Perth to Geraldton

Louise and I have embarked on a 3-week trip up from Perth to Exmouth in a hire car. It's the first time we have had a long holiday together since about 1999. We were supposed to do the trip in 2020, for my 50th birthday, but you can guess what happened to that plan. Finally we're getting back around to it. I'm going to blog every few days to let folks know what we've been up to. 

Sunday June 14.  The flight and transit section all went fine. Northbridge provided excellent Malaysian food but little else. It was drizzling rain all evening. We retired early. 

Monday June 15. We went to the Art Gallery of WA and did some shopping to dodge the rain, then saw my extended family, the Perth Lynches, which was a rare treat. 

Tuesday June 16 (today). The road trip began in earnest. We surprised ourselves by getting underway at 7am, and got to Yanchep National Park, on the hunt for the Carnaby's Black Cockatoo. We didn't see any there, but had a great walk round the wetlands spotting other birdlife and getting extremely cold. Neither of has have packed sensibly. We were both imagining a Cairns-equivalent level of tropics for the whole trip, and forgot that quite a few places on the drive up might still be a bit chilly.

We got properly underway on the Indian Ocean Drive by about 9.30. The Carnaby's flew over the car several times en route to The Pinnacles National Park, which I have detailed with photographs rather than trying to explain it. Fifteen minutes further north is the town of Cervantes, where there is an epic-level tourist trap called the Lobster Shack, where we were obliged to eat the eponymous shellfish, as well as some prawn bisque for good measure. The place may be called a 'shack' in the same way that the Adelaide Oval may be called a field. Both the Pinnacles and the Lobster Shack were heaving with asian tourists. The Perth-Dwellers won't be here for another few weeks when school holidays begin. 

I took to the wheel and we drove the rest of the way to Geraldton. We went jogging by the beach and saw an Osprey eating its catch on telephone pole, and are mow tucked up at our apartment. Quite a day. 

​Steve.

PS - on the opposite side of Australia from Geraldton is Balina, NSW. It is lush and tropical. Geraldton is windswept and sandy and quite dry much of the year.