Hi all
Looks like I could be offered a job in Geraldton in the coming months and wondered if anyone can tell us about the schools (ie good ones, bad ones etc...)

We have decided to come over and have a look at WA so have booked flights and we land on the 14th feb in the early hours.

We hope to arrive in Geraldton on Mon 16th. We would really appreciate it if someone who knows the area could meet us and give us the rundown.

We are renting a motorhome so if anyone can recommend a good campsite that would be cool.

Thanks for reading.

You need to get in touch with the user Gems. She lives in Geraldton.

Is there anyway you could go somewhere other than Geraldton? the place is a dump.

dosn't look like it at the moment although may be a chance of Northam.

What don't you like about Geraldton? Is it all bad or just certain areas?

Maybe this poster, JayDee sums it up best. This is from 2005. It's got worse since then. Last Christmas a man, celebrating Christmas on the beach with his family was beaten to death with a cricket bat after being set upon by aboriginals.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=320700

"Seriously I have had it with this place (Geraldton). Yes it is beautifull, the weather is fantastic, the beaches are stunning but what is the point in all of that if you ant live a normal life because of the criminals.

Yet again we have been robbed, 4 Aboriginal kids,3 girls and 1 boy only about 12-13 have come into the backpackers, broken into mine and Ants lounge and nicked, money, jewelery, ants watch, and other odds and sods, they also broke into a locked room in the shared kitchen which is 5ft round a corner from where we were sitting at the time having lunch and nicked a CD wallet full of 40 CD's and something else is missing but we cant figure out what was in the gap at the moment Ant caught the girls and they stayed and waitied for the police because they werent carrying any of it, the boy kept running as he had the stuff. The police know them but everytime they go to court they give the whole I've had a crap life story and dont get done for it. Fare enough they no doubt have had a crap life, If they know that then why dont they try and turn it arround rather than pop more children out at stupidly young ages to give them a carbon copy of their crap life.

Last night I was kept up by the wind obviously and some piss head out the front all on his own screaming how he wanted to kill people and throwing bins and glass bottles down the street (this is infact a regular ocurance probably every week to 2) A lot of them loonies (no I dont know if they really are mentally ill but they act like they are) get released from the local prison every week we get a prison van turn up in town and release those who are due for release, most of them dont come from Gero but they get dropped here because of the centrelink office and acccess to public housing therefore giving geraldton an inflated population of ex inmates etc
I have been called all the names under the sun for being white, I have had rocks, bottles and any other throwable object thrown at me whilst I am in the backpackers garden on at least 30 occasions, robbed 3 times in 9 months, I watch kids as young as 5 years old jumping on a moving train daily quite often at way past midnight, which scares the crap out of me as I really dont wanna see a kid die.

I spend night after night keeping an eye on our fence as they like to climb over and break into cars even though we put up 3 rows of barbed wire, I'm seriously considering razor wire and a gun.( to the gun bit)

People here have become so immune to the problems that nothing is done, The white people hate the black people and vice versa, For someone brought up in such a multicultural country as the UK to come to this is just heartbreaking.

AGHHHHHH anyway got that off my chest

A very very very Peed off kala"

Thanks for the info. I wasn't aware of such bad problems. Is it just in the centre or all suburbs as well?

I was just going to mention JayDee - she stuck it out for a while as she was married to a local guy and they ran the backpackers there, but eventually she couldn't cope with the whole situation and went home.

If you want to read more of her experiences have a look here and click on See posts by Jaydee...

Sorry Renth, but that old post is complete opposite to what I have seen or experienced living in the town.

I read the old post before I moved and panicked. However once I got here I laughed it couldnt be further from what Town is like now.

Have also never experienced any nasty behaviour from aborigines whilst living in Geraldton or when I was further north.

Ive lived here over a year and seen nothing of that. Also town has loads of new housing, new marina, new beach front park, water park and development.

Also several other UK teachers here now who also love it. In fact most want to stay on long term.

I live south of the city centre and fab here.

I have kids and we have found its very safe and happy to stay here long term.

Gems
Ps, I lived further north (9half hours from Perth )for 6 months so have experience living further out as comparison.

PS, Im not saying its never had any burglaries Im all towns have the odd thing, but I dont know anyone who has been burgled here. In fact we feel its safer than the UK and I have kids aged 4-16years.

Gems

PPs, the man with the bat was a one off and it was North of the town.
Perth and all city centres have stabbing and beating more often. One happens here and its more new worthy as its small place. But this is not the norm and doesnt happen all the time.

Gems

I could live in Geraldton - spent alot of time there as I design the websites for some of the kiteboarding companies (free lessons and kites thrown in )


Parts are a bit dodgy - and the crime is quite bad - and the town looks like it was designed by mr butlin.

But I spent 4 years in Moora! Try that for size!

I'd prefer to live in Geraldton (or Moora or any country town) than the suburbs of perth.

Looking out the window whilst driving in Perth reminds me of the scrolling background in a scooby doo cartoon

Western Australia is hardly recognised for its outstanding Architecture now is it!

I must be frightening off all the locals with my lily white skin, as Ive seen nothing of concern in over a year.lol

Gems

Have you ever got anything good to say about any place??? The death with cricket bat.... well I am sure that would never happen in Perth hey? Simply because there are no violent deaths in Perth compared to Gero, right? When I lived in Perth you shot my suburb down as a dump for people drinking on the streets whilst you were putting a fire out. You never did answer my original question;
" I do mind someone creating a general image of all people in one suburb based on looking at people sitting and drinking beer whilst bushfire is going on... May I ask if you are talking about the one on New Year's Day? Because we for one did enjoy a party to bring in the new year with a nice arvo BBQ, I guess that makes as bogans etc despite not having a mullet? Must have been a rare sight to see people drinking on New Year's Day...."

So based on that, makes me question Renth, how long did you live in Geraldton? Or is your usual opinion based on driving past, maybe staying a day or two yet again observing people?

I call it as I see it. There are plenty of others who share my opinions on
the suburb you refer to as well as to Geraldton.

People ask a question, I give an answer. You don't like it? too bad, get over it.

I cannot comment personally, having never been there.

However, my father came out of retirement to work managing the Centrelink offices. His job is to deal with vandalism and crimes that take place in all of the Centrelink offices around Australia.

The places he regularly has to travel to and/or handle emergency calls from in the middle of the night are largely in the Geraldton, Northern Territory and North Queensland areas.

At the same time, he says Geraldton is quite a nice place. The problem is, they do have a lot of trouble with Aborigines doing things like rioting and trying to set fire to the building, and he is always on the phone at three and four in the morning organising security guards to take care of things.