Today's activity was to explore the city of Geraldton. Although we've been here on our last trip, we really didn't have much time in Geraldton.
The first stop was the Saturday Farmers Market for some fresh vegetables and then onto the supermarket and a couple of other shops. With the shopping out of the way we drove out to Fishermans Wharf which is the base for some 100 Lobster Boats, Fishing Trawlers and Fishing Co-op.
Unfortunately the weather was a bit drizzly (contrary to the forecast) but that didn't stop us from getting around.
From a good vantage point we watched the "De Ping Hai", a large Asian bulk carrier, steam into port. A very interesting process with a couple of powerful tugs meeting the ship out in the channel, attaching ropes, and then pull it around a fairly tight bend (500-700mt radius) to follow the channel into port.
Geraldton Port houses big grain handling facilities, with huge storage where 100s of 1000's of tonnes are kept under cover before being shipped off-shore.
With a population of 37,000 Geraldton is similar in size to Wodonga but the smaller shops and shopping centres show that they don't have much population in the surrounding area.
After a quick lunch in the CBD we perched ourselves just on the other side of the port facilities and watched another large ship, the "CSL Thevenard", being manoeuvred into position by the tugs. This a very slow process which takes well over an hour just to turn the ship 90Deg and then push it sideways on the berth.
This long weekend Geraldton is populated by lots of holiday makers from Perth. They have Bowling Golfing Tournaments on but unfortunately, after a long draught, the start to weekend was fairly wet.
A quick drive along the foreshore, a stop at Separation Point (see photo), then south onto the Greenough River Mouth where we could drive the car all the way onto the sand between the river and the sea.
Back at the caravan park we enjoyed some more rain pattering on the roof of the caravan whilst the kids did some school work and I studied for upcoming exam.
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