Off to See the Wizard - Geraldton to Mingenew

Our trip seemed to be naturally divided into different sections.  Although it was a lot of years ago, we have previously travelled south of Geraldton, so this next section was the start us travelling home.  

After the truly feral day on our Monday in Geraldton, Tuesday was rather pleasant weather.

As a result we decided to have a little bit more of a look around before we headed out of town.  We hadn’t really spent any time at the waterfront, so we had a look in that area. It didn’t look at all familiar to us from our previous visit and we learnt why.  Originally, the railway had run along this area.  It was diverted to a different route and the development of the area commenced in 2005.  We had visited in 1997, so it would have been rather unattractive back then.

There was some more public art.

As well as some impressive old buildings.

These electric scooters have just been introduced to Geraldton at the beginning of September.  We saw a few in use, but it wasn’t really the weather for it.  We did a little research, and discovered that you hire them at the “affordable pay as you go rate of $0.49 per minute”.  That doesn’t sound much, but it means that if you had one for an hour it would cost $29.40.  Not so cheap if you wish to have a decent ride.

The most fun thing we saw was the loos.  Yes, they look like Rubik’s Cubes.

A nice cup of coffee from one of the little coffee huts, constructed from shipping containers was a good way to finish our wander before heading on our way south.

The Jaffle Shack was so cute and you had to look twice to see what it was constructed from.

After we left Geraldton, and as we travelled south, we came across the famous leaning tree,  near Greenough.  When you see so many trees on a lean, you understand that the windy day we experienced isn’t at all out of the ordinary.

We had read about the historic buildings at Greenough, and saw the old mill from the main road.  What we didn’t realise was that you have to pay to go into the village, so we didn’t bother, as we have seen plenty of old buildings on our travels.

The next little town we visited was Dongera, just in time for lunch.  We found “Poppies”, just near where we parked and enjoyed a nice light lunch. 

The interior was nice and cosy.  It is located next to the Anzac Memorial Park, so that explains the poppy references.

The park was nicely set out with some impressive wall art. We didn’t go to the waterfront, so missed some more artwork.  Oh well, we can’t see it all.

Just south of Dongara, is its twin town of Port Denison.  I noticed an obelisk on a headland, so went to have a look.  The plaque was really difficult to read, but it appears to be honouring the crew of the HMS Beagle.

This proved to be our last sighing of the Indian Ocean.

I was pretty excited to see that there was a local, independent butcher shop, the first we have seen since NSW.  We enjoyed a delicious piece of steak from him.

The next part of the day is something I had been looking forward to for a very long time.  Maria and I have been blog buddies for many years.  I had hoped to visit in 2017, on our aborted motorcycle ride around Australia, but that wasn’t to be.  Since then, we have got to know each other more during the Zoom sessions hosted by Chookyblue.  It was so nice to finally meet in person and to see where she creates so many projects.  

We were even sent away with some mulberries from her little tree.  Thanks for your hospitality, Maria.

We then started to head inland again, travelling to the small town of Mingenew for the night.

The highlight of the day was meeting Maria.