Hutt River to Geraldton

Once again it was a very windy morning so we moved our car to the camp kitchen and had breakfast in there.

At 9 am we went to meet Prince Leonard but unfortunately he wasn’t well today (he is almost 90 years old) so we were guided around the property by his son; Prince Ian.

Hutt River is a micronation founded by Leonard Casley. He was a farmer who in response to a dispute with the government over wheat production quotas proclaimed secession from Western Australia in 1970. Since then the law has been adjusted but Leonard succeeded and now goes under the title Prince Leonard I of Hutt. At their government office you can get your passport stamped, buy Hutt River stamps, money and souvenirs.

So in a way you can say we were out of the country for a day!

From Hutt River we drove to Northampton. It is a small town with a few historic buildings. We had a quick stop as Monique saw a very inspiring wood shop. Once again it’s a good thing we can’t fit much in our campervan…lol.

From Northampton we drove on to Geraldton. Since Adelaide this was the first real ‘city’ we came across so Monique was very excited. 

After arrival in the town center we had mixed feelings but after parking our car and exploring the ‘city’ by foot we were delighted to find very inspiring and creative shops, historic buildings and the beachfront looked very modern too. For lunch we had Indian curry which was nice for a change. All in all we were pleasantly surprised with Geraldton.

It was already late in the afternoon when we finally went to find a campsite. We read about a free campsite next to the road about 20 km east of Geraldton, so we decided to check it out. It turned out that camp spot was on top of a hill and although the view was wonderful, the wind was just horrendous!

Not much later we found ourselves back on the road towards Geraldton where we booked ourselves into Belair Gardens Caravan Park where we spent the evening sheltering for the wind in the camp kitchen.