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| OUR BIG TRIP MARY & OLI GOING AROUND AUSTRALIA |
WEST COAST - Page 30
23 September 2007, Sunday
A longer drive from Kalbarri to Cervantes was on the program for today and we wanted to see a lot on the way. We got up
very early and the first stop was the little village of Port Gregory which is located at a "Pink" Lake. They actually produce
Beta Carotene from this lake and that sounded very interesting. We drove past the Lake on the main road and could not see
any pink colour around, so we already thought that we would just head for the next stop. However, we did do the 5 km detour
into Port Gregory to see what is there and we came to the start of the Pink Lake and the colour could be seen slightly around
the edge. Maybe this time in the day the reflections are not as good. Well, that was the Pink Lake - not very impressive. Next
stop was Geraldton, which we wanted to use for stocking up and having a look at buying another heater - ours gave up in
Broome trying to dry the inside of the trailer after some water had been spilled. O.k. here we are in the largest (we believe so)
town north of Perth in WA on a Sunday. Do you think that shops are open? No !!! Only a few open areas, like Bunnings - so
we tried to get a fan heater at Bunnings - sounds reasonable? Hmmm, Bunnings in WA is not allowed to sell fan heaters
!?!?!? What the....? Most of the supermarkets are closed and everything else is closed also, some restaurants and coffee
shops are open - but this was not worth a stop. We spend about 1 hour driving around trying to find something and drove off
again. We did stop at two so called attractions in Geraldton, the lighthouse and the cathedral. The lighthouse - not even worth
a stop at the parking lot. The cathedral - hmmm nice from the outside, somewhat strange on the inside. Took a few photos an
finally left Geraldton after a big disappointment. The next stop was Greenough and its Leaning Trees. We saw some of them
in Carnarvon, or better a street lined with 45 degree angled trees. We did not take a picture of it, because we were planning to
stop at Greenough with its famous leaning trees. We were heading down the Highway when I saw a sign with a camera
pointing towards the right, shortly after we passed a horizontal leaning tree at 110 km/h and that was the "Leaning Trees" of
Greenough. Great !!! We stopped at the old Greenough settlement and got the explanation that most of the trees are gone and
destroyed by European settlers and today's farmers. Well, another disappointment !!! We did not drive back and took a
picture of the one leaning tree, we continued our way towards Cervantes. We chose the drive along the coast through
Leeman, Greenhead, Jurien Bay towards Cervantes. Leeman, a little village with a jetty and stinking beach - nice for fishing
and you can see Sea Lions if you take a tour - which is the same for Greenhead and Jurien Bay. Jurien Bay does have a lot
more facilities than what we expected after seeing the little towns of Leeman and Greenhead. They actually had three
hardware stores in which we found a fan heater the next day - so much to Bunnings in Geraldton. We finally arrived in
Cervantes and booked into the Caravan Park close to the Beach. It was good timing, so we decided to drive to the Pinnacles
for the sunset. It was quite full with cars, but as a huge surprise to me the drive around the Pinnacles had not been changed
since I was here 14 years ago in 1993. They are buidling a huge Visitor Centre at the entrance to the loop drive, but the drive
itself is still the same. The Pinnacles are very nice and we both liked it a lot. We saw a few Galahs protecting their nest in one
of the Pinnacles and took lots of pictures during the sunset, because the outlook was for rain the next day. Back at camp
after dinner I sorted out the pictures for the day and Mary went to bed. We only put up two of the four outside walls at the
annex and thought that this would be enough. Suddenly at 10.30 pm the wind picked up a lot and the rain would be following
soon. It felt like the trailer was a boat and the annex would take off, so we decided to put up the two other walls at 11.00 pm at
night. This was possibly the best idea of the day, because shortly after the real storm and rain started. Here is a quote from
this night the next morning "I thought we would fly away like the cows in Twister" - Mary about the night sleep (well, not
much of it). So here we had it, the first real day of rain since June 13 when we left Melbourne. It finally arrived. O.k. enough
said about a day with mixed experiences, great Pinnacles, otherwise close your eyes when you drive from Kalbarri to
Cervantes unless you like fishing between Leeman and Cervantes. Here are the pictures from today.
