I stepped on to the balcony to check the sunrise only to see that we had collected some company as we approached Geraldton.
The weather looked a bit iffy as we approached the channel into the harbour.
We had entered the channel which was narrow. Three marker posts can be seen in the photograph – I mention this because of what happened later.
Once we were in the harbour, we were gentle moved alongside.
It was not long before we were allowed ashore, and coaches transported us from the docks to the town centre.
One of the main sites in Geraldton is the memorial to the crew of HMAS Sydney, sunk in November 1941.
The Memorial to HMAS Sydney –
By looking closely, you will see the stainless steel roof of the memorial is made up of metal seagulls – there are 645 seagulls, one for each crew members of HMAS Sydney.
In addition to the main memorial there is a statue of a woman looking out to sea for her husband who is a member of HMAS Sydney’s crew.
The artist who created the waiting woman is Joan Walsh-Smith, only later did I realise that I had photographs of her work in Perth.
I photographed the above statue along with others in 2016 in Perth.
One of the main roads in Geraldton, very quiet and pleasant. They had a couple of great second-hand book shops, which I just had to visit. The population of Geraldton is around 39,000.
Graffiti or perhaps art.
An unusual roundabout – later I realised why it was shaped as it is.
On the way back to the ship we saw thew real lighthouse.
Point Moor Lighthouse 34 metres (112 feet) tall, built in 1878.
Constructed by Chance Bros. of Birmingham UK, prefabricated and shipped out to West Australia.
It is still in use and the light can be seen 26 km (16 miles) at sea.
We had docked in a working port, which is why we were not allowed to walk through the port.
Geraldton is four-and a half-hour drive north of Perth (which is the capital of W. Australia).
Our scheduled sailing time from Geraldton was 5.00 pm, but we had a problem of high winds, and the Master did not want to risk the narrow channel with such high winds so we did not sail until the following day, which caused a knock-on effect after Fremantle, which is the port for Perth.
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