Sunday, October 28, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Fremantle
We left Geraldton at about 8 am and had a pleasant enough drive but the wind did get up quite early and traffic increased as we were getting close to civilisation again (i.e. traffic lights and cross roads). We were quite surprised at the number of wineries which dotted the 50 km into the outer suburbs of Perth. Some of the areas almost reminded one of Scone with well manicured horse and cattle studs. Tom tom came into its own directing us to the Fremantle Village caravan park.
There are a great many food shopping places with Woolworths just 500 m down the road and IGA another 100m further on as well as a fruit & veg/deli store.
During the last week we have wandered around Fremantle township and the Port, visited the Maritime Museum, the Wreck Gallery, taken a tour over the Ovens submarine and shopped at the Markets on Saturday.
The township is interesting with quite narrow cobbled streets and many old stylish buildings.
The submarine tour impressed on us how cramped the living conditions are and we both shuddered at the thought of being under the sea in this structure.
The markets are a cross between Fyshwick (well in the number of stalls anyway) and Bus Depot but Canberra does do it better. The prices for the fruit & veg at least were pretty comparable.
We did join Ilze (Anita's sister) her huband Mike, daughter Elvira and grandson Oliver for dinner on Wednesday night and spent a very pleasant evening. We were also invited for lunch at Betty Schoenmakers on Sunday and her son and daughter with their spouses joined us. Again it was great to catch up.
We like Fremantle and if family were not so far away it is certainly an area we could live in if only the winds would abate.
There are a great many food shopping places with Woolworths just 500 m down the road and IGA another 100m further on as well as a fruit & veg/deli store.
During the last week we have wandered around Fremantle township and the Port, visited the Maritime Museum, the Wreck Gallery, taken a tour over the Ovens submarine and shopped at the Markets on Saturday.
The township is interesting with quite narrow cobbled streets and many old stylish buildings.
The submarine tour impressed on us how cramped the living conditions are and we both shuddered at the thought of being under the sea in this structure.
The markets are a cross between Fyshwick (well in the number of stalls anyway) and Bus Depot but Canberra does do it better. The prices for the fruit & veg at least were pretty comparable.
We did join Ilze (Anita's sister) her huband Mike, daughter Elvira and grandson Oliver for dinner on Wednesday night and spent a very pleasant evening. We were also invited for lunch at Betty Schoenmakers on Sunday and her son and daughter with their spouses joined us. Again it was great to catch up.
We like Fremantle and if family were not so far away it is certainly an area we could live in if only the winds would abate.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Cervantes
The last few days in Geraldton were spent sightseeing close into town. The Alinta Windfarm was quite inspiring. You look across the undulating hills and see 54 turbines standing 78 m high with a rotor span of 41 m, underscored by purple fields of patterson's curse, the blue of the ocean visible in the distance and the only sound is the gentle whoosh of the turning rotors. It was quite beautiful and I would not have any problem with this type of energy production in my area.
We also visited Greenough Hamlet which certainly takes you back to the days of village life. The other items of notoriety in this area are the leaning trees. We certainly noticed the strength of the winds here but you just don't anticipate that some trees would be so severely affected as to basically lie down!! We had hoped to have lunch at the Olive Grove Cafe but they were booked out so we adjourned back to the Marina at Geraldton for our Fish and Chip lunch.
We left Geraldton on the 11th and drove down the Ocean road which did not have much traffic, put on a show of more wildflowers and invited you to visit the villages of Leeman, Greenhead and Jurien Bay along the way. The beaches here are quite extensive, the sand fairly white but the bottom covered in a lot of places by seaweed - some of the sea grasses were quite varied in colour but photographs did not show this very well.
The Caravan park in Cervantes is 300 m from the beach so we have walked on the shore each day. Surprisingly there are very few people on the beaches even though we only saw a couple of blue bottles.
The main points of interest in this area (apart from fishing) are the Stromatolites in Thetis lake ( to me they looked like rather large dried cow pats sitting in water but apparently are of some significance) and the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. Driving to the Park we were struck by the incredible whiteness of the sand dunes - they looked like snow. The Desert loop with the Pinnacles is about 3 Km in length and these limestone protrusions vary in shape and size quite dramatically and as Rob said they are a photographer's paradise - thank heavens for digital cameras.
