Beautiful Albany

We spent the first 3 minutes after pulling out from our van park driving around 20kms of magnificent coastline west of Esperance. The beaches are incredible.

The water is a beautiful blue, the sand is incredibly white and the headlands are all granite and remarkably different to the east coast. The contrast is startling and creates a unique combination. We all agreed that it resulted in some of the most spectacular beaches we have ever seen.

We then had an uneventful and pleasant 500kms to Albany. Actually it felt quite hard after the Nullarbor as the roads were a lot narrower and there were so many road trains particularly around Ravensthorpe where there is a lot of mining. The rest of the time I was being blown off the road by huge grain trucks and road trains.

We didn't get into Albany until about 5pm and on the way didn't have much in the way of phone reception so straight to the Visitor Centre for information on sights and caravan parks. As is usually the case the staff were fantastic. The prices for parks was quite high in town so we headed out to a small park about 9 kms around on the other side, called Frenchmans Bay.

Not the best amenities and no playground for the kids but our location is brilliant. It was dark when we pulled in but we could see straight across the bay to the township and TJ and I both got a good feeling about Albany as a whole from our first glimpse.

This is what we woke up to see.

 

 

 

This is 15 m from our caravan.

Just beautiful.

We then went into Albany to have a walk around town on a self guided historical tour. What a lovely town. There southern part of the town slopes down to the water front. There has been a lot of development around the foreshore with a new Entertainment Centre, walking bridge and Anzac Peace Park all completed in the last couple of years.

 

There is a lot of European history with Albany the oldest settlement in WA. There is also a very strong bond with WW1 and Gallipoli. All of the ships carrying the first soldiers to head over to Egypt and onto Anzac Cove gathered here just a few months after war was declared and headed out a couple of weeks later. They came from all over Australia as well as from NZ. The first ever Gallipoli service was held here in 1918 by a minister who had been injured earlier on in the war.

We all really enjoyed our walk around town including a look around one of the oldest cottages in town. It was called Patrick's cottage so we couldn't go past. We then stopped in for a coffee at the Vancouver café. Finally we came across a place where the service and coffee were both excellent. The staff were friendly and the chef even came out to share his secrets about making great scones. TJ and I have both felt that despite having gone into numerous cafes and a few restaurants we had not encountered the friendly welcome we had expected from country towns.

Anyway this place has made up for it in spades.

Then we got some lovely fish and chips and went back home.

Today started early as we had a lot planned. Straight to the weekly farmers markets where we picked up some local fruit and veg and some beautiful Southern WA honey. Then onto a local craft market that wasn't much good.

We then headed up to the Princess Royal Fort which is a military heritage centre and has a magnificent view. The fort was originally set up with guns and bunkers in the late 1800's and they still have the guns and the weapons store there, with bunkers and slit trenches all there for the kids to climb on and walk through.

 

TJ through the barrel of one of the big guns.

Further down the hill is more big guns from more recent times as well as a museum that has a vast array of memorabilia on the Light Horse, HMAS Perth which was scuttled just of the coast of Albany and is now apparently a great dive spot, submariners, just lots and lots of military history.

This is the view from the big guns over the bay. This is exactly where all of the ships waited to go off to fight in October 1918.

This last pic is from a lookout that was established on the sight of the watchtower used by the American submariners who were posted here in WW2.

We all really enjoyed our visit to the fortress.

Then it was onto the wind farm. What a majestic look these huge monsters have.

The first thing that strikes you is their incredible size about 65m high and each blade about 35m long. When you first get out of the car you can here the noise they make as they glide through the air. Apparently these 18 elegant turbines can generate enough power to satisfy almost 3/4 of Albany's needs. Makes you wonder why they aren't used more often. Certainly no stinky coal fumes here!!!

Our last stop for the day was Torndirrup NP just a few minutes the other side of our caravan park. This part of the coast is really exposed and the weather has done some amazing things to the granite coastline. Here we visited the natural bridge.

The Gap.

Finally the blowhole.



Unfortunately there was a lot of noise but not much in the way of water out of the hole.

Then it was back to the van for a bike ride and dinner.

We head out of there tomorrow for the south west coast of WA.

Albany has been one of the best towns we have been to. Although cold the weather has been great with clear sunny days. The people here are extremely friendly and the scenery and history amazing.

We made it safely across the Nullarbor

Yes we did it.

We left Port Lincoln early Saturday morning knowing there were a number of things we wanted to see on our way north.

We have realised that we need to get moving. We have really enjoyed taking our time and staying three or four days in places and really getting a good look around but with the slight change in our plans we needed to step up the pace. So you will see we are going to be covering bigger distances in the future. We worked it out that we have about 12000kms to cover by the end of August.

In saying this we still have stayed in places for three days or more and driven off without having seen it all.

First stop was a little out of the way.

We saw a sign for a pig farm the day before on our way to Coffin Bay which had Patch all excited as they are his second favourite animals but were running a bit late to stop.

I have to say they are my favourite animals too.

