Perth to Geraldton

Leaving Perth in the rain, I was looking forward to better weather driving North: not the case! It rained on and off all the way for the 4.5 hour journey. At first, there were a series of roadworks on the Tonkin Highway. It was a real dog’s breakfast! It was unclear which lane you were supposed to be in to go straight ahead, as often the off-ramp was being used, with the arrows on the road surface crossed out with a big cross. In the heavy rain, this cross was hard to see. I am not coming back this way!

Later, another hazard had been introduced since I came this way a year ago. Rumble strips had been installed in the centre of the road, and it was unclear to me whether overtaking was allowed if it meant driving over these. Observing other drivers, the consensus seemed to be that you could (provided that the white line underneath the rumble strip permitted this). On a wet road, it was hard to fathom all this out. I drove all the way at a much slower speed than I normally do. I didn’t reach Geraldton till 4.30 pm when I was happy to use the free drink voucher customarily provided.

I was keen to go for a walk on the foreshore to get some sea air,  even though it was starting to get dark:

Octopus on a lamp post!

A red sunset soon followed:


I had secured a booking, earlier in the week by phone, for the top restaurant in town (supposedly): the Salt Dish, but it had to be at 5.45 pm. It is only open for dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings, so I was lucky to be passing through Geraldton on the right day. There were a lot of young staff, rather inexperienced, I thought and the place will have to work hard to maintain its reputation.

Seafood chowder.

Twice cooked pork belly.