Monday 28th February
Drive to Albany is a mixture of commercial forests and National Parks. We are getting into timber country, tall timber.
Did a quick lap of the town of Albany, not remembering it much from my visit here in 1973 with the family. Only 38 years ago and I don't remember, what has happened to my memory?
Stopped for lunch at the Jester pie shop. Our first ever jaffle pies and very tasty they were too. Who would have thought of combining pies and jaffles, but it works. The chips helped the whole experience too.
After a quick top-up at the supermarket it was off to check in to the Middleton Beach Big 4 Caravan Park. Slight problem “there is no room at the inn” well actually it's no powered sites available at the caravan park. Luckily they can squeeze us (literally) on to the emergency, unpowered site for tonight and then we can have a powered site for two nights.
Apparently it's a long weekend coming up in WA (Labour Day) and there are a couple of festivals and activities going on so it's a popular spot. In fact they can only fit us in until Thursday night and after that they are booked out. This is getting serious, we are going to have to plan ahead. That wasn't in the plan!
Once we settled in we had a quick explore and discovered the park is very swish, heated pool, spa, games room with pool table and air hockey and a separate, upstairs coffee lounge. Due to the lack of power on the site we set up for wine o'clock in the games room so we could plug the Mac in to keep it charged. What's this in the corner? Could it be? Yes, an Operation Wolf video game. Now at least one of our readers will remember Operation Wolf from the 1980's and the hours and pounds we spent playing the game in pubs before getting a version to run on the (original) PC. Does life get any better than this.
Having said that it's extremely windy and there was even some rain overnight.
Tuesday 1st March – Albany day tour in MM
Steve got another one of his bursts of energy and headed out for a walk before breakfast. Started off on the beach but it's covered in bluebottles (jellyfish not, actual blue, bottles) so ended up on the cliff walking path. It winds it's way along the coast and has great views over the bays and inlets. By the time I got back to MM Di had managed to get out of bed (ow that hurt Di, don't punch).Took us awhile to be able to get onto tonights site because the previous tenants haven't vacated so settled in for a coffee and a relaxing read.
After lunch it was off on the tourist trail. We headed towards Frenchmans Bay in search of Whale World. I'm not sure if they are a bit embarrassed about the whole whale hunting connection but the place is not exactly well sign-posted. On the way though we managed to find a couple of the attractions from the tourist brochures: the Gap and the Natural Bridge, more spectacular coastline and granite cliffs. Again ignoring our own health and safety your intrepid blog editors ventured out in to the wild and dangerous environment.
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| Yes, that flimsy little platform hanging over the raging ocean is where your intrepid Editor stood to get the photo's |
Eventually found Whale World at the end of the road. It's actually on the site of the last operating Whaling station in Australia as well as scene of Peter King's now famous Great White Shark hunting expeditions (although there is no mention of those exploits that we could see in the exhibits).
The tour guide did give enough of a graphic description of the scenes in the bay when the whales were being bought in and the sharks feeding frenzies for us to shiver though.
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| A re-enactment from Moby Dick He did not feel the wind, or smell the salt air. He only stood, staring at the horizon, with the marks of some inner crucifixion and woe deep in his face. |
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| Not again Bosun, you did this to us at Whyalla. When I say reverse, I mean reverse! |
Filled up with diesel on the way back to the park and we needed over 70 litres (and spent over $100 for the first time). Really must check the manual and see how big the tank is.
Took advantage of the park facilities and cooked dinner on the camp BBQ tonight. (Just being thoughtful and saving Di some washing up. I spoil that woman).
Wednesday 2nd March
Lazy day in MM today. Well not completely lazy, Di did a bit of cleaning, gave Steve a haircut. Steve did a bit of catching up on the blog and we both managed to get in a bit of reading. The weather was pretty ordinary, bit overcast and still very windy. Also managed to organise accommodation for the long weekend, after ringing 4 parks that were all booked out we managed to get in to the Ocean Beach Big 4 at Denmark. Mind you the old free enterprise system is working at it's best. Supply and demand means they are charging $45 per night with a 3 night minimum for the weekend. Big 4 discount knocks of 10% for us but it's still well above budget.
Thursday 3rd March
Steve off on another walk before breakfast, must be the sea air.
Fish and chips for lunch today, or rather fish, chips and salt and pepper squid. Just got takeaway at the Calamaris on the Beach and sat up in the park to eat them looking out over the bay. The council has done a great job setting up tables and benches in a natural amphitheatre set-up with all the benches looking out to sea, and sheltered from the wind.
Knowing that we are leaving tomorrow Steve stopped in for a quick play on the operation Wolf game (getting a bit emotional just thinking about leaving it behind. Despite the fact I can't get past level 2!)
Had a quick chat to the guy next door this afternoon, he is carrying a little motor scooter on the back of his van that his wife uses when he takes the 4WD out to go surfing. Only weighs 90kgs (the scooter not the wife). No Stephen it's not going to work, don't even think about it, you can't have a scooter.
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