Day 47
Wednesday 22nd April 2015
Geraldton
We give ourselves a lazy day to get supplies before we go to more remote places. In other words let’s have a retail fix, Bunnings, Super Cheap Auto and Shirley Temple wants to check out BCF (Boating, Camping, Fishing).
In the afternoon Double or Nuthin’ and I visit the museum, what no other takers? It seems like they have better things to do. Woody wants to restock the car fridge. Off we go, D & I, as excited as kids let loose in a lolly shop and don’t come out until we are thrown out. They have a most comprehensive collection of shipwreck artefacts from the Dutch East Indies ships wrecked on this coast, the Batavia, the Zuytdorp and others. There is even treasure and cannons from the Batavia that ran aground on the Abrolhos Islands offshore from Geraldton in 1629.
Shipwrecks aside, nearby is the world’s tenth largest producer of talc rock which means that WA exports both the softest and the hardest rocks on the mineral scale, talc and diamonds. And we see the bucket that loaded Australia’s very first export of iron ore.
Needless to say, back at camp no one was all that impressed with our discoveries.
Note: Since our WA trip I have read Batavia by Peter Fitzsimons. It’s hard to comprehend how Batavia’s Captain managed to sail 2000 miles in an open long boat to Java to seek help. But worse still the horrors that were unfolding on the Abrolhos Islands when a power hungry Second in Command turned to cannibalism, torture and sexual slavery.
Accom: $34.20
Travelling Kms: 0
itchingforhitching 
I’ve decided Batavia, however excellent a read, may have to wait till less difficult times.
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Oh most definitely. I have drifted to reading ‘cosy’ stuff in the last few months. Girl falls for handsome fellow whose jeans just hang sexily on his hips. She renovates an old cottage which becomes a cafe/ bnb / art gallery / antique shop take your pick. So far I’ve discovered this plot line works for US, Canada, UK, Australia. If a vaccine isn’t developed soon I’ll run out of countries for said plot. I even fell across one on Netflix as a movie filmed in NZ, I can’t remember what that project turned into, nice house though.😂😱stay safe and healthy.
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You too. And keep reading the bodice-rippers!
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Gosh I haven’t heard that expression in years.😂
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The story of the Batavia definitely wasn’t found in any of the Australian history texts I came across at school.
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We’ve learnt so much of Australian history Aboriginal and European whilst on the road. Its a tad more relevant than memorising the dates of English events.
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I agree and I think families who choose to take their children out of school while they do “the lap” are giving their kids rich learning experiences they’d never get at school.
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Absolutely, we travel with friends who did the big lap with their kids. When their daughter got engaged she made her future hubby promise they’d do the same…now, they’ve got the kids, they’ve upgraded to the right van, it won’t be long.
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Good luck to them!
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