20th
May
Dongara East rest Area
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| Paddy Melons |
It
was still only early in the afternoon and still plenty of driving
time left but we had a lot to do in the next town and wanted the
whole day to do it in so we found a lovely pull over spot and called
it home for the night.
There
was already a few vans there which was odd being just after lunch.
We spoke to one guy who explained he was having car problems; that
explains why he was here. Rather than asked the others I decided to
make up stories about them instead. My brain needed some fantasy
time after sitting in the car all morning.
 |
| Local |
The
kids, on the other hand, spent their time collecting Paddy melons.
We had seen the round objects in the fields for ages now, growing
next to the sheep. The sheep however, did not seem interested at all
in them so we were really curious about what they were.
 |
| Playing with paddy melons |
They
looked like watermelons on the outside but were much smaller so when
the kids had a few we decided to open one up.
BANG.
BANG. SMASH!!!
That
job done we agreed they also smelt like watermelon. Putting on my
home schooling hat, we
hypothosised that they were perhaps unripe watermelons. It wasn't
till we met some people later that we were told that they were
actually called Paddy Melons and wouldn't grow bigger than what they
were.
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| Fish and Chips by the sea shore |
21st
May
Driving
into Geraldton we headed straight to the Visitors's Center. We
needed some stuff and we needed to know where to get it!
 |
| Gabestok |
As
we looked around the place and asked questions of the sales assistant
the kids, as is their usual habit, perused the gift shop. My darling
Molly spotted the basket of shells and asked if she could buy one!
Guess
what I said? No!
Buy
shells!
 |
| Gaol craft shops |
Is she out of her mind? We are hitting every beach from Melbourne to Upper Backofnowhere and back again and she wants to BUY a shell!
I
did feel bad that they only cost 10c each, but it's the principle.
Buying shells indeed!
 |
| Yellow Submarine |
Needless
to say there were tears, loud ones :o(
In
an attempt to distract her we went next door to the local Old Gaol.
Obviously it wasn't used as a jail any more but we were surprised
that each cell had been reprised as craft shops! How entrepreneurial.
It stopped her tears and luckily there was nothing else in the shops
that caught her eye.
 |
| self learning Monopoly card game |
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| Knitting Nancy |
We
then continued our tour of the town and arrived at the Geraldton
Museum. It was quite fascinating here. They had sections on the
local indigenous people, local flora & fauna, a huge fish tank,
which the boys especially spent much of their time at taking photos
and video of the wriggly aquatic vertebrate (warning: thesaurus being
used). I found the section on maritime disasters most fascinating;
must be the ghoul in me.
After
looking at the beautiful photographic gallery they also had we found
Molly in the kid's playroom playing dress-ups! Uncultured waif!
We
ate hot chips down at the beach for lunch and then for the rest of
the day we traversed the town doing our jobs.
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| Dress up anywhere! |
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| Fish'n'museum |
It
was getting late in the afternoon by the time we were filling up with
fuel and driving at dusk you run the risk of encountering our skippy
friends on the roads. As I was paying at the counter I asked the
sales lady did she know of any free camp spots close by? She said no,
and then I casual said that I wish we could just pull up over there.
Pointing to a vacant lot behind. She answered that if we wanted we
could park in front of her house. She lived in a cul de sac full of
big empty blocks just across the road from where we were now. Wow!
Very Cool!
So, I said yes please and that's where we spent the night.
Vis Geraldton Area på et større kort
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