Albany:

Albany is a beautiful city with lots of old building lining the main street. It is on a huge bay called King George Sound and there are also two harbours one on each side of this sound. In other words there is water and bays everywhere.
Albany was the first place in WA that was settled. A military post was set up to claim this part of Australia as the French had been snooping around and Britain was afraid they may claim it for themselves. The newcomers arrived in a small boat called the Amity which was sent from Sydney. A life size replica of the boat stands on the foreshore.
Our Caravan Park was overlooking Princess Royal Harbour. As we arrived early, we went for a drive to view some of the spectacular coastline. We went out to the Natural Bridge and the Gap. The rocks are granite and both of these formations are true to their names. The Gap is a sheer drop down into the churning sea and the Natural Bridge forms a rock bridge over the white foaming sea. We were actually seeing it when it wasn’t very rough.
Next we went to the blowholes. It was quite walk down to the granite rocks where the sea rushes up a long hollow tube which makes a massive noise. There is no “hole” as such – just a long crack. I was sitting the other side of this and all of a sudden there was an almighty boom as the sea was forced along the tube. I jumped with fright not realising I was on the wrong side of this crack. Luckily it didn’t blow so I didn’t get wet.

We met some friends earlier on our trip who live in Albany so we looked them up and they invited us around for afternoon tea. Their house looked out over the water and we all had a good time catching up.

The next day I went to Whaleworld which was on an old whaling station which opened in 1952 and closed in 1978. A tour guide showed you around the Station and explained the process of catching the whales, bringing them back for cutting up and processing to produce whales oil which has thousands of uses. There were some rather gruesome
pictures of the whales being butchered. When they were harpooned they were pumped full of air and floated back to the whaling station where they were winched on shore, cut into small pieces and then put into boilers for about 4 hours and the oil was then pumped out into a waiting ship to be taken away. There was always blood in the sea and sharks caused a big problem while the whales were waiting to be processed. It was a very tough and dangerous work with men working long hours seven days a week. Apparently the stench was disgusting and you could never get it out of your clothes.

Excellent audio visuals, lots of huge machinery which still works, as well as the last whaling ship the Cheynes IV which you could explore, gave one a real insight of the life of a whaler as well as made you aware of the plight of the whale.


Other displays included the skeletons of some huge whales (the blue whale is up to 34 feet long), a photo gallery and a sealer's hut.

On the way out to Whale World we went to Salmon Beach which is where the salmon collect in the season. It was like a narrow pool on the beach.

There was another tiny little bay named after a fisherman had to shelter from a big storm. It was turquoise blue.

In the afternoon we went to the museum which was very well presented. Albany was the place where the first Anzacs set off for Gallipoli and was for many young soldiers their last view of Australia. It was also where the first Dawn service was held.
As Albany had such a good port it was in contention with Perth to be the capital of WA but because of the poorer soil here Perth grew more rapidly it won out.
A life size replica of the Amity, the boat which bought the military and convicts from Sydney to establish a colony here stands outside the museum. It is amazing how small it was and how crowded it would have been. In the sleeping and eating area you couldn’t even stand up.

The next day we went up to the highest point which overlooks the harbour. It was a beautiful and the view from here with all the bays, inlets and islands was magnificent. You really get idea of how much water surrounds this town.
There is a monument to the Anzacs here as this is where the friends and relatives went to watch their loved ones depart for the war and also where the first dawn service was held. A tree from Gallipoli has been planted on the site.

Our next lookout was at Mt Adelaide which was an old fort and looked out over King George Sound. This was such an interesting place we spent hours here. It has been restored beautifully and even the cannons had moving parts and you could move them up and down and sideways. Brian had lots of fun. It was a beautiful day, the sea was sparkling blue and the view was magnificent.
Each of the restored buildings (barracks, married quarters, Nissan huts etc) was full of lots of information about both wars. A picture of a 745 soldiers sitting on the steps of a pyramid in Egypt where they were training to go to Gallipoli and only 77 returned really hit home the devastating losses we suffered.
One section was devoted to the H.M.A.S Perth which served in Vietnam. It was scuttled off the shore of Albany. We met two men who were sailors on that ship and they gave us some very interesting info while reliving their time at sea.

