Day 85: Geraldton to Jurien Bay

 The warm weather is returning and today is shaping up to be very pleasant. We are all packed up and leave Geraldton at 9 am, with about a 2.5 hr drive ahead of us, not including any stops.

The only significant town along the route is Dongara, and we took a short detour into the town centre with the intention of stopping for a coffee. The streets are very narrow and long vehicles are not really catered for, so we went back out to the highway and continued on. 

In the small town of Leeman, about 45 km out of Jurien Bay we did stop at a roadhouse, had a some coffee that was barely drinkable, and they had no toilets, so we used the one in the van. From here it was only a short trip to Jurien Bay, where our caravan park backs onto the beach.

We were all set up by 12.30 pm, and walked across the road to the Sandpiper Tavern for lunch.


After lunch we went for a walk out on the jetty where a lone fisherman was feeding the fish. We also discovered there was a beachside cafe at the jetty, which also looked like a good lunch option. The jetty is relatively new, completed in 2011 and largly for recreational use.





View back towards the beach and cafe from the end of the jetty

Jurien Bay is a small town, and everything is pretty close to the beach and our caravan park. On the other side of the park is a pub, IGA Supermarket, a butcher, bank etc in a small shopping centre. We will probably give the pub a try tonight.

A little out of town is the boat harbour which we drove out to have a look at. It is the centre for fishing and water based tourism which is quite popular here. It is a marvellous harbour, and there are a number of large professional fishing boats here. Sadly, many are up on the hard stand which may be a result of the fishing bans currently in place.


There are a number of service wharfs and a fish co-op


Lots of good sized berths

A large boat enters the harbour whilst we are walking out along the breakwall.


Entering the outer harbour before a hard turn to port to enter the inner harbour



Within the outer harbour area there is nice protected beach where a family we relaxing.


One of the main tourist activities from the harbour are cruises out to some nearby islands, that are where the Australian Sea Lions live. The islands are quite close and seas calm enough to get there in a tinny in ideal conditions like today.


One of the islands seen from the break wall

Walking back to the car along the wall we saw 3 shags having a good feed in the outer harbour, when all of a sudden they were joined by a dolphin who wanted to join the party.


The dolphin seems to push the shag out of the way



From the wall we also got a great view looking North up the beach towards the township.


Another tourist activity that is popular here is skydiving. We showed little interest.

Tomorrow we drive to Perth where we will spend 10 days catching up with our family, getting the car and caravan serviced, and shopping for a few minor bits and pieces that we haven't been able to find along the way.




 


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