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During our road journey from Kalbarri to Geraldton, we passed a Heritage listed site that was described on the signage as where convicts were housed while they were used for labor in the pearling industry and the mines. The buildings were in ruins but we got a good sense of how they and their stationmaster lived. Ray and Caleb found the “latrines” and then Caleb pretended to work at the McDonalds drive through, while Ray and I ordered. He was very good at the pushing buttons part and holding out his hand for money.

We’ve made a habit of stopping at roadside fruit and vegetable sellers to buy very cheap homegrown produce. Ray spotted one about 50km out of Geraldton. The sign on the main road said 3km down the side road. We commented all the way that the distance would make them taste better and they would be worth waiting for. When we finally got there the sign said it all. Closed until 2pm. It was 1pm. Typical. We continued on our way. Geraldton is a sprawling city of about 38,000 people. The council has spent a lot of money improving “trouble” areas like the foreshore. We will take a look tomorrow.

We ran into Richard and Sonia in the caravan park. We met them in our Darwin caravan park. They (with their 3 kids) had been travelling for approximately 11 of their 12 months. We kept bumping into them along the way wherever we travelled. They live in Perth and tonight was the very last night of their trip. Tomorrow they will be home in Perth. We are on travel day 80, they are on day 360 (or similar). We kind of felt sorry for them and just quietly, were pretty glad it wasn’t us. We stood looking at each other, not really knowing what to say. They then said that they wished they could swap with us and do it all over again. They weren’t ready for it to be over. We wished them safe travels and a smooth transition back to the “real world “.