Exploring In and Around Geraldton

After our dramatic entrance into Geraldton marina we feared we might be here to stay for a while. Brian and Sandra said they’d stick with us until we could get the engine running again, so it seemed we all had some time to kill in Geraldton. We booked a hire car for some road trips, reasoning that if we had to hang around we might as well see some of the sights. As it was, Matt had the boat up and running after a few days, so it ended up only being a six night stay.

We did all the usual marina jobs; filling up the water tanks and loads and loads of laundry. The supermarket and bottle shop were right across the road from the marina, so we just wheeled our full trolleys over and right up to the boats. How’s that for easy provisioning?! Sandra and I wandered the shops and discovered a little beauty centre who could fit us in for a facial each. We felt we deserved the luxury after our last few hard passages!

The weather was getting colder and colder and the strong winds were icy and biting, so I went shopping for some warmer clothes. We had packed only minimal amounts of warm clothing for our trip, assuming we’d mostly be following the warm weather around the country, but found we were now living in our few warm items. All the locals I spoke to described how unseasonably cold and windy it had been; the longest winter they could remember. There were very few warm clothes for sale, so it was no easy task, but I managed to grab us both some new tracksuit pants and a new hoodie for Matt.

We spent a day wandering around the local sights; the impressive HMAS Sydney II Memorial, the St Francis Xavier Cathedral which we ventured back to photograph at night, and the fascinating Museum of Geraldton, the highlight of which was the display about the Batavia shipwreck, as well as the beautiful nature photography exhibition.

(The story of the Batavia is an incredible tale of shipwreck, treachery, mutiny and massacre, made all the more fascinating because it actually happened. In 1629, the 150 foot trading vessel, the Batavia, set off from the Netherlands to the town of Batavia in the Spice Islands (Indonesia). Carrying around 340 passengers, sailors and soldiers, it wrecked on a reef off the west coast of Australia, and although only 40 passengers did not survive the actual shipwreck, the disturbing events that followed saw 125 of the survivors murdered. The Commandeur and the Ship’s Captain, along with 46 other survivors sailed the ship’s longboat to Batavia (Indonesia) to raise the alarm and bring back a rescue ship. While they were absent, mayhem and murder reigned on the islands, led by the evil second in command. It is a truly fascinating and disturbing tale. We read two excellent books and would highly recommend them to anyone after a good read. (Batavia’s Graveyard by Mike Dash and Batavia by Peter Fitzsimons).

The Abrolhos Islands, where the wreck of the Batavia lies, is only 50 miles off the coast from Geraldton, and after reading several accounts of the tragedy we had both been really keen to get out there and see the islands for ourselves. Our original plan was to head straight out there from Shark Bay and then come into Geraldton, but the strong winds had made that impossible. And now it seemed the winds were still not in our favour. We had to give up on the idea of sailing out to the Abrolhos. We were both bitterly disappointed.)

St Francis Xavier Cathedral at night:

Road Trip – North

On our first day trip we headed north to Kalbarri. We stopped at Hutt Lagoon, the vividly coloured pink lake, and Matt put the drone up to capture the striking lake stretching out along the coast. We pulled into Port Gregory to show Brian and Sandra where we anchored and the site of our engine failure. Once again, we were thanking our lucky stars that we hadn’t ended up stranded in the tiny, isolated town.

The coastal road up to Kalbarri had many places to stop with walks and lookouts over the impressive cliffs. Lunch was at Finlays Brewery in Kalbarri, a little gem of a place with yummy food and refreshing drinks.

Then it was inland to Kalbarri National Park where the lower reaches of the Murchison River has cut a magnificent 80km gorge through the red and white banded sandstone. The Kalbarri Skywalk, perched right on the cliff-top, offers incredible views of the spectacular gorge 100 metres below. We also ventured down the steep path to the iconic formation called Nature’s Window, where a wind-eroded opening in the layered sandstone frames a view of the river below.

It was a spectacular part of the country and a wonderful way to end our jam packed day trip. Unfortunately we were right on the tail end of wildflower season, so only spotted a few lingering flowers in the fields beside the roads.

Road Trip – South

Road Trip number two, heading south, also served as somewhat of a recce of possible anchorages for our upcoming passage down to Fremantle. Upon first glance at our trusty guidebook, anchorages, harbours and marinas seemed to be plentiful and well spaced along this section of the coast. However, we were soon to discover that all was not as it seemed.

The twin towns of Dongara and Port Denison was the first stop, only 65 kilometres by road and an easy day sail of 35 miles to the little harbour at Port Denison. The towns themselves were lovely, with lots of cute cafes and some nice walking tracks along the beach, but the harbour left a lot to be desired. Although boats inside were fairly well protected it was small, with no room to anchor and just two rickety old jetties managed by the shire. There was also a jetty managed by DoT (Department of Transport) that had a fuel bowser. We spoke to some locals and they thought we’d probably be ok tying up to the end of that jetty for a night or two. It wasn’t a great option, but it was definitely a possibility.

Next stop was Green Head where we watched a couple of boats rolling around in the anchorage. Although described as ‘often calm’ in our guidebook, it didn’t look at all appealing to us. Next.

I had high hopes for Jurien Bay Boat Harbour, as the information described it as housing a fairly substantial marina managed by DoT. Unfortunately our vision of a marina differs somewhat from the West Australian government’s, and we were none too impressed by the boat pens offered, which involve tying up in between a couple of old pylons.

At Cervantes, we breathed a sigh of relief. Here, at last, we felt we could find some shelter. The anchorage was calm and protected with a few options depending on the prevailing winds. Although it would require careful navigation in through the surrounding reef and multitude of cray pots scattered about, we felt that as long as we arrived in daylight, it would be a safe place to stop overnight.

So, having done our research it was time for some sight seeing. After consulting the trusty ‘Top Things To Do…’ list on the interwebs, my first offering to the gang was the nearby Lake Thesis stromatolites. Stromatolites are the oldest living lifeforms on our planet and were crucial in the development of our world in their role of contributing oxygen to the earth’s atmosphere. Although it sounds very interesting, they just look like a bunch of rocks, and my passengers were none too impressed. We quickly moved on.

Our next stop provided much more entertainment. The Pinnacles Desert, in Nambung National Park, is a bizarre, other worldly landscape, populated with thousands of huge limestone pillars rising out of dark yellow sand. Some of the towers are over three metres tall, and while the signage described them as resembling tombstones, that’s not what Sandra and I saw. We couldn’t stop giggling like schoolgirls, with Matt and Brian seemingly baffled by our amusement. They didn’t seem to find it so funny, and weren’t as interested in taking photos. (Hence the quality of some of these photos, taken on our phones).

So at least we ended the day with a giggle and a plan. We could see a weather window in a few days that should allow us to comfortably day sail to Port Denison, then Cervantes and then finally on to Fremantle for Brian and Sandra, and Mindaries, just slightly north of Freo, for us.

But you know what they say about the best laid plans……

It is not the destination where you end up but the mishaps and memories you create along the way.

Penelope Riley