So we decided to surprise him and go and have a look on our way out of town even though it was about 10 kms out of our way...or so we thought.

We turned into the road following the signpost and slowly drove along a dirt road for about 4 kms. Then came to another turn off with a 7.5 km sign. Being the great parents we are we unhooked the van and drove the rest of the way.

His smile made it worth the effort. There were about 500 Berkshire pigs on the farm, they are black which surprised Patch but he seemed to cope ok.

He got to see lots of piglets feeding and playing. We patted a few and just had a good time looking around. Then went up to the café and shared pancakes with maple syrup and fresh free range bacon on the side. Patch was a little unhappy about eating the little piglets to start with but seemed to get over it pretty quickly.

Then back to hook the van up and start our long trip toward Ceduna and the Nullarbor.

We stopped at Elliston for a quick look.

Then down the steps at Lochs Well which is a beautiful beach. The only thing is there are 283 steps to get down to it and back up again. Good exercise and what a magnificent place.

Then we stopped at the roadside bakery at Colton.

This is a little shack on the side of the road where you can buy wood fired bread and put your money in a box as it is all run on an honesty system.

We all thought this was really special and the bread tasted great too.

Then we pulled in at Venus Bay because we heard it was worth looking at. They were right. It was absolutely beautiful and we were tempted to stay in the caravan park but needed to push on.

We got as far as Murphy's Haystacks a little before sundown and decided to free camp there. What a great place to go. The rocks are so unusual and the sunrise and sunset were truly beautiful.

 Straight out of the "Are We there Yet" book.

 Lincoln did a little bit of wool jewellery design to keep himself amused on the drive.

Next morning it was off again.

We stopped just up the road at Streaky Bay and got some water.

Then breakfast at Smoky Bay.

Both of which are beautiful little seaside villages.

Then Ceduna for a few supplies and a coffee. Bad idea. The town was almost empty and the coffee was REALLY bad.

Anyway on we went.

Next stop Head of Bight. WOW!!!!

You pay to go out onto these boardwalks that over look the Bight. There were apparently 12 whales in the bay of which we saw 6. One of them was in close. We all thought it was incredible. This one whale was just drifting right in close and would pop its head up, blow out some water and move on. The sight and sound of it was really amazing.

This is one place that I am sure will stick with us all.

Then back on the road with a mission to make it to Border Village.

We made it just after sundown. The roadhouses are special places. We paid $41 and went out the back to hook up to power. Paid $2 for 5 minutes of dribbly water in the shower. Went to sleep with the noise of the generator powering the service station going all night. Then paid 191.9 for fuel the next morning before moving on.

10 Seconds later and we were across the border and hit the checkpoint where we had to surrender any fruit, vegetables and honey which we were prepared for this time and didn't need to hand over anything.

10 kms later we were in Eucla and went to look at the old telegraph station.

Then back in the car heading towards Norseman. There was an incredibly strong headwind blowing and apart from really having to hold on tight as the van was bounced around, the car guzzled down the fuel. We actually used just under 50 litres more than the day before to cover the same number of kms. Incredible.

Anyway we drove the longest straight road in Australia which is 145kms long.

We stopped for a toilet stop at a Cocklebiddy where the wind was apparently 138km/hr the day before. It had dropped to about 137 when we were there.

We decided to stay at Fraser Range station about 100kms west of Norseman which would leave us about 300 kms the next day. What a little oasis it was. Apparently it was the first farm on the Nullarbor. We had a nice little site and used there camp kitchen to cook dinner. It was a lovely old building that had a slow combustion fire and a timber dining table that we all enjoyed sitting around. Plenty of elbow room.

Next morning we headed off through Norseman which is the end of the Nullarbor. We made it and were all pretty proud of ourselves for doing so. The thing that we are most amazed about is that the kids didn't sleep for a minute. They played with each other, watched a couple of movies, listened to some music, looked at the sights, read books and occasionally fought but did not sleep. I know I would have if I wasn't driving and I am sure TJ would have if the kids had stopped talking long enough. They did really well.

The thing that really struck me about the Nullarbor was the landscape. Here I was expecting desert like I see on TV with sand and dunes etc. None of that out here. There was salt bush and a lot of low scrub all the way across.

Anyway on we went to Esperance.

Came across this little town on our way through and Patch was quite insistent, as he can be on occasion. As his brother had his photo taken in front of his sign why couldn't he??

 

We arrived in Esperance around lunchtime.

We are staying right opposite the beach.

We went driving today to look at Cape le Grand NP. It is spectacular with some of the best beaches we have seen.

Cape le Grand beach.

A walk up the hill.

 Hellfire Bay.

 

Lucky Bay.

What a beautiful part of the world. We really liked the camping area here but it is too cold to be stay here in winter without power. It would be ideal to be here in Summer and swimming at these magnificent beaches.

Esperance is a lovely town with the islands in the bay, hence the name the Bay of Isles.

We head off tomorrow for Albany 500kms away.

Life is great and I am really looking forward to the trip around the south west coast to Margaret River and Perth.