Cervantes and Geraldton

We left Perth, excited to be on the way to Kalbarri to visit our awesome friends, Bec and John.

Cervantes was the first stop and we stayed at a seaside caravan park in what seemed like a bit of a ghost town.  The caravan park was huge but had only half a dozen vans in it and the streets were largely deserted.  A quick drive around town revealed that nearly everyone owns a tractor and a huge, empty boat trailer.  Assuming that at least 85% of the aforementioned huge, empty boat trailers usually held huge boats, we concluded that most people were fisher folk and that everyone was out fishing - obviously the local industry :)

Jenny was keen to see The Pinnacles at sunset so we drove out there mid afternoon and spent a lovely few hours walking through the desert, looking at the amazing towers.  It was fun trying to explain to Ben that even though all the other people there were ignoring the 'Keep off the Dunes' and 'Don't Touch the Pinnacles' signs, he had to obey them.

Jenny and Ben being Pinnacles.

The sunset was nice but nothing spectacular.  We'd hoped for one of those blazing red skies but it was cloudy so it was a bit tame.  The moon came out early and was bright in the sky, peeking out from behind clouds on the opposite horizon so we still had some great views as darkness fell. 

First use of our driving lights!

On the way home we decided we couldn't be arsed cooking so we stopped at the local bistro for some fresh seafood.  I don't usually eat crustaceans but the locally caught lobster was a house special and Jenny harangued me with 'Green Eggs and Ham' until I agreed to try it.  She even took a photo of the occasion and sent it to my Mum.  For the record it was yummy :)

The next day we took a drive to Jurien Bay and were again impressed by the clean, modern foreshore and awesome playground.  Ben had a great ride (except for when some asshole tried to run him over - Ben was fine, we were very close to dragging the old bastard under the jetty and leaving him tied to the pylons for the crabs to nibble on).

The old Jurien jetty is a protected zone that is excellent for snorkeling.  Jenny and Ben went in but I woosed out because it was cold and windy.  The wind proved to be a problem and visibility was really poor.  Jenny spent most of the time trying to stop Ben washing into the pylons and in the process, washed into one herself.  The barnacles sliced into her upper arm a bit and now it has healed (this is a few weeks ago now) she has four little slice scars - it looks like she was attacked by a teeny weeny Wolverine.

Lake Thetis is one of only a few places in the world with living marine stromatolites, or 'Living fossils'. The microbes that build stromatolites are a species of cyanobacteria and are similar to those which are the earliest record of life on Earth. The lake's stromatolites that look like rocky lumps have been dated to about 3370 years old. (Text stolen from http://www.visitpinnaclescountry.com.au/pages/lake-thetis-and-stromatolites)

Riding / jogging around Lake Thetis.

The lake has a walking track around it so Ben rode his bike and we decided to jog around it with him.  He got very inspired by the sand and rocky track and thought he was like his idol Chris Akrigg.  he made me run next to him with music pumping from my phone like he was in an action video.

I wasn't really looking forward to Geraldton - it was a stop over to break up the drive and to get Jenny a neck X-ray (recommended by a physio as her neck keeps going into spasm).  As it was just before Easter we got chocolate eggs when we checked into the caravan park and they also gave Ben an activity pack.  We went out to do some shopping only to be reminded that everything shuts at 5pm in WA.  Silly, silly city slickers.  We checked Trip Advisor for a good restaurant and ended up at the foreshore in an Italian place.  I don't want to bang on yet again about the outstanding WA foreshores but this one was the best yet.  Opposite the restaurant, next to a paved trail along the beach were three modern, interesting, enclosed playgrounds and a splash park play area.  They were clean and tidy - the best we have seen.  Melbourne could learn a LOT.  Ben insisted upon having a play and we had to promise a return trip the following day as it was after 6pm and the splash park wasn't splashy.  We organised late checkout the following day so that we could come back.

One of the three play areas on the Geraldton foreshore.  Awesome!

The restaurant had the best pizza we have had in years and the best chocolate milkshake 'in the world' (according to Ben.  We agreed, it was awesome.)