A good morning to all from Geraldton!! Hope everyone is well, sorry about the epic message last time round we just havent been near a computer. The van isnt exactly an internet cafe!!

Day 48:

We are in Geraldton as you know, staying with Nick & Helen. They have a beautiful house here & we are both feeling a little spoilt. The fact that we have some company & a comfortable bed is enough but we have done so much more cool stuff in the last two days.

We had a brief stroll around town this morning before heading to the house & its a typical Australian town experiencing a total revamp. The population here is 33,000 (at the last count) which means its the first place since Perth where they dont need to marry cousins to keep the generations coming.

Nick took a loooong lunch & Helen had a day off so we all sat & chatted for the afternoon in their bbq area. Nick & Helen were off to the Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow 2008 tonight. After a few calls Nick managed to bag us 2 tickets to join them so we didnt hesitate in grabbing those! Not only were they free tickets, we had free food & booze all night!! Talk about landing on your feet.

The comedians were amazing, our faces were aching from all the laughing by the end of it so we went back to the VIP area for some more food & drink!! Headed home around midnight & stayed up chatting til 2am.

Day 49:

Today we went to the Museum in town & it was so good. Didnt expect a lot & there was plenty to do & see. The only strange thing is that they have artifacts & samples of 'ancient' material dating all the way back to the 1900's!! Not really a lot of history here to be fair but plenty has gone on in that time.

We saw a short documentary about the HMAS Sydney, a warship that was sunk in battle with a German boat just off the coast of Geraldton. They only discovered the wreck in March this year & the museum had some pics of the wreck on display. The town also has a Memorial for the 600 plus crew that lost their lives so we went to see that afterwards.

It was a beautiful site, a stainless steel dome made up of seagull shapes all linked together. One bird for each missing sailor. Then a replica of the stern of the ship & a bronze statue of a woman looking out to see to symbolize the womanfolk waiting for their men to return. Quite amazing.

We headed back to the house & cooked lunch for the four of us then spent the afternoon trying to get some money wired to my Aussie account. Was a nightmare, had to go to the bank in town & spend about $30 on the phone. All sorted now hopefully!!

At 5pm we were rushed out the door by Nick to head to one of his client's yard. We met him (Nigel) at the comedy show the night before & he offered us a free helicopter ride over Geraldton. We accepted! It was the most amazing experience, just to see an entire town from what is essentially a glass bubble. It blew us away. A million thank you's to Nigel!!

We rushed home after the chopper ride to have a bbq that Helen prepared. Fillet steak, cumberland sausage, corn on the cob & potato salad. An absolute treat for us stinking skint campers.

We were all invited to a 50th birthday party at their next door neighbours so we headed round there & drank more wine. They had a great selection of cheeses as well which we cant get enough of so we didnt stop picking at those all night. Helen & Nick bought a huge chocolate birthday cake as well which went down a treat. Probably our fattiest day yet but who cares, it was so good!

The people at the party were really cool as well. Sandy who's birthday it was seemed to be rather merry when we arrived & her hubby Murray was a little more reserved, only just come out of hospital apparently. Then another woman called Tess who's son has just been travelling for over two years & is planning the next trip already!!

Day 50:

Today is the day we need to get ourselves sorted out. Our van is too messy to accommodate a pig at the moment so it needs a tidy!! We havent been to the beach yet so our aim is a few hours down there, its only a 3 minute walk down the road.

Gonna spend this evening planning our next few days as Nick & Helen hae lots of experience of the route we are taking up North so they have some essential tips & free places to stay along the way.

Overall, Geraldton has been a fantastic place to stay. We owe it all to Nick & Helen in fairness so we wanna say a massive thank you to you both, weve really enjoyed our time here & will definitely be back on the way down.

That's it for this installment, sorry if Im keeping you all up. Hopefully gonna get the pics & vids on now as well. Love to all from us both. Probably wont be in touch for a while now as we dont know where we might get access to a computer. xxx