Our final port of call for this cruise, before Fremantle/Perth, is
Geraldton, Western Australia. It was scheduled as a tendered port, but the ship
was able to be docked. The forecast for
today was a high temperature of 39 C, windy and sunny. The day started at 26 C, no cloud in sight but
very windy, not good for tendering, so great that we could dock. The waves had
two meter troughs with some whitecaps. During
breakfast in the dining room, where we were seated at about in the center, the
ship was swaying noticeably. During the a five minute period, the ship was
entering the harbour, at the extreme points of the swaying, when you looked
over to the windows, one second only sky was visible and a few seconds later as
the ship swayed the opposite way, all that could be seen in the window was
distant water. The captain made an announcement later that the winds were 40
knots as the ship entered the channel into the harbour, which was not expected,
that is what caused the roughness of the approach.
After breakfast we watched from Deck 5 as
the ship maneuvered into its berth. When we looked over the side, we could see
tiny shiny minnow-like fish, in a school of several hundred, flitting around at
the surface. We watched as the dock
workers tied the ropes to the pier’s bollards. Then we noticed one of the dock
workers launch a small white drone that rose to the 14th deck and zipped above
the length of the ship. Then he guided the
drone over to a construction site at another part of the facility. We went back to the stateroom to get our sunglasses
and camera then climbed up to Deck 12 to get some photos. We could see some reefs about 300 meters from
shore as the waves crashed on to them.
Nearby is red and white striped Point Moore Lighthouse, which is the
tallest prefabricated cast-iron lighthouse in Australia, one of Geraldton’s
landmarks. Visible from the ship, the Point Moore Lighthouse is an iconic
Geraldton landmark. Standing 34 meters high, its beam can be seen 26km out to
sea. It is the oldest surviving Commonwealth lighthouse in Western Australia. There
are many shipwrecks along the Coral Coast.
For many centuries, the Yamaji People lived
in this area of Australia’s Coral Coast region. The Coral Coast runs from North
West Cape (that the ship passed around noon yesterday) to Perth, which is 420
km south.
The ship was cleared by Australian Border
Force to allow passengers to leave the ship about 10 a.m. The Tours left first,
to take shuttles off the dock area and onto their tour buses. From then until 11, there was a triple line
of people lining the halls, snaking around the Centrum lobby on Deck 4 waiting
for a shuttle bus to take them through the dock yard to the parking lot 500
meters from the ship, which was about a 5 minute drive through the winding
roads within the port. More than half the passengers opted to walk the 100
meters to the edge of the main street and wander through the town. Other passengers paid $15 US for an all day
circular route pass, where they could get on or off at the Information Center, Cathedral
of St. Francis Xavier, the HMAS Sydney II Memorial and the shopping center. The temperature was tolerable at 29 C, the
wind had calmed to a nice breeze.
We explored the old train station,
converted to the Information Center, which told a brief history of the town. Geraldton was founded in 1849 as a port for
exporting the lead from the Murchison River mines. There was a gold rush east of the town in 1892
and a larger jetty was constructed allow larger ships to dock. Off the coast are the Abrolhos Islands where
cultured pearls are cultivated.
A ten minute walk away from the
Information Center was the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier. It was designed by a priest who had trained
as an architect, John Cyril Hawes. He
started his design in Rome in 1913 and the first stage was begun to be built in
1916 opening in 1918, but there were issues with the bishop and construction
was stopped until 1926 and the cathedral was completed in 1938. It is a lovely church. It reminded us a bit
of the southern California Spanish mission churches.
We walked about 15 minutes further to the
HMAS Sydney II
Memorial. It commemorates the sinking of the naval
light cruiser off the coast about 112 nautical miles off Steep Point on
November 19, 1941. This was Australia’s worst maritime disaster. There was a brief battle with the German
raider ship, HSK Kormoran before both ships sunk. The large silver coloured Dome
of Souls has cutouts of 645 seagulls, one to represent each of the perished Australian
seamen. Their names are inscribed on the black granite wall of remembrance in
alphabetical order as well as some pictures engraved in the stone. Rosemary bushes nearby symbolize memorials. A
propeller facing down represents a sunken ship. There is a 70 foot marine steel
pillar that represents the height of the HMAS Sydney II bow.
The wrecks of both
ships were found in 2008 using information that the German ship survivors
provided in their report of the incident.
The bow of the HMAS Sydney II was
blown off in one of the first volleys, from the disguised German warship and
sunk quickly. The sailors barely had
time to get to battle stations, most were on deck watching the “friendly” ship,
because it was thought that they were approaching a Dutch merchant ship. The HMAS Sydney II rear gunners were able to damage the
German raider enough that crew evacuated ship before it was scuttled. German sailor survivors were picked up
several days later. The memorial also includes
a bronze statue of a woman looking out to sea for an HMAS Sydney sailor. The
woman is looking to the site of the ship’s wreck more than 250 miles away and over
2.5 km under the sea. After the wreck was found an additional Remembrance
Fountain was added. The site is atop a
hill that has a view of Geraldton and the ocean.
We walked back to the main street, Marine
Terrace, where we ordered milkshakes at a food court and tried the Wi-Fi, but
the signal was very weak. We found a
second hand bookstore that also had Internet and paid $3.50 Australian for 30
minutes of High Speed Internet to upload the past few days of blog in a much
shorter time than the ship’s slow speed Internet. Claire bought a Lee Child novel.
Then we walked along the Geraldton
Foreshore Park. The Foreshore is
reclaimed land that was formed from sand excavated from moving the rail tracks
to a different location. The sand was
dumped and allowed to be swirled by the wind and ocean for about a year then, once
settled, was grassed. Next a waterpark and playground were added, as well as
pathways, free Wi-Fi, beaches, picnic areas, barbecue pits, cafés, restaurants
and a concert venue. There are no
crocodiles or aggressive sharks in the Geraldton area.
We arrived at the shuttle pickup in time for
the next shuttle back to the ship. At 2 p.m. the temperature had risen to 38 C,
but it did not feel as hot as two days earlier in Port Hedland where the
humidity was a lot higher. We were
looking forward to soft ice cream in the Windjammer, but the machine was closed
off so we settled for coffee and small cake slices.
We joined Maureen and Bob for dinner and
they told us about their journey to Kalbarri National Park. It was the longest tour taking six hours. Bob showed us his videos of the breathtaking
coastal scenery. There was a small
problem with the little non biting flies which were around everywhere in
Kalbarri National Park and many flew on to the buses and made the ride back to
Geraldton rather unpleasant.
The appetizers for dinner tonight were
Eggplant and Kalamata Olive tartar with pita, Sea Scallop & Chorizo and
Lentil & Tomato Soup. The main
course was Tandoori Chicken Salad with Naan bread and Fish and Seafood
Mash. The chosen desserts were Key Lime
Pie and Frozen Strawberry Soufflé. Near the end of the meal, the maitre d’
announced that some of the wait staff would a song. About 50 staff lip synced
to a forgettable song.
After dinner we went to the Colony Club to
dance to recorded ballroom music. We
were the only people there and the music was so soft that the music from the
Schooner Bar 100meters away could be heard.
The tunes were 1940s foxtrots for the 20 minutes that we stayed only
dancing to one decent tune. We returned
to Deck 4 and although the Centrum was filled with more sofas and chairs than
usual, we had the whole 100 square feet to ourselves to the dance to the
variety of music played by the Traffle Duo.
The Aurora Theater Show tonight was a
Farewell Show with the ship’s singers and dancers and “Australia’s funniest
American Juggler”, Marty Coffey. He was
quite entertaining and even juggled on a five foot high unicycle.
Daily steps
16,543