23 September 2007, Sunday
A longer drive from Kalbarri to Cervantes was on the program for today and we wanted to see a lot on the way. We got up
very early and the first stop was the little village of Port Gregory which is located at a "Pink" Lake. They actually produce
Beta Carotene from this lake and that sounded very interesting. We drove past the Lake on the main road and could not see
any pink colour around, so we already thought that we would just head for the next stop. However, we did do the 5 km detour
into Port Gregory to see what is there and we came to the start of the Pink Lake and the colour could be seen slightly around
the edge. Maybe this time in the day the reflections are not as good. Well, that was the Pink Lake - not very impressive. Next
stop was Geraldton, which we wanted to use for stocking up and having a look at buying another heater - ours gave up in
Broome trying to dry the inside of the trailer after some water had been spilled. O.k. here we are in the largest (we believe so)
town north of Perth in WA on a Sunday. Do you think that shops are open? No !!! Only a few open areas, like Bunnings - so
we tried to get a fan heater at Bunnings - sounds reasonable? Hmmm, Bunnings in WA is not allowed to sell fan heaters
!?!?!? What the....? Most of the supermarkets are closed and everything else is closed also, some restaurants and coffee
shops are open - but this was not worth a stop. We spend about 1 hour driving around trying to find something and drove off
again. We did stop at two so called attractions in Geraldton, the lighthouse and the cathedral. The lighthouse - not even worth
a stop at the parking lot. The cathedral - hmmm nice from the outside, somewhat strange on the inside. Took a few photos an
finally left Geraldton after a big disappointment. The next stop was Greenough and its Leaning Trees. We saw some of them
in Carnarvon, or better a street lined with 45 degree angled trees. We did not take a picture of it, because we were planning to
stop at Greenough with its famous leaning trees. We were heading down the Highway when I saw a sign with a camera
pointing towards the right, shortly after we passed a horizontal leaning tree at 110 km/h and that was the "Leaning Trees" of
Greenough. Great !!! We stopped at the old Greenough settlement and got the explanation that most of the trees are gone and
destroyed by European settlers and today's farmers. Well, another disappointment !!! We did not drive back and took a
picture of the one leaning tree, we continued our way towards Cervantes. We chose the drive along the coast through
Leeman, Greenhead, Jurien Bay towards Cervantes. Leeman, a little village with a jetty and stinking beach - nice for fishing
and you can see Sea Lions if you take a tour - which is the same for Greenhead and Jurien Bay. Jurien Bay does have a lot
more facilities than what we expected after seeing the little towns of Leeman and Greenhead. They actually had three
hardware stores in which we found a fan heater the next day - so much to Bunnings in Geraldton. We finally arrived in
Cervantes and booked into the Caravan Park close to the Beach. It was good timing, so we decided to drive to the Pinnacles
for the sunset. It was quite full with cars, but as a huge surprise to me the drive around the Pinnacles had not been changed
since I was here 14 years ago in 1993. They are buidling a huge Visitor Centre at the entrance to the loop drive, but the drive
itself is still the same. The Pinnacles are very nice and we both liked it a lot. We saw a few Galahs protecting their nest in one
of the Pinnacles and took lots of pictures during the sunset, because the outlook was for rain the next day. Back at camp
after dinner I sorted out the pictures for the day and Mary went to bed. We only put up two of the four outside walls at the
annex and thought that this would be enough. Suddenly at 10.30 pm the wind picked up a lot and the rain would be following
soon. It felt like the trailer was a boat and the annex would take off, so we decided to put up the two other walls at 11.00 pm at
night. This was possibly the best idea of the day, because shortly after the real storm and rain started. Here is a quote from
this night the next morning "I thought we would fly away like the cows in Twister" - Mary about the night sleep (well, not
much of it). So here we had it, the first real day of rain since June 13 when we left Melbourne. It finally arrived. O.k. enough
said about a day with mixed experiences, great Pinnacles, otherwise close your eyes when you drive from Kalbarri to
Cervantes unless you like fishing between Leeman and Cervantes. Here are the pictures from today.
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| The Pink Lake at Port Gregory - you can see the pink colour a little bit in the lake and better in the little pool on the right. Otherwise a little bit disappointing. |
| Haven't taken a photo of the car in a while, so I did. |
| The lighthouse in Geraldton, surrounded by a fence and nothing around... |
| The Cathedral in Geraldton, nice from the outside. |
| The inside of the Cathedral is quite odd for a catholic church, looks interesting?... OLISTJ in front of the Cathedral below. |
| The Gum Tree Man and Mrs Gum Tree along the way to Cervantes along the Coast - an interesting site along the road - somebody had too much time or we just do not get the story.... Leeman on the left has a rock in its bay with lots of birds on it, another Island further out in the Ocean holds Sea Lions. |