Geraldton and Albrohos Islands – 26 to 28 April 2010

Geraldton is on the coast with the Chapman and Greenough Rivers to the north and south. It claims the highest lighthouse in WA.

Their excellent program of Geraldton Voluntary Tour Guides, who show you through various sites in the town at nominated times, is a good way to learn about the town. We viewed the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral commenced 1916 completed 1938.

On a hill overlooking the harbour is the Memorial for the HMAS Sydney II which sank without survivors after engaging the German raider HSK Kormoran on November 19th 1941 north of Geraldton. Months later a decomposed body on a life raft washed up at Christmas island. He was never able to be identified and was buried in Geraldton Cemetery as the unknown sailor.

The highlight of the memorial is a dome of 645 seagulls, one for each sailor on the Sydney, echoing the legend that seagulls represent the souls of lost mariners.

At the centre of the dome is a downward facing propeller, the altar over which hangs the eternal flame of Port and Starboard lights set to bring the sailors home.

Next to the dome is a stele representing the bow of the Sydney. The red Polyantha Roses “Courage” are planted in beds around the dome.

The waiting woman symbolizes the universal woman waiting.  The wall of Remembrance, in black Granite, lists the names of all the sailors lost, ending with the words “and all the rest is silence.”

To the south of Geraldton is the now abandoned settlement of Greenough (Grenuff),  owned and maintained by the National Trust.  It is an example of the small roadside town of the type found in rural communities all over Australia , with life revolving around the school, church and community hall. Tricia moved into such a community at age five in Vermont, Victoria.

The local maritime museum has a fascinating display focused around the Dutch East India [VOC] ship “Batavia” which ran aground on the Morning Reef near the Abrolhos Islands in the early hours June 4, 1629.  The survivors of the 316 passengers were evacuated onto Beacon Island (also known as the Batavia grave site).  The Captain and senior officers sailed to Batavia (Jakarta) for help and while they were gone some of the remaining crew, led by a psychopath Jeronimus Cornelisz, murdered almost half of their fellow passengers, probably 115 people including women and children. This is still the worst maritime atrocity ever committed.  [For those who are interested the book “Batavia’s Graveyard” by Mike Dash is a well researched account.]

 

We took a much happier trip with Batavia Air to the Abrolhos (which loosely translated from the Portuguese means keep your eyes open. )

We went with a regular flight taking cray fishermen out to their shacks on the Islands and then spent the day with the pilot as our guide before returning with the scheduled flight in the afternoon.

We had a great day snorkeling on the reefs, walking around the Island seeing the local wallabies and osprey. We particularly liked the osprey nest which incorporated coca cola cans and light bulbs.  On the way back we saw the significant sites from the Batavia's History.  This was a truly magic day.

 

New Norcia- Jurien Bay – 23 to 25 April 2010

We left Perth to drive to Jurien Bay. On the way we stopped at New Norcia a lovely old Benedictine monastery established in 1846 and still in operation today, although down to a complement of only eight Benedictine monks.

It is quite surprising to find an oasis of European culture and art in what early on was a remote and primitive location.

The cluster of chapels, schools and associated buildings include some beautiful frescoes, altars and furniture fashioned from local timber. The founding Monks Dom Rosendo Salvado and Dom Joseph Serra from a Benedictine community in Spain, established good relations with the aboriginal people of the Victoria Plains and the government authorities locally and in Perth.

New Norcia was an aboriginal mission from 1846 to 1900 and later schools for farming families and local aboriginals were operated from 1908 to 1991.

Now, in addition to farming and a justly famous bakery [the fruit loaf is excellent] they provide hospitality for both tourists and residential camps for school children to learn about the past.

The Benedictines maintain their religious schedule and visitors can join them for prayers or services in the chapel with a glorious Munster organ imported from Germany.


A thoughtful and informative tour guide showed us over the many buildings, lamented the habit of the 1960’s and 1970’s to cover the frescoes with white “Dulux” paint and the jarrah floors with linoleum. The only saving grace being that after painstaking scraping of the paint the frescoes beneath are quite well preserved.

From New Norcia we drove to Jurien Bay. This was our base for visiting the stromatolites at Lake Thetis, the unique limestone pillars at the Pinnacles and Lesueur National Park.
On April 25 we attended the Anzac Day service at Jurien Bay.

Like all such services throughout Australia it comprised a large contingent of locals and visitors of all ages come to pay respects to the Australians and New Zealanders who have fought and died in the many conflicts since the landing at Gallipoli. Perhaps if the academic historians, who recently asserted that Anzac Day is unfortunate for its celebration of the militarism of a bygone era, attended more of these local ceremonies they would recognize the very evident strong community desire not to celebrate war but to keep the promise to the fallen Diggers:-

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”

 

Lake Thetis near Cervantes on the way to the Pinnacles is home to one of four locations in Western Australia of stromatolites, one of the earliest forms of life to evolve on earth. Samples from them show similarities with fossils over 3 billion years old.

The Pinnacles is an immensely popular destination with a happy atmosphere. There is a babble of different languages and a traffic jam of cars filing round the site. It is fun but not the ideal place to commune with nature alone in the desert.

It is not really known how the limestone pinnacles formed but we prefer the explanation that they are the remains of fossilized tree trunks. Whatever the reason it is an intriguing and beautiful location particularly at sunset.

After the Anzac Day service we drove to Lesueur National Park. On the way we stopped at Dynamite Bay and Desperate Bay. In Dynamite Bay the local shire seems to communicate with its ratepayers through public signs.

The Lesueur National Park is named after Charles Alexandre Lesueur the botanist on the French ship “Naturaliste” captained by Nicolas Baudin which explored the coast in 1801. In the spring it is a blaze of colour and would be standing room only as the WA wildflowers are famed. Even at this time of year there are a lot of very beautiful and colourful flowers. The park has an exceptionally diverse range of Flora. Windblown sand dunes form the shoreline and then the grains of sand aggregate to form limestone. In the Park you can see three different shorelines as the oceans receded and rose. We also visited the salt lake in the middle of the Park.

Perth, Lake Macquarie, Avalon – 13 to 22 April 2010

We returned to Perth to complete some business, enjoy coffee culture and then fly to Sydney to catch up with Chris, Monica and Jeremy, staying with Monica’s parents at Lake Macquarie.

We then visited some friends [Bushtracker owners] in Sydney taking the chance to visit the Sydney Caravan Show. It was amazing how many visitors to the show there were and fun to look at different vans and pieces of equipment.

We returned home to our little pod on site in Perth courtesy of Forestfield staff, and spent a day stocking up for our trip North.

Augusta – 12 April 2010

From Pemberton we drove to Augusta, an attractive fishing village cum holiday town at the mouth of the Blackwood River.

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is just outside Augusta and marks the point where the Indian and the Southern oceans meet.

The lighthouse, the second tallest in WA with seven floors and 186 steps, was built from 1895 to 1896 of local limestone.

The light was manually operated until 1982 when it was converted to electricity, replacing the clockwork mechanism and kerosene burner, and was automated in September 1992. It retains the original lens and reflectors.

 

The lighthouse stands on the most South Westerly point of Australia and is where Matthew Flinders began mapping the coast of Australia on 6th December 1801.

Augusta also boasts the “last eating house before the Antarctic.”