Australia 2016: Geraldton Australia

Geraldton Australia

We had some very disappointing news regarding our NEXT port after Geraldton. They let us know (actually... a few days before our second cruise started) that because of increased terrorist activity in Indonesia, our Bali port will be canceled. At first we didn’t believe them, but we did check it out on the internet, and it was true that there has been some threats made that could make it unsafe in that country . Royal Caribbean's security team from Miami made that determination that because of the risk of their passengers safety, they canceled that stop. Instead we will be one day earlier in Darwin, and will spend 2 days in Cairns, the ship will not be docked, it will be anchored a few miles off shore, and 'tender' boats will take us to the port. We are happy that they were looking out for our safety, but, needless to say we are disappointed. We had already booked a tour to ride ’elephants’. We have already been credited that amount. Several other cruise ships before and after us have canceled that port as well.

OKAY, Now on with our blog!
We are still cruising in the Indian Ocean, and will be for a couple of days. Once we get to Darwin, we’ll be in the Timor Sea.

Geraldton is a another city also in the Australian state of Western Australia and is located 265 miles north of Perth. The population of Geraldton is 36,000.

Its interesting when the local 'welcoming' committee greets us with 'fans' on a stick, AND now we know its going to be hot,

The local aboriginals have been in this area for over 40,000 years. Those native to this area are known as the Yamatji people. There are still many aboriginals, some now go to the universities. Many make jewelry and many are artists. Aboriginal art is very popular in every port we’ve been in, in Australia, and is a very distinctive form of painting. It is done with natural earth based sediments that they create and blend to make the natural paint, and is done by painting dots, thousands of dots. The artwork they create tell their stories. (We’re hoping to purchase a print before we get back to Sydney. We’re trying to find one small enough to fit in a suitcase.) These native aboriginals like their liquor. Not just in this town, but many towns in Australian, in towns they sleep under trees, and leave their liquor bottles to litter up the city. Sad to see.
In this port we took a tour of Greenough, one of the first settlements in Western Australia. In the early 19th century, this was a thriving community. One of the many different kinds of trees in this village.

Here there were 11 restored buildings that we walked through, many of them churches of different denominations, library, school. There were llamas wondering around the area.

This area is called Leaning Tree, because the gum eucalyptus trees on the windward side in this area grow horizontally at 90 degrees rather than vertically, due to strong coastal winds.

They have determined the salt in the coastal winds that constantly blow kill off the side of the trees that face the ocean. Its not all the trees, just the eucluptus trees that come in contact with the prevailing coastal wind.

Then our tour bus took us to a Greenough Wildlife and Bird Park,

a privately owned park where they rehabilitate and rescue all kinds of Australian wildlife. When we boarded the tour bus back at the ship, the tour guide was wearing a sling type of purse, and inside was a ‘joey’. The joey was in the bag at all our stops and all the time on the bus. When we arrived at this park, which she is one of the owners, she let the joey out onto a grassy area. AFTER taking of the joeys ‘diaper‘.

They have other young kangaroos roaming the yard as well. This park has crocodiles and pythons, camels, sheep, goats, emu’s, ostrich, parakeets, parrots, dingos, and lots and lots of kangaroos. At one time they had a lot of camels they used in the outback, some got loose and there are still wild camels in Australia. They had 'food' machines with 'animal' food, that most of the animals in this park like as their treat, so Gene bought some and fed many of them. Here are several pictures of the animals and we saw that day.