Our second time in Geraldton.
Tuesday. 14/10/2008
We woke up to a VERY windy and cold morning. Even the cat had slipped into bed with us for a while to keep warm.
Lyn had washing to do first thing, and it was blown dry in moments - providing you could keep it on the line! Went and booked the
truck in for a much needed service, and tried to find a place for some new tyres for the van. With that done, I called into a
couple of job agencies and got the bad news. No work at all unless I had a larger truck license.
Many employers had been ringing in to cancel vacancies
while they waited to see what was going to happen with the economy. Not exactly what we wanted to hear.
Late in the afternoon we went to see Graham and Colleen who were staying at Sunset park. Graham gave me a few pointers as to where
to check for work tomorrow. They are planning to be here another three months, as he has good work driving road trains of ore trucks.
Wednesday. 15/10/2008
Not so cold this morning. Took the truck in and waited while they did the service. Cost less than I expected!
Below are some photos from around Geraldton, starting with the visitors welcome sign.
View from cliffs looking over south side of town.
Geraldton port from Sunset Beach
Eagles nest just north of the city
HMAS Sydney II memorial overlooking city
Sundial in Queens Park Theatre forecourt.
St Francis Xavier Cathedral in the background.
Point Moore Lighthouse.
34 M tall. Tower is made of prefabricated steel bought out from Birmingham. First light was in 1978.
Thursday. 16/10/2008
The new tyres for one side of the van arrived this morning, and they came out and fitted them for no extra.
Jobs are another thing though.
Visited several prospects and all I can get is three weeks work delivering Crisco next month. The town is very quiet at the moment.
Rang a job centre in Perth and they expected they would have me in work on a forklift within three days of arrival.
Rang a couple of van parks near the work area, and we can maybe get in for $160 per week.
We made the decision to definitely continue on to Perth over the weekend, so we could start looking for work on Monday
morning. That also meant we bought a cheap Garmin GPS for the truck so we can find our way around, and also in case I can get
a delivery job. Then got our gas bottles filled up and checked the generator fuel so we would be ready for a night on the
side of the road again.
Saturday. 18/10/2008
We had a relatively quiet trip down toward Perth. Had chosen a spot outside Bindoon for our night stay, to give us an
easy morning drive into Perth with plenty of time to find a suitable van park.
Stopped at two roadhouses until we found a Perth paper to search for jobs.
Just before Gin Gin, we pulled into a roadside bay for a stretch, when a 4 wheel drive pulled in close behind us, stirring
up lots of dust. 'Typical 4WD' we said, then the driver got out and came toward us.
Turned out to be a lady we had met in Margaret River, and they had recognised our rig.
They were working close by on the wheat harvest.
We had a chat about what we all had done, and about others we knew. It made an enjoyable break.
We went on to our camp spot, and set up for the night. Made some phone calls to caravan parks in the city
and did not get much of a
response. Most had no room for our large rig, or did not want our cat.
Not looking too good, but we thought a good night's sleep would help tomorrow.
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