My Gateway to the Abrolhos and Kalbarri – Geraldton, Western Australia
Getting to know you – on foot.
I was in Western Australia’s capital Perth for a couple of weeks and wanted to see what I could of the west. It wasn’t easy picking out-of-town excursions. Western Australia is huge, and east, south, north, each direction is so different from the others. One place I wanted to visit was Cape Leeuwin in the south, where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. So, I took a day trip, and while it was well-organized and covered all the high spots there and back, it was a heck of a long ride. So, when I determined to visit Kalbarri National Park and the Houtman Abrolhos Islands northward up the coast, I decided to stay in the small city of Geraldton. Staying in smaller cities is a great way to get to know another country or state better; and it would save loads of time going back and forth from Perth. Staying in Geraldton turned out to be a great choice.
See Around Geraldton – wildflowers, shipwrecks, and big nature for more info about the park and islands!
Geraldton
Geraldton is a four-hour hop from Perth by car or bus, or a short flight. Maps suggested all the in-town sights were walkable, so I flew and skipped the car hire. As our flight approached Geraldton, the cabin crew took a head count of passengers needing taxis. The flight crew called ahead. Taxi drivers identified us by seat number. Be attentive, and press the call button if asked, or you could be out of luck. I didn’t see another taxi until the one I’d arranged for picked me up the day I flew back to Perth. Hailing a taxi on the street didn’t seem to be something you did in Geraldton.
I’ve spent plenty of time in beach towns, and should have known that a town right on the coast will spread along the shore. And, Geraldton does spread. So, sometimes getting around, such as to the Western Australia Museum, or to Priceline for more Elastoplasts (adhesive bandages), was a long hike. Still, a car wasn’t essential. I could have spent more time in places I visited than walking there and back, but I got better at plotting routes, combining visits, learning the back ways, and I discovered more about Geraldton. And think of all the steps I got.
Geraldton’s busy port shields to town from dependence on tourism, but the tourism sector is well-developed, too.
Getting My Bearings
Since I planned to walk, I picked a place to stay that looked close to what I thought of as center. It was generally central, but Weelaway House was closer to one edge of center, and most of my destinations were on the other edge, up the shore. Still, I enjoyed Weelaway, a comfortable, historic house (1862) in a real neighborhood, that’s sort of a DIY B&B, with self-check-in, make your own breakfast from bread, spreads, coffee and tea provided in the common kitchen, and a nice parlor for collapsing after a long walk, or having a chat with other guests. When I met local people and they asked where I was staying, to a person they knew Weelaway. I was the only guest without a car during my stay. As other people drove off for the day (some to work sites), I slung on my backpack and tromped into town. Until I got my bearings, I found my way back home by looking for the huge date palms in the side yard.
In any town an obvious first thing to do is go to the local Visitor Centre. And it was a good start in Geraldton – the staff were energetic and helpful, offering plenty of options even for pedestrians. I picked up a good map, booked a flight to the Abrolhos Islands and then went off to find food.
Patio outside my room at Weelaway.
Food
I like good meals but I’m no foodie, so didn’t get into Geraldton’s food scene – and didn’t even eat much seafood. Sacrilege! I found two good places and stuck with them, along with Woolworth’s for groceries. After all, I had a kitchen.
Café Fleur is a few blocks along Marine Terrace from the Visitor Centre. There was a crowd and it looked comfortable. It was getting on early afternoon, and good thing I didn’t waste time getting there. The café closed about the time my food was served, so watch the opening hours! My lunch salad was good, and a local couple I’d met earlier came over to say hello. That made me feel like I belonged. I came back to Café Fleur for lunch another day, and had a big, delicious breakfast there on Day 2. Café Fleur is not noted in my edition of Lonely Planet, but it gets good reviews online, and I recommend it.
Waiting at The Provincial was fun in itself.
The Provincial was on “my” end of Marine Terrace, and it became my dinner place. This restaurant does get a nod in my Lonely Planet. I enjoyed wine while waiting for good casual food (pork tacos, interesting pizzas), tried to make drawings of the eerie but droll graphics, and people watched. It’s a fun place. One night there was a band. Sunny. Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone. I liked the place, the food, and I knew the songs.