From here we went along a beautiful coast drive to Middleton Beach which is the main beach with beautiful white sand. You can only drive a short way along here and the rest is a walking trail and reserve. It is so good that this has been set aside for everyone – no beach front properties or high-rises here!! In fact there are walking and bicycle paths all everywhere in Albany. Then on to Emu Point where there is a very narrow entrance to the other harbour which is quite shallow in some places but a great place for kids. Lots of people were enjoying the warm day with a picnic by the beach. We had lunch here and went for a walk to
look at the boats.
After a busy day we were glad to get back to our quiet caravan park.

As we headed out the next day we went to the wind farm and to see some of the rugged coastline near here. It was very hazy and overcast. You could hear the wind swishing through the blades.


After doing quite a lot of shopping we set off for the Stirling Ranges which are famous for there wildflowers.

To Albany

Oops!! Somehow I posted " Albany " before this one.

It was raining as we left Walpole which we hoped would stop as we were heading for The Valley of the Giants and the treetop walk which is world renown. We travelled through the forest of massive trees, Karri, Tingle trees and the small Karri Oak, were everywhere. When we arrived at the Treetop Walk it was still raining. There was an interesting discovery centre and by the time we had perused all the information here and after a few loud thunder claps, it fined up.

We both had a turn at driving
a "fake" car through a tree. Brian can remember this on his trip around many years ago. Apparently the compacting of the soil at the base of the tree by the cars caused tree to die.

The tingle trees are huge spreading trees that grow very big but have a shallow root system so the spread out at the base of the tree to secure themselves. They can be up to 25 metres around the girth. They are prone to lightening strikes which then burns right through the trunk and causes a burnt out hollow at the bottom. Amazingly the tree can still grow as long as there is some bark.
The karri trees have a smooth white coloured bark and are very tall and straight and the Karri Oak is very similar to a she-oak but has rough bark.

The treetop walk was an amazing structure that takes you 40 metres up in the treetops but many are still towering above us. You really get to feel the grandeur of these ancient trees. Some are more than 400 years old. It was surprising how many more birds you see and hear in the trees when you are so high. Looking down into the forest below it is good to see that it not disturbed by humans. There are long walkways joined by a circular section and held by steel rods. As you walk along the whole thing gets a bounce up. I had to hang onto the rails. The views from this height are magnificent.

Coming down out of the treetops, we were able to stroll around a walk which shows off the ancient tingles from the ground. I was enthralled by the size of the bases of these trees. Many had big knots and they looked liked to wise old men.

We stayed the night in Denmark which is a pretty little town on the banks of the Denmark River and the caravan park was on a big lake. The park was very run down and it turned cold again so we weren’t that impressed.

The next day we headed to Parry Beach which was a free campsite recommended by several people. It was a lovely spot with an avenue of trees and was right on the beach. There is nothing else here except the caretaker’s cottage which is manned by volunteers. It was very overcast so the sea wasn’t its usual magnificent blue.
We went for a walk along the beach. A lot of salmon fishing takes place here in the season and we found some fishing huts in the bush. Unfortunately it rained in the afternoon and overnight so we decided not to stay any longer.
We called in at William Bay to look at Green Pool. What a beautiful scene with pristine green shallows, royal blue sea,white foam and magnificent granite rock. The sun was shining again to add depth to the colour. I scrambled over the huge granite outcrop to view some more inlets and walked around to see Elephant Rocks. If you look very closely you can see a herd of elephants. Lots of coastal walks here for the energetic.


We then headed to the next free camp. When we arrived there it was full so we went straight to Albany and found an old caravan park right in the water. It is mainly full of well kept permanent houses with few caravan sites so it was very peaceful. The old jetty had some huge old pelicans jostling for a resting spot.

Windy Harbour:

We left Pemberton and passed through some more green pastures and lots more forests. We were planning on staying in a free campsite along the way but when we arrived it wasn’t very nice. It was a beautiful calm day and we were only 50 kms from Windy Harbour so we decided to go there even though we would have to back track a little way.

