SHARK BAY / DENHAM TO GERALDTON
It was with mixed feelings that we left the warmth of Denham and the delights of Shark Bay, headed further south across the 28th parallel and officially left the north west of Western Australia.
It’s about a 400 Km run from there through to Geraldton so we decided to stop at a free camp at the Murchison River for the night. It was another pleasant afternoon chatting with some other travellers and swapping tales of good caravan parks (and the not so good!) and service station operators with reasonably priced fuel who were not intent on ripping travellers off.
There are quite a few stations / truckstops on the travellers’ “no go” or “use only as a last resort” list including once again the infamous Nanutarra Roadhouse on that very long stretch between Karratha and Carnarvon that we managed to avoid completely this time because we spent a couple of days at Onslow and filled up there at a reasonable price.
THE Nanutarra Roadhouse consistently charges far in excess of a reasonable price for fuel. We expect to pay a bit more because of the remote location and the fact that they have to run generators for power etc. etc. but Nanutarra always manages to charge very much over the expected.
We ran into quite a bit of wind on the run into Geraldton and the going was fairly tough heading directly into it. Then, to make matters much worse, I felt a fairly significant loss of power.
I diagnosed it as either the air mass regulator or a partially blocked fuel filter brought about by a load of dirty diesel (I have had some experience with air mass problems previously.) It was a struggle to maintain any sort of reasonable speed and I was pleased to make Geraldton with no further trouble, although the engine warning light came on a couple of times.
Thankfully, there is a Nissan dealer in Geraldton and they diagnosed the problem as a faulty air mass sensor. That was fine, although (of course) they didn’t have the requisite part, and it was Friday, so we were forced to stay a little longer than planned. It saved me a little time in one respect because I was able to get the 140,000 Km service done there instead of Perth as planned. Fortunately the dealer gave me a courtesy car for the five days so we were still able to explore the area.
Geraldton is quite a nice city and the surrounding areas were beginning to display some spectacular wildflowers. I think my next blog will be all wildflowers.
Geraldton has a strong connection with HMAS Sydney, the ship having visited there a number of times before its loss to the German raider Kormoran further up the coast nearer to Carnarvon.
The HMAS Sydney memorial at Geraldton is outstanding. Built of the finest materials, with excellence of design and containing sculpture and construction of an extremely high standard, the memorial is situated on a hill overlooking the city and looking out to sea.
The dome covering the sanctuary is made up of 645 seagulls, one for each member of the crew that lost his life in the sinking of the Sydney by the German raider Kormoran on the 19th of November 1941. The dome covers a podium constructed of a ship’s propeller that serves as a wreath laying altar.
An unforgettable feature is the statue ”the waiting woman” near a depiction of the prow of the Sydney. They are both very powerful images. The waiting woman is leaning into the wind, gazing anxiously towards the sea and the horizon. According to the sculptor’s explanation, the woman represents the all-encompassing “waiting woman” grieving for their menfolk. Once you see this memorial, you won’t forget it.
NEXT BLOG; INTO WILDFLOWER COUNTRY.
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