Go to Jail , directly to Jail 2/11/15

  After a windy & wet night and a disturbed nights sleep , we managed to get some extra time and slept in .
  Time to go for a drive , the weather wasn't special , with a cool wind and the odd shower blowing through , we headed down town and found the Old Geraldton Gaol . Wandering in we found an exercise yard , then we found the cells going off a larger room - in this larger area was a collection of stones , some polished , specimens from all over Australia - they were half the collection owned by Archie . He has one of the cells , that he uses as a small shop for his craft work - he cuts and bends tin and turns it into small peacocks and other little trinkets . He also has a lot of his old photos there , from when he was a child getting taken to school in a horse and buggy , to when he was a shearer working with 16 others , shearing 63,000 sheep in 6 weeks , and also when they went on holidays in an early model truck , getting bogged in the sand track that was once the North West Highway . He is at least 80 and still going reasonably well for an old shearer !!
 The other cells also had arts & crafts people , working on , and selling their goods . Back to the gaol , we checked out a couple of other exercise yards and rooms , and more cells including the solitary confinement cell where you were fed bread & water - it was about 2m x 1.5m and the only other thing you had was a bucket !!

  In the days before razor wire , the tops of the exercise yard walls were decorated with broken bottles , so if you got up there you would probably be leaving a trail of blood as you escaped !!
 We left the gaol and went across the carpark to the hospital - maybe that's where the prisoners went when they escaped ???

  The old hospital is a 2 storey building with wide verandahs and ballustrading , quite an impressive building .
 Jumping back in the ute , we headed north along the beach front making our way up to Drummond Cove - a newer subdivision beside the beach . There was a band of cloud running from out to sea straight over the top of us and was about to dump some more rain on us , so we headed back to Geraldton for some fish & chips for lunch . We found a sheltered spot down on the beach near the yacht club that was out of the wind and in the sun . The wind had backed off a bit now , and was much nicer .
 We headed around to the St Francis Xavier Cathedral for a quick look - it was designed by Monsignor John Hawes - renowned for his architectural genius . It was built in stages from 1916 to 1938 . The Monsignor was also a resident at Greenough - where we were yesterday .

   The inside of the cathedral is a bit different from your average church !!
  That's the fun over for the day , now it's time to do the shopping , head back & put it all away , a swim and then some cheese & bickies and a beer , before preparing to move further south tomorrow .
 Maps will return when the computer is repaired - sorry about that !!