On the way the road was lined with some massive trees until we came near the coast and then you get the coastal vegetation which consists of a thick mass of smaller bushes, hardy plants, grass trees and wildflowers. Windy Harbour is on the magnificent Southern Ocean with its
deep blue sea, crashing waves and rugged cliffs in the D’Entrecastreux National Park. It consists of a village of holiday huts and the camping area – no shops. Vantage points all along the cliff tops reveal some magnificent scenery. We set up the van and then went for a drive.
The road took us past some interesting wildflowers. Some banksias – one with a curly leaf and another variety had huge yellow Banksia flowers on it which start off like a yellow candle and end up a browny colour when they die off. There were lots of grass trees with interesting shapes.

We came to Cathedral Rock in a beautiful beach with clear water. The colour on the rock was impressive. Unfortunately the bush flies were very bothersome which made walking unpleasant but there are many cliff top walks in the area.

We then went to the lighthouse which is on Point D’Entrecastreaux which looks out over a small flat green island and a huge expanse of sea. A circular walk takes you to a hollowed out limestone rock so you can see the sea through the “window.” Around the other side of the walk you can see right down the coast. These lookouts are high above the cliffs so you can see a long way.
Then onto another lookout high above Salmon Beach where you could see the surf rolling onto the sand in white frothy lines and you can feel the power of the sea. This area is well renowned for salmon fishing.
A lot of seaweed and sea grass seems to wash up onto the beaches here and Windy Harbour was especially thick with it –and smelly.
We really enjoyed our stop off in this stunning part of WA.
From here we headed to Walpole on a beautiful day. It was quite hot. I had to do massive loads of washing which seemed to take ages. The flies were troublesome again so we were happy to stay inside and catch up on emails and showers.

Pemberton:

We were now heading south east i.e. we have turned the corner and are heading home – sort of!! Well we are going east.
Our next stop was Pemberton which is home to the karri trees. Pemberton is surrounded by many forests and also has some beautiful green rolling hills. They say they are in drought as they haven’t had much rain this year but as far as we can see it is very green and the dams are full. I guess it must be extra emerald green if it is a good season. We passed through some beautiful forests on our way here. The karri tree is very straight and very tall and is an extremely hard wood which is in great demand all over the world.
Pemberton is a lovely little timber town. The streets were lined with wooden cottages which were used by the timber cutters in the early days. There is still a working mill here and they are very busy.

We stayed in the caravan park on the edge of the forest. I went on a tour on a tram which takes you deep into the tal forest and they explained all about the timber industry and pointed out the different types of trees, karri being the most dominant one. We crossed five wooden bridges and stopped to go for a walk down to the Cascades and then stopped again to view the large karri that was struck by lightning and the fire burns down though the tree causing a large hollow at the bottom. You can fit 35 people inside it. There were lots of wildflowers scattered through the forest although driver explained that there weren’t very many due to the drought.

While we were here we drove out to our proposed next campsite which was in the forest to see if we could get the van in. We drove through an avenue of overhanging bushes of a vivid yellow pea-like flower. The campsite was beautiful set amongst some tall trees with and inviting fireplace. We decided we could easily make it in so we headed out there the next day. It was nice to sit and relax amongst all the greenery.
Nearby is a large dam which we walked to through a narrow avenue of yellow bushes, taking all the sights and smells of the forest and gazing up to the wonder at the height of some of the trees.
Towards the evening a couple arrived who used to live in Coonamble so I spent time reminiscing over old times and friends we knew. They joined us around the fire that evening and it was good to have some people to chat to.

Another glorious day dawned. We have been so lucky with the weather so far and are glad when it is sunny but feel a bit guilty as they all need rain here. At least we have avoided the deluge in Queensland. We went on the tourist drive which takes you along some of the winding forest roads and this is where you really see the might of these trees. The forest we were looking at is a regeneration of 100 years ago. A lightening strike caused a massive wildfire which burnt all the trees and caused them to drop their seeds so before long a new forest was growing. There are a few remnant trees that didn’t get burn or logged in the early days and they are huge.

Several of the larger trees were used as a fire lookout and have spikes circling up the trunk to a small cabin near the top. Imagine building this without the aid of a helicopter. You can actually climb right up the top but not for us thanks!! A few rungs would do.
The forest trail took us on a large circuit right around the town of Pemberton, past a waterfall and a suspension bridge then out past some cleared land – lots of cattle, sheep and vineyards and back into the forest. It was a beautiful and inspiring drive.
We returned to our peaceful campsite rather tired. We had another fire and were joined by a young German couple who were travelling around the South East. I love the way a campfire becomes a social event.

