Geraldton to Denham

The city of Geraldton boasts a population of just over 40,000, which, would you believe, is one of the larger municipal populations along the west coast of Western Australia?

We had three nights here, which were, well…uneventful. Not because of the lack of adventure stimulus, but primarily due to the fact that the stopover at Geraldton was a “let’s get a heap of jobs done” kind of stop.

The Prado needed a service and there was some grocery, Bunnings and BCF shopping that was imperative. Luckily, the caravan park provided a swimming pool and jumping pillow for the girls to entertain themselves.

With the service and aforementioned shopping completed, we decided to check out the local museum, which, to our surprise, was a free attraction. We learnt about the natural history of Geraldton, as well as the most disastrous iteration in Australia’s Naval History; the demise of the HMAS Sydney II.

It was hard not to feel an emotional connection to the story behind the tragedy that unfolded on 19^th of November, 1941. The ship, along with 645 of her crew were tragically lost at the hands of a conealed German ship, the Kormoran. The wreckages of both vessels were only discovered in 2008; 67 years later.

We visited the memorial atop the hill in Geraldton and spent some time in silence; perhaps reflecting on our appreciation for the many and ultimate sacrifices of our forefathers, or how war is just not fair? Not sure, but the emotional enormity of the day was felt later on. An early night was needed.

We packed up and left Geraldton and headed north. This time, to the seaside township of Denham. We should have been heading to Kalbarri, but it is still inaccessible due to the after effects of cyclone Seroja. Passing through the town of Northhampton on the way, we witnessed first hand the devastation left in Seroja’s wake. Many houses still had rooves missing and there was a tonne of debris sitting on the sides of the roads, which had obviously been cleaned up by the SES and hardworking locals. Being Victorians, this type of natural disaster is just so foreign to us. I hope they can recover soon and that the insurance companies possess enough empathy to see the human need, not the financial.

A quick detour to Hutt Lagoon was well worth it as we witnessed our first pink lake. What an interesting sight; even better viewed from the air. The cartanoid producing algae are the reason behind the bubblegum resembling colour, which is commercially harvested for a range of cosmetics and dyes; making this the largest harvest of such sorts in the world.

From there, we continued northward, our next stop at Shell Beach; a simple nomenclature for a complex ecosystem. Boasting salinity twice that of normal salt levels, this allows the cockle shells to evade predators whom, despite Darwin’s theories, have not been able to adapt to the salt levels here. Billions upon billions of cockle shells replace what is normally sand leading up to the water, creating this unique place; one of only two in the world.  Some failed attempts at creating sea-angels later, we headed towards Denham.

The following day we explored Francois Peron National Park. With the tyres dropped to 20 PSI, we enjoyed slipping and sliding along the sandy tracks in the National Park. Skipjack Point was a 46km drive in, which took us about 50 minutes, due to the sandy tracks. With a spectacular view atop a boardwalk, we saw dolphins and reef sharks searching for their mid-morning snack. The contrasting red cliffs with blue waters were exceptional and made for some excellent drone photos.

We took the short, 1.5km trek to Cape Peron where we saw a dugong frolicking in the shallows; an exceptional moment for us all. I decided to walk back by myself and retrieve the car as the girls had protested walking any further.

Lunch was had at Bottle Bay, right on the beach, thanks to Sarah's excellent preparation. The girls spent the next hour looking for shells as they were prolific here. With our new shell collection in the car, we continued our tour of the National Park. There were a few more interesting stops along the way, each providing beautiful red sand contrasted with turquoise, blue water.

An adrenaline fuelled moment of being bogged in the sand and needing to employ my secret 4x4 skills later, we made for our final stop for the day, which was at the Peron Homestead. Here, there is an artisian hot tub, with water pumped from over 500 metres below the surface! At 40 degrees, it was balmy, but the girls enjoyed the experience and we got to chat to a few fellow travellers from different parts of our country.

The next couple of days were down days. One day was rainy, so we caught up on some school work and video editing. The next was spent at the local aquarium; an informative tour taught us a lot about the local sea dwelling organisms, which culminated in a shark feed. The girls loved it!

A play on the local playground and some last minute supplies were on the agenda for that afternoon.

A great part of the world here! Onward to Monkey Mia next J