Our great around
Australia adventure has finally begun.... An entertaining dinner with friends
in Albany, followed by a fabulous family dinner in Perth and final
farewells. On arrival in Jurien Bay we
ran into family friends Tommy and Anna O'Dowd who delivered fuel to our family
farm - Pine Park for many years. It was
great to see the new jetty foreshore area of Jurien, to cycle along the beach
path and to Nana and Pop's last Jurien house.
It was a bit of a walk down memory lane for Jim and I, and Jordy and
Kurt - as we lived here in 2004 to be near Nana and Pop for a year. Pack up time in the morning was blessed with
a heavy shower of rain as we all got soaked, and struggled to locate Will and
Kurt who were desperate to retrieve their footy from a Dobbin Park tree. The tree won that battle.
On the road, goodbye Hillman St.
The trip from Jurien Bay to Geraldton was a wet one with the skies well and truly opening up. None the less the scenery of the Indian Ocean Drive was enjoyable. Our first major tourist attraction was the famous trees on the Greenough River Flats. Will was particularly keen to see them as they are in his book 'Are we there yet,'
That night we met up with the Geraldton Morcom's at Mark and Leeanne's lovely home in Drummond Cove. It was a great night discussing our family which has been stretched across Australia for almost 50 years. Jordy was a bit under the weather and stayed home(the Van) under mothers care. His illness led us to staying an extra day in Geraldton.
The highlight of the day apart from Jordy getting a thumbs up from the doctor was our visit to the HMAS Sydney Memorial which overlooks town. It is a quite powerful and moving place overlooking the city and the surrounding coastline. The Dome of gulls and the waiting woman are real reminders of those men and their misadventure. The Idea from the gulls came from the dedication ceremony when the project to build the memorial was launched. The last post was played at sundown and out of nowhere a huge flock of gulls appeared and hovered above the gathering. The 645 gulls represent the souls of lost sailore of the Sydney.
Chrissy & Chrissy
The Waiting Woman.
The Dome
After departing Geraldton our first stop was the beautiful Murchison River (Galena Bridge Free Camp), and our introduction to Enviro Drop Toilets - it may take a while to get used to them.... Our first real bush camp was at Nerren Nerren, inclusive of red dirt, flies and beautiful warm sunshine. Kurt and Will soon found the shovel to make a bike dirt jump which kept them busy (and red...) for hours. STARS!!! The amazing "Night Sky " iPad app bought out the inner geek in Kurt - amazing stars. Camp fire, guitar and toasted marshmallows - now, THAT'S LIVING!
Airtime in the red dirt
Gladstone Lookout with Shark Bay in the distance
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