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Wednesday, 1 December 2010

Geraldton

The big smoke – or at least the biggest smoke to date in WA,

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It’s taken an age to get here, 19days and 3,383.8kms (not direct!) but finally arrival here means that I’m over the biggest leg of WA without a main town.

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It’s approx 1,200kms from Perth and the 1/2 way point on the mammoth trip to Melbourne.

The beeps went off wondering whether I was still alive and telling me that there were 22missed calls but it finally gave me a chance to speak to people. It’s amazing how such simple things become really important. It was good to catch up with Amber and a few Aussie friends and of course family back home.

Anyhow, other than the standard recharge, resupply and refuel pattern that greets these larger places, I wasn’t really sure what else there was to do here. It was fairly late in the day to start anything constructive (2pm) so after some lunch, thought the Visitor Centre was worth a shot.

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It was itself an impressive building, an historic Victorian District Hospital, with the volunteer staff as helpful as the nurses that would have patrolled the corridors back in the day. Armed with many leaflets (!!) and looking very confused, they cheerfully welcomed me to the town and proudly advising that I’d have a lovely time here as the “Sunshine Festival” parade was taking place. I’ll come on to that in a minute :)

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The Western Australian Musuem was my best bet for an afternoon in the city, I was told so energetically trundled off in search of some new stuff to read about. The WA Musuem is split across many towns/cities in the state to enhance the cultural and regional aspects it presents to locals and tourists and with free entry (donation requested) it was worth a shot. It was definitely worthwhile presenting a humbling exhibition on the return of servicemen from the European theatres of war and their new lives in the post-war Australia.

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The relationship between Australia (and New Zealand) and their service personnel runs deep following the horrifying scenes in Gallipoli between April 1915 and January 1916 where c 35,000 ANZAC (Australia & New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers were killed. It was the first time ANZAC soldiers had fought in battle and the anniversary, 25th April, is considered ANZAC Day til this day.

To give this some perspective, the Australian population at the time was approx 5million, 331,000 enlisted for service overseas in WW1 or 38.7% of the population. Of these 215,500 either died, were wounded, were missing or suffered from serious sickness as a result.

Exhibitions on notable shipwrecks in the area including the Batavia, an East Indies Company merchantmen that had seen mutiny, the sinking and subsequent exploration and discovery of the wreck of HMAS Sydney as well as the general development and culture of the area around Geraldton and the mid-West landscape.

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A hidden gem also showed its face with an invitation to go afloat on a replica of one of the Batavia’s longships. The original would have been employed as a lifeboat ferrying passengers and crew from the stricken Batavia on to the nearest shore within the Abrolhos Archipelago, approx 60kms offshore from Geraldton.

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Nowadays, the replica built in 2002 by students from the local TAFE (Australia technical college) is used for public sailing lessons and maintained by a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers who endeavour to get you involved hoisting sails or keep boards. Although a free session, again, a welcome donation is received.

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It was a magical afternoon sailing on the sunny west coast spotting seals on the rocks and viewing the muddled architectural designs of the Geraldton foreshore.

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It was a fab experience that ticked off sailing on both sides of Australia after the Whitsundays many months ago.

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After rushing before sunset to a free camp a few kms outside, a second day was spent in the town.

The Point Moore lighthouse protects this treacherous coastline and the port, important for $1billion of trade in the ara that focuses on the exportation of minerals, iron ore and grain. It also is claimed to be one of the windiest locations in the world.Many trees are bent in the direction of the prevailing winds and as a result makes it a favourite spot for windsurfers, kitesurfers and normal surfers. Speaking to a couple of kitesurfers they told me the area boasts a variety of a locations that offers different spots for different abilities. 

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Guided tours of the HMAS Sydney memorial take place daily by another enthusiastic volunteer from the local historical society and I’d definitely recommend it.

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The memorial is a huge landmark in the town dedicated to the souls of the warship that perished in a battle with the enemy off the Geraldton coast. It’s not a specific war memorial but is held in the highest regard by both the local town and the nation given the mysterious ways in which she sank and disappeared.

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Rather than being one memorial, the area comprises of several that sit atop an old communications centre and sandbank.

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The most visual aspect is the steel dome high on the hill decorated with 645 interconnected seagulls that represent the camaraderie of her crew.

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A huge life-size bow of a warship can be found here roughly in the direction of where she was found and a lone lady looking out to sea creates a fitting memorial to a national treasure. Plans are underway to add further marks of respect to bond Geraldton with the families of those who lost their lives. A roll of honour also adjourns the site commemorating the crew.

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Yummy icecream, the Francis Xavier Cathedral,

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Queens Park,

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and a landscaped foreshore add to the fond memories of the town ensuring that I’ll not forget Geraldton in a while. It was a strange afternoon trying to get bits to move on but due to the Sunshine Festival, most shops were shut and the roads diverted to allow a festival parade to take place late in the afternoon. It was a little frustrating and due to time unfortunately had to leave before it started. More history on the festival can be found here

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