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Day 2. Cervantes to Geraldton

On The Road With Chris Day 2 DriveWA Ep.2

I woke to the mouth-watering sound of Steve started cooking up toasties in a big frypan with the supplies we purchased at the deli the prev morning from the centre near the Midland Ice Creamery – they were really tasty with cheese and avocado, mushrooms for the more refined taste buds and milk, tea and all the comforts of home on the road. Good planning makes for a great holiday experience and of course my vehicle has a fridge so we can keep appropriate things cold.

After a good hot shower each we left about 0730 and drove through the sleepy villiage environment of Cervantes to the Cervantes Visitors Centre which is at the Post Office in the centre of town. We gave John back the key and filmed the Visitors Centre for the show. We always recommend people go to the Visitors Centres in each town they visit to meet the locals and get the low down on what is hot and what is not in the area.

Then we were off on the road again (the Indian Ocean Way) to the strains of that famous tune by Willie Nelson and because we were not driving fast and because we were going down side roads and having a look we made two excellent finds – a little anchorage I knew nothing at all about just north of Jurien (which we went past and went back to enter) where there was a lovely morning tea stop with a wooden table and chairs under a tree with views over a pretty little bay called Little Anchorage. We nearly had a revolt on our hands as Mark, Steve, Paul and Brett are all mad fishermen and they wanted to throw a line into the water then and there - but we forced them to go on as we had a lot to do that day and it takes a lot more time to film the itinerary than it does to drive it normally.

Then just north of Leeman we were driving along the road near the water when Steve (who is still driving the WA Pass Nissan and so was sitting next to me) screamed into the radio

“there's fish going off over there” and in an instant he had pulled the car over to the side of the road and was off with his new toy – a 25mp camera - and the rest of the crew took off after him at varying intervals and what they found when they looked more closely was two dolphin, fishing right up close to the shore.

View Day 2 on DriveWA's webisode

source: LocoTV

They got some great shots of these magnificent dolphin having their brunch in this lovely little bay and one of them was tossing a fish in the air and playing with it.

So we continued north to Dongara - filmed the large statue of a crayfish at the front of the town – WA Towns in this region seem to be dominated by the foodstuff that supports their economies – Donagara has the crayfish, Carnarvon has a big banana and Exmouth has a big prawn at the entrance to their towns. Somewhat strange custom but at least you cannot leave the towns without knowing what they grow or forage for. It’s a good thing there is not a large condom manufacturer in one of these towns as the statue to their activities at the entrance to the town might prove a little difficult to explain or to photograph for a business like ours that wants a G rating.

So it was on again after a short stop to film and play with the crayfish and to film the old mill which is a little bit further up the road - we drove north to the Greenough Pioneer Museum where we did a fabulous interview with Gary Martin and Peter Damoen at the Greenough Pioneer Museum. Boy were we pleased we did – not only where Peter and Gary very interesting and the museum fascinating but we all enjoyed ourselves so much when they invited us back for dinner.

We left there and shot the front of the lovely heritage building which houses the Geraldton Visitors Centre and then we drove to the Sydney memorial where the team filmed the memorial and the sunset.

I love the HMAS Sydney Memorial - the historical context of this story about a crew of brave Aussies who fought a mighty and seasoned opponent to keep our country safe has always interested me since I was a small child (my father was a Naval Lte Commander and knew a whole lot of the people on the ship) but the architecture and design of this iconic tribute to their gallantry is first class. From the dome which comprises one seagull for each of the lost Aussie sailors, to the statue of the lady looking out over the sea waiting for news of her loved one lost on the HMAS Sydney to the large prow of the ship, to the anchor shaped port and starboard (red and green) lights fashioned in the canopys structure and to the wall of rememberance featuring the names of the sailors – at sunset it is a truly stunning spectacle. We have done a Youtube video about the story which you can view at and we hope you will enjoy it.

From there it was back to the Best Western Hospitality Inn where I always stay when we are in Geraldton and where we would normally have a scrumptious meal with Bev the Manager – but this time we were in for a special treat - so we took some quick stills in the restaurant and reception and looked at their great new Executive Suite fitouts, organized for Taryn’s Aunt to come for breakfast, grabbed some 4 bottles of nice Sandalford red wine for dinner and some Little Creatures beers with a cheese platter from the kitchen as our contribution to the dinner and off we went.

After dinner Steve and I played acoustic guitars till midnight and listened to their very interesting stories of the happy and friendly spirits (“ghosts) that inhabit the place – one of which our two cameramen believe they saw one of the dogs leaning on.

Peter and I talked about tourism and eventually I offered to lend them our HD video camera for a couple of months to help them with their work and so they could shoot some more video for DriveWA.com – they are great people doing a great job and they deserve assistance and encouragement – it wasn't just the excellent Sandalford wine and Little Creatures beers - all proudly Western Australian of course!

>> Go to Day 3: Geraldton to Kalbarri

Best Western Hospitality Inn Geraldton

The Best Western Hospitality Inn Geraldton offers 52 well appointed and extremely comfortable rooms as well as deluxe self contained apartments. The rooms boast a host of facilities such as air conditioning, internet facilities, free in-house movies and FOXTEL. The Inn also offers spacious grounds and an outdoor pool along with a guest BBQ area. more