Geraldton

Wednesday afternoon 24^nd August - Thurday morning 25^nd August, 2016

A bit more away from the coast we get again into the realm of the everlastings. The landscape is hilly and the land is cultivated. Finally it remembers to a middle European culture landscape, which is also charming.

At around 4 o'clock we reach Geraldton. It is the first bigger city since Darwin. And we experience something very new: there is traffic. We stay in a motel and after checking in we go shopping. Well, after half five the traffic is gone. We then go up to the HMAS Sydney Memorial which is situated on top of a hill looking over the city. It remembers a warship which was sunk during World War Two. Over 600 men lost their lives. All are listed and for each one there is a seagull in the cupola, the symbol for the soul of a sailor. Towards the sea a woman cast into iron is on the lookout to no avail. Here we can only half enjoy the sunset beside the port.

Next morning we want to visit the Catholic and the Anglican cathedrals. The style of the Catholic cathedral fits more to a Spanish colony than to a British one. But it is closed due to renovations. The Anglican cathedral is modern, but locked for whatever reason. At the visitor information there is a big playground, unfortunately only for children after five years of age. Still I let our close to three year old Jann whoosh a few times down the beautifully long slide. At the same time Petra let herself recommend the next destination: Mullewa.