Glen told me yesterday that he could make it rain. He does that by polishing the car and last night it rained! This is the first rain that we have had since we left home. Morning was fine and sunny.
We packed up early and left the camper just outside the caravan park, so that we could put the car in for a service. We were dropped downtown and visited the yellow submarine, the Cathedral and Quilt Shop and picked up some supplies for the few days that we will be at Lake Indoon.
Geraldton is the second largest centre in WA and that is with 38,000 people. The retail is less than we would find in our smaller towns on the eat coast. Most towns do not even have a basic supermarket and the grocery prices are extremely high. The majority of Western Australians live in the south west of the state. We are very spoilt on the east coast as you buy whatever fairly easily. We really liked Geraldton, the people are friendly, and the foreshore is just great and is being revamped. There are plenty of nice outdoor public spaces. It is nice that the heritage is being conserved.
We did the tour of the St Francis Xavier Cathedral with a guide, as this is the only way that you can access the crypt. Priest architect John Cyril Hawes arrived in Geraldton in 1915 to take up the parish priest position and designed this cathedral and several other churches in the district. He was hands on, helping build and also doing many stone carvings and paintings with the cathedral. John Hawes was first a Anglican Minister who preached in the Bahamas and then converted to Catholic faith. He later returned to the Bahamas where he died. The church was not consecrated until 1988 as it had to be debt free in order to do so. They are now raising money for the restoration of the church and the building of a cafe and museum on site as well. What’s in the crypt? Well no bodies – There are artefacts – cloth and bones from saints, piece of wood from the cross. After picking up the car, we had lunch and headed off towards Lake Indoon.
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