Day 9 Kalbarri, Geraldton and Perth

Day 9 Kalbarri, Geraldton and Perth

We set off at 8 – back down the coastal road from Kalbarri towards Perth – the bush now looking familiar….and much easier to spot sights of interest….black parrots, emus, abandoned lead mines and mills.  The ‘Christmas trees’ had come into full bloom in just the two days since we passed them going north, their striking orange blooms announcing the start of summer and the imminent approach of the Christmas season.

We stopped in Geraldton for coffee, a visit to St Francis Xavier cathedral and a Yamaji aboriginal art gallery.  We also saw the touching memorial to the 645 sailors who lost their lives when HMAS Sydney was sunk by the Germans during World War II.  I hadn’t realised that the ‘European’ war had spread this far…..

Geraldton is the main town for the middle section of Western Australia and has docks capable of dealing with the huge ships taking iron ore and other commodities north to Malaysia.  The entire seafront area used to be a railway yard but it has been cleared and redeveloped for residential and leisure facilities….a lovely little town – but you can still watch the huge ships loading and unloading whilst sitting on a beachside bench amongst the modern sculpture…..

After Geraldton, we pushed on rapidly for Perth, only stopping at a roadhouse for a quick lunch and a park for a comfort stop just before we reached the city.  The roadhouse was in an area that wasn’t settled at all until 1966 – the ‘early’ settlers set up their homes with no paved roads, electricity, water or telephones…. Telephones were installed in 1978 but the roads remained unpaved until 1982!  Apparently, when the government released the land, there were 20 applicants for every plot….pioneering spirit is alive and well in Australia!

We returned to Perth at around 4:30 and bid farewell to our travelling companions from the last four days….we then had about 3 hours to explore the city before everything closed up for the night.  We walked around the city centre, through the main shopping streets and around the public squares with their statues and fountains.  We went to see the ‘Bell Tower’ that contains one of the original sets of bells from St Martin in the Fields, London…They were given to the city of Perth by the British government in 1988….believed to be the only set outside England….

An early dinner and an early night….off to Tasmania tomorrow!