Going west again.........part 3

 Here we are and it is the last day of 2024. Perhaps I should update newsfromjude so I am up to date!!

Following on from part 2, we left Perth on Friday morning and headed north towards Geraldton..... the sign is a bit blurry as I try to get a photo while the car is moving.........

                                             This map shows the road north............

...........and our destination for the day was to Cervantes..................which is a small coastal town.....

......the caravan park was very full, but they had overflow sites at the local oval............we knew that bookings would be a bit tricky, seeing as it is Christmas/New year holidays and also school holidays as well.................but can manage a couple of days without power and water supplied........

...........there was about 40 vans camped at the oval that night.................

The reason for stopping at Cervantes was to visit the Pinnacles............and the roadside to there was a mix of scrub and sandhills.............often the scrub had been burnt............

The Pinnacles are the most amazing geological limestone pillars and these photos just don't do them justice!!

                                           

                           

          

                                   

After we visited the Pinnacles, we drove around the area. The day was very windy, as you can see in this photo of the local beach, with the sand blowing..........and we ended the day by spoiling ourselves with a seafood platter which included crayfish (lobster).

We left Cervantes the next morning and headed north along the coast road. We called into other coastal towns..........this was at Green Head, and the water here was actually a green colour, but don't ask me why??

Not long after this we were detoured back onto the Brand Highway from the Coastal road, due to road works............we were aiming for Dongara .....but the road was closed due to a fire further on, and traffic was being turned back..............

...............we took a short cut around the fire in an effort to reach Dongara and came in on a back road..............all the time watching the fire.......

We arrived at our destination and left the car hitched to the van as Dongara was on alert watching the fire progress......you can see the fire in the background of this photo..........

We were staying with Maria and Blue. This is the first time we had met them, but I felt I knew Maria from our years of reading each other's blogs and joining in zoom sessions with Chooky. Barry and Blue got on well, talking cars and engines and men things......

Barry had noticed an issue with the braking on one of the wheels, so the guys set to work to find what the problem was.........sometimes 2 heads are better than one?????

Maria and I liked to think we were supervising?????

The problem turned out to be the brake shoes which had collapsed and disintegrated.............

Later in the day Maria and Blue took us for a drive around Dongara and Port Denison..........

The next morning Barry and Blue drove about 70km to the next larger town of Geraldton to see if they could purchase the parts needed to repair the brake shoes.......... they had success, and it wasn't long that afternoon before Barry had it all fixed.

It was lovely to spend time with this couple, and we thank them for having us. The blogging world has been lots of fun and I have made lots of friends from this.

We left Dongara this morning and headed further north. We called into Geraldton for a look see, and had lunch in the van at the Port. 

Geraldton is the largest town north of Perth and one of the most attractive coastal centres in Western Australia. It is both a seaside resort and an important port. Historically it attracted wheat farmers from the eastern hinterland for seaside holidays. 

There was much more that we could have seen, but were on mission to go further north..............

Our next stop was at Northampton which is a small town on the on main highway going north. We are using this as a base to tour Kalbarri which is about 100km in towards the coast. 

Stay tuned for Part 4 in 2025!!

Blessings, From Jude (oh, and Bazz!!)