Category: Geraldton

Author: Mrs A

Location: Geraldton

We had booked our Toyota Landcruiser in for a service this morning, so that is how our day began, dropping it off for its mid-trip check up. While the mechanics were checking it over, we settled ourselves down at a busy little cafe in town, next to a wi-fi hotspot, and enjoyed some food and drinks while making good use of the speedy network. 

Geraldton was one of the first locations in Australia to receive the NBN (National Broadband Network – nationwide fibre optic high speed internet) and this is our first opportunity to try it out – it’s impressively fast, and we managed to download lots more from Netflix.

The car passed its service with flying colours with no serious problems identified. 

Our next task was a lot more nerve wracking, and the major event Mr A alluded to yesterday. Mr A’s driving licence expires in October, and in order to get a new one, he needed to pass an eyesight test. As many of you are aware, Mr A suffers from a rare degenerative eye disease, Pigment Dispersion Syndrome (PDS), and has lost some of his peripheral vision due to that. 

Over the past few weeks we have been discussing what we would need to do if he was unable to continue to drive…how I would need to learn how to tow and park the caravan – something that so far only Mark has done.  So, into the opticians he went. 

Forty-five minutes later I get the call – he has passed! What a relief! He can continue driving for another five years…

And so we returned to the campground. Yesterday we mentioned the stalker who approached us in town. Well he and his wife invited us over for dinner tonight. We quickly Googled to confirm there were no outstanding warrants, before bravely accepting.

We jumped into a taxi and headed across to the other side of town to Greg and Claire’s home. They live in a gorgeous big house overlooking the Indian Ocean, a koi pond in the front garden and tastefully decorated. It was funny being in a house again – reminding us our entire living space is about the same size of their kitchen! 

We had a lovely evening, good wine coupled with delicious homegrown olives, endemarme and cheeses, followed by a seafood paella. Lots of laughter had, enhanced by the timely message from friend Paul in Sydney:

‘Just read the blog. Run away from the man in the car. Have you not watched the movies?’

A fun evening discussing travels and adventures, and new friends made. Awesome! This is what travelling is all about…

Author: Mr A

From: Kalbarri

To: Geraldton

Distance: 150 km

The storm raged in the early hours of this morning, the rain smacking against the van roof and reminding us again how pleased we are to have swapped the canvas of our beloved Ultimate camper trailer for the Zone RV’s fibreglass! A wet pack up with canvas…yuck.

It was an early wake up today with 17 German very close neighbours on the next pitch to us. They were all travelling together in this “unique mobile capsule hotel” (http://www.uniqhotels.com/rotel-german-bus-hotel)  – a bloody great bus. So just after 6am it was clashing pans and cooking a breakfast for their hord of hungry folks (yup…that’s a lot of sausage). I listened in on one conversation between the English speaking driver and a passenger who was complaining how she hadn’t really enjoyed the trip because…Australia was so big!  Mmmm..bit of Googling beforehand might have helped when booking. Imagine sharing a bus for 3 months with 16 other fellow passengers 24×7. My idea of hell but it takes all sorts!

We pointed south down the coast, sadly the rain was pelting down so we didn’t get to enjoy the incredible scenery we had passed yesterday on this stunning road. Surely this area is going to explode with tourism in the coming years, it has so much to offer. 

We arrived at our park in Geraldton at lunch and headed into town…our first “real town” since leaving Sydney at the end of May. We parked on the front and immediately noticed a wifi network….logged on with low expectations and WOW!!! We had several episodes of Suits downloaded in a flash…rather than the hours/days we normally take at the speeds we have seen on caravan parks offering “free wifi” since leaving home. Brilliant…we love this town already! Apparently its provided by the local council. 

Then this guy who has just parked next to us lowers his window and says “It must be Catherine and Mark?” Well…we wondered if he was a Council ranger about to arrest us for not just web browsing but downloading a TV series….but no….he had been following our blog and recognised us. A little spooky right. Australia is a big place but you can’t hide 🙂 We felt nearly famous!

We head into the shops…everyone is super friendly and helpful, and there’s so many choices of places to buy things from….could those two things be connected? I even got excited to walk through a Harvey Norman store…all that stuff for sale. It feels like we have been an age away from that world.  

Coles was our next treat. Oh so much choice, They even sold Scotch eggs (minor addiction). I even got a haircut. I’ve been trying to find someone to cut my hair since Broome, in the intervening 1,916km not one town had an appointment that involved waiting less than a week for a quick trim. If we start running short of cash I’m going on a hairdressing course and our Zone will become the Cutting Zone.

Well then it was back to camp, we’re staying at Sunset Beach Caravan Park, and it lived up to its name. One sunset to order for Mrs and Mr A as we wondered along the beach, pondering how this trip is changing us, because it is. I’m going to save that for another day. I have a big event coming up tomorrow which could change everything again anyway….so lets hang fire on those thoughts until we get that out of the way…