Road trip North with the boys DAY1

Well, it's time for a road trip up North with the boys but we did lode two of them, as Chase had Tafe and work experience with school and Harry had work. So, we replaced both of them with Eric and Bazza, which in my opinion was a bloody good trade.

And just as Jacko's Eddy's tyres were getting warmed up, we had our first stopover at The Mugumber Hub Pub. which seemed like a good idea to stretch your legs and have a nice cold beer.

And you can see what the main attraction is at the pub and what it is known for, yep, it's got its own Oscar! Nah it has properly the only corner pool table that I have ever known. And it actually makes a lot of sense as it makes you look at hitting your ball in a whole different way. And after the game and with a nice cold beer we start off onto our trip again.

What are the chances of bumping into another pub on the way? This one is The Watheroo Station. It had just opened so that was a bit of luck, and it was a ripper day, so everything was starting to look good, it's starting to look like a nice camping trip.

Oh, how nice was that Great Northern pint as it slid down the throat and Jacko giving us a majestic symbol, before beating Oscar at their game of pool.

We drove through Carnamah and found the world's biggest tractor sculpture and isn't it a bloody ripper. The tractor is a five-times replica of the Chamberlain 40K, which was the first tractor manufactured in Western Australia in 1949.

The tractor, which is 11.5 metres high and 16 metres long, was constructed using 42 tonnes of steel by DIAB Engineering in Geraldton.

And then we drove along the Midlands highway till we headed into Three Springs and noticed this little beauty sitting in the park, so boys being boys the two little fellas jumped up for a photo Opp. We were supposed to stop at the Commerical hotel but that's when we found out that most pubs stay shut until four in the arvo, as unfortunately it's hard times out in the bush and people are tightening their belts.

With a ripper autumn sun shining on us, we had our first look at the Geraldton's HMAS Sydney II Memorial. This National Memorial commemorates the loss of the HMAS Sydney II and the ship's company of 645 men on 19th November 1941. Returning from her convoy duties to Java, Sydney was proceeding south along the northwest coast of Western Australia when she sighted what appeared to be a merchant vessel at about 1600 on 19 November 1941, some 130 miles west of Shark Bay.

The vessel was actually the German raider Kormoran (under Commander Theodor Detmers). Detmers, benefiting from the element of surprise, opened fire at approximately 17:30 with all armament at a range ‘somewhat more than a mile’. It is likely that the raider’s first salvo destroyed Sydney’s bridge, with the result that her primary control was immediately put out of action.

With her stem low in the water, Sydney now turned sharply towards Kormoran as though attempting to ram. As she did so, the top of “B” turret was blown off and flew overboard. The cruiser then passed under Kormoran‘s stern, heading southward and losing way. Kormoran fired her last shot at 1825 at a range of about 11,000 yards. In all, she fired approximately 450 rounds from her main armament and hundreds from her anti-aircraft batteries. With the gathering gloom, the form of Sydney disappeared from view and was last seen by the Germans about ten miles off, heading approximately South-South-East. Thereafter, until about 2200, all that was seen was a distant glare, then occasional flickering's until midnight, at which time all trace of Sydney disappeared.

Of Sydney‘s total complement of 42 officers and 603 ratings, none survived. The only material evidence recovered from Sydney was an Australian naval type Carley life-float recovered eight days after the action by HMAS Herald and an Australian naval pattern lifebelt recovered by HMAS Wyrallah.

After getting over our history lesson, we headed just down the road to Batavia Brewing for a nice coldie, and it was a real nice brew to and it started our mini pub crawl in Geraldton.

But even during a pub crawl, if a fella sees a tank sitting in a spare block, I think it's mandatory to jump up and have a good gander at it. It's a Leopard AS1 tank that was given away to museums and RSL (Returned and Services League) clubs after being made redundant with a fleet of 59 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks.

Our next stop was the ripper old pub The Geraldton Hotel which me and Oscar hit while Jacko parked his Eddy,

the pub was the first watering hole in Geraldton, and was constructed in 1858 on Gregory Street, where it still remains to this day.

We were a bit out of luck here as not only did we miss out of Fish 'n chip friday but Sunday was its Skimpy day! Bugger. But it did have the mandatory pub pool table and of cause on tap beer, and a real ripper beer garden so what more could you ask for?... well maybe skimpy.

So, after a real nice start to Geraldton, we walked around the street to The Beach Hotel which looked pretty run down, but in my memory when a pub looks rough on the outside it can change once you walk through the doors.

But unfortunately, this didn't happen with The Beach hotel as it was just as rough inside, but it did have a skimpy! Now that brighten up Oscars eyes and also brightened up a dark pub. I liked the pub as I was used to drinking in rough pubs, but in this day of age we just expect things to be just that bit better than the old days. Me I liked her.... the pub that is.

What a romantic sunset over Geraldton waters... and what a way to finish off a ripper day camping out with my mates... Oh wait, there's a pub across the road.

We managed to reach The Foreshore bar for a final drink in Geraldton before setting off for our campsite, just the right time of arvo to sink a nice cold beer.

We had decided to cook up some stakes and snags on a barbie when we found our campsite for the night but just in case, we don't find a good enough spot for a feed we thought why not just have a feed here. And the best bit is we don't have to wash up tonight but just have a gander at that feed! Crikey what more could you ask for.

We walked in during the arvo and staggered out during the night, now that tells you that we thought of the place. It was spot on and now all we had to find was Eddy.

Just up the road, we pulled into Coronation Beach which was going to be our camp out for the night, we put out the chairs and opened up a few coldies to finish off our first day out and fairdinkum it was a beaut start.

After finishing off my last coldie for the night I sat there having a gander at Bazza in the moon light, and I told him he looked too scary to sleep next to tonight, so he was staying right where he was. Thank God the misses doesn't say the same to me.