Our trip down the west coast is now nearing its close as tomorrow we set off for Perth via New Norcia to have a look at the Church and Monastery. We anticipate spending about 3 weeks in Fremantle so we can have a good look at the area before heading off to Margaret River.
We also visited Greenough Hamlet which certainly takes you back to the days of village life. The other items of notoriety in this area are the leaning trees. We certainly noticed the strength of the winds here but you just don't anticipate that some trees would be so severely affected as to basically lie down!! We had hoped to have lunch at the Olive Grove Cafe but they were booked out so we adjourned back to the Marina at Geraldton for our Fish and Chip lunch.
We left Geraldton on the 11th and drove down the Ocean road which did not have much traffic, put on a show of more wildflowers and invited you to visit the villages of Leeman, Greenhead and Jurien Bay along the way. The beaches here are quite extensive, the sand fairly white but the bottom covered in a lot of places by seaweed - some of the sea grasses were quite varied in colour but photographs did not show this very well.
The Caravan park in Cervantes is 300 m from the beach so we have walked on the shore each day. Surprisingly there are very few people on the beaches even though we only saw a couple of blue bottles.
The main points of interest in this area (apart from fishing) are the Stromatolites in Thetis lake ( to me they looked like rather large dried cow pats sitting in water but apparently are of some significance) and the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. Driving to the Park we were struck by the incredible whiteness of the sand dunes - they looked like snow. The Desert loop with the Pinnacles is about 3 Km in length and these limestone protrusions vary in shape and size quite dramatically and as Rob said they are a photographer's paradise - thank heavens for digital cameras.
Our trip down the west coast is now nearing its close as tomorrow we set off for Perth via New Norcia to have a look at the Church and Monastery. We anticipate spending about 3 weeks in Fremantle so we can have a good look at the area before heading off to Margaret River.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Kalbarri NP
During the last week in Geraldton we visited the HMAS Sydney Memorial which is made up of a dome of sea gulls in flight next to the depiction of a ship's prow. The Memorial sits on the highest point in the town and provides a wonderful view across to the ocean and was opened by John Sanderson who was Governor of WA at the time and an acquaintance.
We also visited the Geraldton WA Museum which concentrates on the Batavia Coast and just happened to have an Italian Exhibition at this time. The Italians played quite a large part in setting up agriculture in the area and we even came across one family who came here from Sondrio in 1950.
As we had opted not to stay in Kalbarri itself, we drove the loop stopping to look at a prison collection point - mainly in ruins. We diverted to drive in to Port Gregory which is predominantly a fishing village but is memorable for the Pink Lake which is quite a sight and has a Carotene extraction plant on its shores.
The Kalbarri cliff walk is quite spectacular and has tarred access to the edge at quite a few points. We saw whales heading south not far from the shore as well as a school of dolphins, but they were a little too far out for a good photograph.
Kalbarri township seems to be a thriving place at the mouth of the Murchison River with people swimming in the town beach as well as kite boarding. As additional attractions there is a sea horse breeding facility and a parrot breeding "farm". The sea horses were interesting and the range of colours of the parrots was quite startling.
We also visited the Geraldton WA Museum which concentrates on the Batavia Coast and just happened to have an Italian Exhibition at this time. The Italians played quite a large part in setting up agriculture in the area and we even came across one family who came here from Sondrio in 1950.
As we had opted not to stay in Kalbarri itself, we drove the loop stopping to look at a prison collection point - mainly in ruins. We diverted to drive in to Port Gregory which is predominantly a fishing village but is memorable for the Pink Lake which is quite a sight and has a Carotene extraction plant on its shores.
The Kalbarri cliff walk is quite spectacular and has tarred access to the edge at quite a few points. We saw whales heading south not far from the shore as well as a school of dolphins, but they were a little too far out for a good photograph.
