16 May 2013 - Cliff Head North, Indian Ocean Drive, Western Australia

The caravan was booked for service at 10 am however we were up and away early and around at Batavia Coast Caravan Land by 9 am. They seemed happy to accept the job early and told us it would be ready in three hours, but would telephone us when it was finished.

St Francis Xavier Cathedral

I had decided the morning could be filled with a little cultural sightseeing; the Art Gallery followed by a visit to Hawes’ master piece, the St Francis Xavier Cathedral. We parked near the cathedral and walked around the block to the Art Gallery to find it closed with a large notice plastered across the windows “the Gallery will be closed from 15 May to ….” Why did they not warn of this several days ago when I was planning today’s itinerary? There was much mumbling and grumbling from us both. So much so that even a suggestion from me that we pop into the nearby McDonalds for a coffee, went on deaf ears. Instead we headed back to the cathedral, the outside truly impressive. However, on entering the building, we were hugely dismayed at the decoration. The orange, white and blue/grey 250 mm wide horizontal stripes made a mockery of this otherwise unusual and lovely interior. Surely it was not Monsignor Hawes who had designed the interior like this? Surely this was a more recent innovation?

Alas, subsequent research proved that it was indeed Hawes idea; the idea of “zebra striping” of the interior cane largely from Italy where Hawes studied for the priesthood.

It was now only mid-morning; we purchased the day’s newspaper and retreated to the waterfront, sitting in the car out of the wind absorbing current affairs. By 1 pm, we still had not heard from the service people so took it upon ourselves to check progress out.

The caravan was sitting in the yard awaiting pickup; I never did learn how long it had been ready. Chris returned from the office grumbling,”We have been ripped off”, a sentiment that he had also made clear to the service people. We had been quoted about $340 and charged $492! We had apparently required full replacement of the bearings, which to me, an absolute ignoramus on such matters, sounded feasible  they had been last changed in Port Pirie and that was a very long time ago. That had cost us $260, yet further proof that everything is so very expensive in Western Australia!

And so we left Geraldine with a bitter taste in our mouth, heading south on the Brand Highway, down past Greenough (pronounced Greenuff) noticing far more ancient building remains and wind-bent trees than we did yesterday.

Dongara sits on the coast sisty four kilometres to the south of Geraldton, another old settlement now fuelled by crayfish and tourists, although neither were greatly evident today. We drove through the township up to the lookout over the Irwin River, the mouth of which Dongara sits.We also remarked on the restored grain mill as we came into the town, and later, when we called into the small Information Centre, read an article about the couple who bought and undertook that renovation, restricted by the heritage listing. It reminded us of the television series “Grand Designs” that both Chris and I enjoy.

We crossed the river and drove down through Port Denison, the large marina clearly visible from the road along the seashore, several serious fishing boats tied up to the wharf. We drove on, looping around through white sand dunes, rejoining the Brand Highway. Soon we turned on to Indian Ocean Drive and came to the track into this camp.

At first we only noticed the toilet block, two motorhomes and one caravan rig, then after we were set up, we walked down along the beach, a beach of seaweed rather than sand, and saw all of the other campers tucked away in the scrub. This is surprisingly a very popular place, and it seems that many have been here for more than a night or two. Out to sea we noticed what appeared to be a massive bird sculpture on the horizon, standing tall in the deep ocean. Chatting with a couple of Tasmanian fellow campers, we learned that it was an offshore gas rig. Later after dark, we would be able to see it flaring. The bugs don’t seem too bad here so we just might venture out after dinner to see for ourselves.