Geraldton 27/10/155

 Today was ute free , we got the bikes out and rode into town . First stop - the Information Centre to get a better town map . There's a bike track all the way in , that goes along the coast for quite a distance , we followed it for about 4 klms before turning and heading up the hill to the HMAS Sydney Memorial. There is a guided tour of it at 10:30 most days .
  There are flag poles at the entry , with propellers from various boats at the base of the poles . The entry is through some glass partitions into a circular area , fenced off with panels representing the ocean. On the inside of the panels are the names of all 645 sailors that died , and an explanation of what happened , as well as some old photos  etched into black marble .

 The centrepiece of the memorial is the dome . Beneath the dome is another propeller , larger than the ones outside - it was sent to Geraldton to go on a ship , but turned out to be not the right one , so it was used at the memorial ! The dome is made of 644 hand crafted stainless steel seagulls- representing each sailor -ah you say , there were 645 sailors - 1 apparently made it to Christmas Island where he was washed up and died there !
 Why seagulls you ask ? They say that they are the souls of lost sailors !!!

 The next part is a statue resembling the bow of the ship - that is where the ship was hit by a torpedo from the German ship Kormorant . It caused the Sydney to sink rapidly , hence no survivors - they wouldn't have had time to escape .

 Over to a bronze statue of a woman representing the many wives waiting for their husbands and boyfriends to return from the ocean .

 The final part of the memorial is a recessed , round fountain, with a solitary seagull - with it's wingtip identifying where the ship sank and also for the other sailor that washed up at Christmas Island. It was showing the location in a round map made of marble & red stone showing the latitude and longitude as well - 229 klms west of Steep Point !

There are beautiful gardens & lawns surrounding the memorial.

 We headed back down the hill to the esplanade again and made our way to the lookout near the harbour entrance - it is a replica of the old jetty ( in an artistic sort of way ) . There are telescopes to view the ships or coast or the resident sea lions , and a lookout up a flight of steps . There are views of the harbour and the coast stretching off into the distance to the northwest .

 We got chatting to a local guy there to watch the yacht racing - this week is their race week . He missed most of the race because he enjoyed having a chat to us !! The wind was a bit on the cool side , so we headed off and found a seat in the sun and out of the wind to have lunch . Warmed up & fed , we headed back to the park to take care of a few jobs .
 Braving the breeze , we went and had a quick swim in the pool before chatting to our neighbours who had looked up the RV on the Internet and seen our ute there . We showed them through , and they were impressed . We chatted for quite a while - it was 6 pm before we knew it !!