Kalbarri township seems to be a thriving place at the mouth of the Murchison River with people swimming in the town beach as well as kite boarding. As additional attractions there is a sea horse breeding facility and a parrot breeding "farm". The sea horses were interesting and the range of colours of the parrots was quite startling.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Geraldton district
We had anticipated taking two days to travel from Exmouth to Carnarvon however as we had left early and Rob was feeling fit and well we kept going on.
Carnarvon has a pretty (short) main street with limited but adequate shopping facilities. The area has large banana and mango plantations. Roadside stalls sell tomatoes for $1 for 1 Kg bag as well as egg plant and beans.
On the touristy side we visited the OTC dish which was the first one to receive TV transmissions from the UK in the sixties. We also visited the one mile pier and walked the mile over the ocean as we watched the "Coffee Pot" steam train carrying those tourists who were disinclined to walk over the uneven planks. This area is also expanding its building operations along the sea front. It was here that we had our first drops of rain (lasting about 5 minutes) since we had left Alice Springs 3.1/2 months ago.
After spending two nights at Carnarvon we had thought to stop at the Overlander Roadhouse but this was so uninviting and the road conditions so good that we went on to Geraldton which is the second largest city outside of Perth ( so the brochures say) with a population of 26,000 or thereabouts. There are several separate shopping "Centro"s with other retailers spread out over quite a large area. There is a Woolworths, Coles and IGA but shops here are closed on Sundays.
There are many walking tracks, some paved, some sand, along the seashore. The water is surprisingly clear despite the fact that this is an active port for shipping of grain and some ore.
There is a fishermen's co-op which sells the catch of the day with prawns selling for $16 per kg.
Last Friday we drove a loop of 250km covering one of the wildflower trails. We had thought that there would be wide open field of colour but instead found that much of the colour was along the 10 m road edges - swathes of pink, white, yellow, pale blue and the purple of patterson's curse. At Mullewa we visited the "Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church" designed by Monsignor John Hawes who apparently was an architect of some renown.
From Mullewa we drove down to the Coalseam Conservation Park which has a seam of coal visible in the open hillside. The road from Mullewa to Walkaway which was about 70km was alive with different shades of colour appearing without warning. We stopped about 20 times to jump out, look and photograph. We thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Carnarvon has a pretty (short) main street with limited but adequate shopping facilities. The area has large banana and mango plantations. Roadside stalls sell tomatoes for $1 for 1 Kg bag as well as egg plant and beans.
On the touristy side we visited the OTC dish which was the first one to receive TV transmissions from the UK in the sixties. We also visited the one mile pier and walked the mile over the ocean as we watched the "Coffee Pot" steam train carrying those tourists who were disinclined to walk over the uneven planks. This area is also expanding its building operations along the sea front. It was here that we had our first drops of rain (lasting about 5 minutes) since we had left Alice Springs 3.1/2 months ago.
After spending two nights at Carnarvon we had thought to stop at the Overlander Roadhouse but this was so uninviting and the road conditions so good that we went on to Geraldton which is the second largest city outside of Perth ( so the brochures say) with a population of 26,000 or thereabouts. There are several separate shopping "Centro"s with other retailers spread out over quite a large area. There is a Woolworths, Coles and IGA but shops here are closed on Sundays.
There are many walking tracks, some paved, some sand, along the seashore. The water is surprisingly clear despite the fact that this is an active port for shipping of grain and some ore.
There is a fishermen's co-op which sells the catch of the day with prawns selling for $16 per kg.
Last Friday we drove a loop of 250km covering one of the wildflower trails. We had thought that there would be wide open field of colour but instead found that much of the colour was along the 10 m road edges - swathes of pink, white, yellow, pale blue and the purple of patterson's curse. At Mullewa we visited the "Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church" designed by Monsignor John Hawes who apparently was an architect of some renown.
From Mullewa we drove down to the Coalseam Conservation Park which has a seam of coal visible in the open hillside. The road from Mullewa to Walkaway which was about 70km was alive with different shades of colour appearing without warning. We stopped about 20 times to jump out, look and photograph. We thoroughly enjoyed the day.
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