old Railway station, lots of good local produce.  Had a look at the Point More Lighthouse known to be the largest in Australia (34m high) and the only one of steel construction in WA.   Kite boarding is a common sight (certainly have the wind factor!!) so we sat in the comfort of the car, out the wind watching some tricks performed on the water.

Separation Point Memorial, the steel dome has 645 doves representing the life's lost on the HMAS Sydney

The HMAS Sydney memorial at Separation Point Lookout is well worth a visit;

HMAS Sydney was built in 1933 and was engaged in several battles until 19th November 1941 when she was returning from the Sunda Straits after escorting the Hired Transport Zealandia to a handover with HMS Durban.  That evening HMAS Sydney encountered the German Raider HSK Kormoran and became involved in an engagement that would eventually lead to the loss of both ships.  No trace was found of the 645 crew until she was found out from Steep Point on 16th March 2008.  This memorial closes the circle and is a fitting tribute, I hope you can read my photo of the plaque. Also included in this Memorial is a statue of a 'Waiting Women' which you may have heard about.

Closing the Circle

Double click to see larger photo

The waiting woman

 

With the wind still blowing we moved inland to Ellendale Pool a camp spot about 50km to the south east of Geraldton passing through Walkaway and the Alinta Wind farm which consists of 54 turbines generating 89MW.  When we arrived at Ellendale Pool which is down in the valley the wind had eased but the fly's were still very friendly - they say WA is a friendly state...... 36 billion flies can't be wrong!!!! 

Wind Farm

Ellendale Pool

Ellendale Pool camp area

 

Counting Flies

Walkaway Railway Stn Museum

Ellendale Pool is a nice camp spot, the pool is long enough and would be great for canoeing, we stayed for 2 nights.  On the way to Jurien Bay checked out Sandy Cape which was referred to us as a good camp in a nice bay, which it was ..... but again with the sand blowing over the tops of the dunes the wind was toooo much and decided not to camp in the sand dunes and continued into Jurien Bay.

Sandy Cape

Jurien Bay

 

Jurien Bay is a small fishing town with nice beaches and being only 265km north of Perth it's a great spot for local holidaymakers, plenty of weekenders from the old fishing shack to the $1m+ mansions.  The caravan park is a stone throw from the beach and the jetty so we decided to stay here for a couple of nights rest & recuperation before we go to the "big smoke" Perth.

Took a day drive to Lesueur National Park which was another great day and saw plenty of wild flowers.  The park has a one way loop road travelling 18km through the park so is ideal for stopping and taking the odd piccie, so I have included a "few" flower photos.  Unfortunately the Banksia's were not in bloom -  would have been spectacular as there were many bushes along the side of the road.  However in saying that there were plenty of other flowers in bloom for us to see.

Now these look like .......

I will call these kangaroo paws

Pine Banksia, only saw this shrub with colour flowers

A nice yellow bunch!!

Our stay at Jurien Bay has been good, it's a nice town, not to busy this time of the year and would be nice to spend some more time, however we're off to the big smoke and then a flight to Adelaide for a wedding so bracing ourselves for the hustle and bustle :o( traffic lights and big shopping centres, will I survive???