Margaret River:

Our campsite here was on a working farm 10klms from Margaret River and when we
arrived they were shearing. Our site overlooked the paddock where all the shorn sheep and their lambs were grazing. What a racket as the mums were trying to find their babies. Reminded of my childhood days on our farm!!

Tuesday was a lovely sunny day and as we were leaving Capel, Matt (Tracy’s husband) decided that we needed to taste abalone which is an expensive delicacy. So they came to our campsite armed with snorkelling gear and took us to a lovely spot on the coast. We had to scramble of lots of large rocks to get to the water’s edge and I certainly wouldn’t have liked to be entering here as there was quite a swell. Matt spent about an hour finding abalone while we enjoyed the sunshine and the scenery. You are only allowed to collect them at certain times of the year and you are limited to 20 per dive. We then went back to our camp for the best part – preparing and eating.


Matt removed the innards, then pounded them with a mallet, rolled them in flour, added some garlic and chilli and voila! We had a gourmet meal. I must say the abalone itself actually didn’t have much flavour but with all the added condiments they were nice.

The next day we decided to explore the rugged coastline. The cliffs along this coast
consist of limestone and as most of the area is national park the drive into each little seaside hamlet is pretty with the vegetation dotted with wildflowers. We came to a little beach called Gracetown which is a good surfing beach. There is one shop and a few houses. This is where a young surfer was taken by a shark about a month before. The beach was closed and shark warnings everywhere but still a few guys were surfing. From the lookout we saw some whales.

The next beach was Prevelly which is at the head of the Margaret River. By now it was quite blustery and the surf was pounding on the shore. You can imagine how rough it would be when the winds are really strong as often happens in this area.

We continued on passing through some beautiful forests of the Karri Tree and then came to a place that sells magnificent timber products. We saw some stunning tables made from Karri as well as Marri and Jarrah. All these timbers grow in the south west of WA and are all very hard wood.

We then visited a winery which had a beautiful formal garden and some magnificent roses. There was a very posh
dining room and Brian decided he wanted some dessert (which was very expensive.) We ordered trifle to share. Look what we got but gosh it tasted good.


There is lots of beautiful countryside around Margaret River with green fields, cows and sheep grazing and some stunning trees. Of course the wineries and chalets are dotted everywhere as well as the magnificent coastline. A walk from Cape to Cape takes you right along the coast and takes about 5 days. A road runs parallel to the coast but to get to any of the beaches you have to drive in and out through the national park.
After a busy day we were glad to get back to our peaceful campsite overlooking the rolling green pastures. To get there we had to pass through tall forest brightened by wildflowers
.
The next day was overcast, raining and very blustery and we were heading to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin which it the very tip of WA where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean.

On the way down we stopped at Mammoth Cave and I went on a self guided tour with an audio set which explained all about the cave. It is a massive cave in which they found important fossils which are evidence of the existence of giant kangaroo wombats and lizards in the area. A board walk took you through a gigantic cavern and I was feeling a little uncomfortable thinking of the fragility of the limestone and being the day the Chilean miners were rescued.

From here we passed through beautiful karri forest again and then went into a beautiful little bay called Hamlin Bay where there is only a caravan park. The limestone cliffs are very fragile and can collapse without warning. A large island near the shore added to the scene.

On to Augusta and out to Cape Leeuwin where we were surprised to see lots of people on mountain bikes and found out there was a four day bike race starting from here and going to Cape Naturaliste. It was very very windy and cold.
The historic lighthouse is very important as this is a very dangerous part of the coastline with rocks and reefs waiting to ensnare passing ships. You can really see
where the two oceans meet and the waves seem to crash together. The lighthouse is the tallest on the mainland, was built in 1895 and sits on the tip of this spectacular peninsula. You can look out at a huge bay but it was misty because of the inclement weather.

Back in Augusta we called into Flinders Bay which was named after Matthew Flinders. A little information area here showed some historic photos of ships at the jetty and the importance of the timber industry in those days.

We had an Augusta pie from the bakery which was delicious and then headed back to the campsite.