I also caught a lunch at Jaffle Shack on the foreshore, a place with good sandwiches (jaffles) and drinks, that seems to close up like a suitcase at night.
Sights in Town
I went to most of the pedestrian-accessible sights, and all were worth visiting. Sightseeing on foot could be long, urban walking, not a stroll on the country, but only getting to the HMAS Sydney Memorial was a rigorous walk. Early on, I underestimated the duration of walks and too closely targeted recurring tours at different sights. I’ll do this one at 10:30! And this one at 11:30! So, after a dash downhill from the Sydney memorial tour to the Western Australia Museum Shipwrecks Gallery tour, I learned to spread out my visits.
Here are a few words about some of the places I visited – see websites such as this one for more about the many local attractions, and see Around Geraldton for more on what I did in the environs.
The HMAS Sydney Memorial commemorates the 1941 sinking off Western Australia of the light cruiser Sydney and the loss of its entire 645 crew, after an encounter with a German ship disguised as a Dutch merchant. The Memorial is high above town, a stop for the history and the views. I recommend taking the tour, especially for those of us not familiar with the history. A follow-up visit to the Western Australia Museum, with its Sydney-related exhibits, will close the circle.
Geraldton Hospital
The Western Australia Museum in Geraldton is excellent, with well curated exhibits and a major exhibition about shipwrecks off the local coast, including the Batavia, the infamous Dutch East India Company ship that ran aground in the Abrolhos Islands in 1629. Take all the tours if you have time. I took the informative Shipwrecks Gallery tour, a well-delivered overview in a gallery full of remarkable artifacts. The Sydney exhibits, including videos, are very moving. The gift shop is well-stocked. See Around Geraldton for more on the Batavia and Abrolhos!
The Victorian-era, former district hospital was built in the late 19th century on Florence Nightingale’s principals with big windows and wide verandahs. It’s a lovely, airy building. There’s an interesting display created by former hospital nurses just inside. Nurses must have had some muscles to lift that porcelain bedpan.
Here also, I suggest the guided tour. Former nurse Karen led my group and shared health stories along with anecdotes about the town’s history. For one: an early rat-eradication plan that offered a bounty for each dead rat was successful, but although rats disappeared from the streets, they were still brought in for the bounty. Karen said resourceful townspeople had started breeding them.
The hospital property also had a second life as a minimum-security prison. According to Karen, prisoners were treated so well that warders took roll four times a day to see if anyone had broken in. The nearby Old Gaol is now a craft center where artisans work in the cells. Lovely things to buy, but it would be difficult for me to work in there.
Churches You Must See
I visited two notable churches, the Catholic cathedral of St. Francis Xavier, and the Geraldton Anglican Cathedral. The more famous is St. Francis Xavier, built by priest-architect Monsignor John Hawes, but don’t neglect the Anglican church if you like architecture.
Msgr Hawes arrived in Geraldton in 1916 and started building. It took 23 years to build St. Francis Xavier, considered his greatest work. Unhappily for me, the church was in the midst of major renovation when I was there, so St. Francis Xavier’s exterior with its big dome and caramel-colored stone is all I saw. There’s a museum nearby, but I missed that as well because of bad timing. Msgr Hawes is so well known that I suggest visiting the church, and the museum. Wish I had. Sometimes you just miss things.
The completely different Geraldton Anglican Cathedral is just up the street from St. Francis Xavier. Its appeal is more subtle, but I found it an astonishing, coherent conception. It was built in the early 1960s, fully modernist in style – there’s nothing derivative here. The footprint is a star; the stained glass is original to the design; the baptismal font is shaped like a coffin to symbolize death and rebirth. Western Australia minerals are embedded in the altar. The church’s green-carpeted interior is a single, enormous space that I would imagine airy on a hot WA summer day. Or maybe not. The church is a proud, modernist piece, an architectural statement as sure as Monsignor Hawes’s.
There’s Always More to Do
Now, when I look at Geraldton web sites, I wonder at some of the places in town that I didn’t visit. But there was a lot to see in the vicinity, and you do what time allows. I did learn a lot about the region, met nice people, had a relaxing time, and maybe the best thing was leaving with good memories and the thought that some day, I might be back.
Trip date: 2017; updated 2019
