Left: Pink Lake, Both algae and bacteria that thrive in super salty conditions give the colour.
In Geraldton, we booked a B&B at the tourist info. The owner is quite a character and let's say, not the most politically correct person. Told us about about the gorgeous German backpacker and his sons descriptions of her body parts, so he "knew where he'd been". Marie handled it ok but was not comfortable. Ollie said Frank was annoying and swore way too much.
The B and B was pretty cool, a home from the 1880s, immaculately painted by the German backpacker, who must have been particular about it. It sat up on the hill with a nice view over town. He kept giving us crazier deals to stay, so we ended up staying two more nights.
Wandered around town mainly, shopping a bit. The kids loved the park near the tourist info office. It was a relaxing stay. The main street is very nicely preserved, just needs a repaint of the gaudier stores.
Left: at the Geraldton Museum, the story of the Batavia. It was a flag ship of the fleet, a large one, loaded with silver coins to buy spices. It was stuck on the reef of the Abrolhos Islands. Abrolhos means keep your eyes open in Portuguese. The watch thought the waves were reflections of the moon. The ship broke up.
On the island, the captain set off to find help. The second in charge was mental and arbitrarily killed people etc. On the captains return, he and 5 others were hung. Everyone probably perished. There is a chance they might find the local aboriginal people.
Right: the HMAS Sydney II and the Kormoran. The German ship was disguised as a small cruise ship, until the victim was close. Steel plates dropped quickly, and the German flag went up, while they opened fire on the unsuspecting.
The Sydney's life rafts were all either blown up, or burned. All 645 people went down with the ship.
On the German side, the Kormoran lost 80, but about 260 survived.
It was the worst disaster the Navy has ever had.
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