entrance to the Memorial
There are props from a ship at the base of
the light posts and there are rope holders (don’t know their real names) down
the path leading to the memorial. 
Overlooking the bay there is a structure that looks like the bow of a ship with depth markers up it. There is a statue of a lady looking out over the harbour and a pool with a seagull in it.
The pool is made of circles that get smaller and deeper and represents the souls going to the bottom of the ocean. The big dome over the memorial is made up of 645 seagulls, one for each soul lost. There are two walls which list all those on board the HMAS Sydney II – in alphabetical order.
Although most archaeological evidence suggests Aboriginal settlement of the Geraldton area extends back at least 40,000 years, it is probably not until the 17th century that Europeans took an interest in the area. The first official visit to the area was made by a British Captain, Phillip Parker King, in 1822. In 1839, Lieutenant Grey and a party of 12 men were shipwrecked and had to walk back to Perth. The following year H.M.S. Beagle charted Champion Bay and in 1849 John Septimus Roe, Western Australia’s first Surveyor General, surveyed the town site. The town was named after the Governor of the colony, Sir Charles Fitzgerald.
We left Geraldton and continued on our way to Dongara and then onto Cliff Head North Rest area. This is right on the beach front and as we drove in we saw three squalls out to sea and it wasn’t long before we were getting wet J. Our friends Faye and Arthur were staying in Geraldton for a few days.
We went for a walk and found ‘our’ spot for the night. By night fall there were about 30 vans and motorhomes in residence.
an oil rig out in the distance
What a sunset!!!Friday 3rd August. Today we headed toward Cervantes. This is the home of ‘The Pinnacles’ and also some Stomatolites.
Native Wisteria
native Wisteria
Old Man's Beard
The main attraction of the Cervantes area is the Nambung National Park with its famous Pinnacles Desert. In this area of varied coloured sand there are thousands of limestone pinnacles, which range in size up to 5 metres tall and 2 metres thick at the base. They were formed thousands of years ago when ancient plant roots formed a weak cementation of calcite within the dunes and have been exposed by wind and shifting sands.
Unfortunately we could not take Buster to either of the sites. L. We were told that the National Parks office had some free kennels, where it was possible to leave him whilst we went out to see the desert and the stromatolites. We left him in the shade with plenty of water and spent a couple of hours exploring the natural wonders.
Darryl near a pinnacle
me near the same one
everywhere!!!
Old Man's beard in full flower
Stromatolites
wattle :P
view from the park at CervantesBack to the parks office and collected Buster and back to the park. We had to be very careful when taking him for a walk in the park as there had been rabbit baits laid. Unfortunately no one could tell us what they looked like so that we could ensure that Buster didn’t eat any.
Saturday 4th August. Today we head to Perth and will be able to spend some time with my cousin Alan and his family. We left Cervantes at 9am and with frequent stopping for wildflowers, buying fruit from the roadside and chatting to a truckie for about an hour and a half – we FINALLY arrived at the Kingsway caravan park at 2.30pm.
leaving Cervantes
a huge WHITE sand dune
thousands of Grass Trees
yellow Kangaroo paw
a White-tailed Black CockatooWe checked into our site and were a little disappointed in the park L. The grounds need a good clean-up and the sites mowed. The amenities are large and airy but look dirty with lots of cobwebs. Apparently there used to be a lot of permanent residents here and the owners decided to give them all 3 months’ notice to find somewhere else to live. The case went to court and some of the residents still remain. A lot of the sites are not able to be used by vanners as the fronts of them have been terraced or have a huge drop off from the concrete slab.
