Fun in the Sun

Day 3

Headed up to Guilderton (Moore River). Our neighbour in Midland, Juanita, used to holiday there all the time. We can see why. What a cute little spot. If we had have had a ladder for the kayaks and it wasn’t raining, and was 10oC warmer, we would have been in there kayaking. The mouth of the river didn’t join the ocean as the tide was low, but the contrast between the rough angry sea and the calm pristine river was astonishing.

Next we moved on to Lancelin. Yet, another place we’d never been. My brother goes up there often and I can see why. What an amazing place! Also another great place for kayaking. Surrounded by huge reef, the place looked treacherous to try and get a boat into, well at least one a draft such as ours, but one lovely large island which looked terribly inviting, and the reef, gave incredibly protection to the calm white beaches at our feet. The dog was beginning to think every day was just get in the car, drive to the next beach, get out, play around and do it all again…

We then decided it was time to get serious and drive to Geraldton. We then took the turn off to Port Dennison, a quiet fishing village in need of fixing its sea dead memorial, round to the gorgeous town of Dongara. There is a lovely new walk that they’ve installed at the top of a cliff giving an excellent view across the water to the Port Dennison side of the river down to where it almost joins onto the sea. It’s a pretty little spot, brimming with classic gold-rush-era architecture. Rich bauxite rock & limestone buildings, bull nose verandahs and square timber verandah posts with the edges chamfered off. The trees in the town are some of the most spectacular I’ve ever seen. Large, shady, established, and rooting the community to its rich history.

Geraldton seemed to be going through a bit of a re-birth of its own. The magnificent Museum of WA Geraldton Branch was opened in the new Docklandesque looking area. Surrounded by cute 3 storey trendy looking modern buildings, it looks like it has inspired the rest of the old parts of the city to be removed and rebuilt to get rid of the daggy 60’s buildings and mix in some lovely modern well designed buildings into the gold-rush-rich-architectural display. I must say last time we visited Geraldton, we weren’t inspired to want to spend much time there, but their main streetscape upgrades are showing a new level of pride in Geraldton. Now all they have to do is get rid of the bogans! Also found it difficult to find a place to stop that didn’t have a “no camping” sign, and where drug deals weren’t going down… 131444 – Steve has memorised the number!