Inconsistency between PgAdmin III GUI and SQL window ?

I have first to admit the inconsistency is probably on my side!-)

The task - I want to clone a table I created in public schema in another
schema (xxx) of the same database.
The problem - I get an error message when creating the table using the
original SQL script: ERROR: type "geography" does not exist.

I understand from
"http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9067335/how-to-create-table-inside-speci
fic-schema-by-default-in-postgres" that the original script should work if I
set the search path to the destination schema (xxx) prior to execute the
script (set search_path to xxx ;) but the PgAdmin III SQL window does not
seem aware of the geography type.

What I do not understand is that using the GUI (contextual menu. new table .
new column.) within schema xxx, I can create the table as expected, and the
geography type is recognized.  Any idea about what is going on when using
the SQL window?

Daniel