Geraghty then freelanced in Cambodia and Australia, photographing the 2000 Summer Olympics. In 2001 she joined "The Sydney Morning Herald," where her first assignment was to cover the 2002 Bali bombings, describing it as "‘one of the most shocking things I’ve ever seen." In 2003, Geraghty was the first Fairfax woman photographer to cover a war when Mike Bowers, her picture editor, assigned her to photograph the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and was astonished when senior management told him that he would be held accountable if anything happened to Geraghty, who is quoted as responding; "War has been a guy's game for decades and decades". Bowers remembers that "It astounded me. I've got no idea; I can only assume it was because they were afraid of her being raped. I think they probably thought she would attract further attention to the male journalists who were going with her. I don't know."