A whale of a time in Albany… The Mad Nomads

We only take about 20 minutes to pack up before we hit the road in our caravan. That’s everything… awning, outside chairs, table and barbeque. There’s not much to do inside. In a confined space like a van you have to keep everything tidy so inside it is pretty much make the bed, sweep the floor, wash up and hit the road.

The destination this week was vaguely Albany and now we’re here we just love it. It is breathtaking and cool and of course, for Western Australia, windy… but the colour of the water is turquoise, a beautiful deep turquoise and my goodness, it has wow factor.

We had a send off committee in Busselton. Our mate Old Mr Park and his wife Tania who we had met on the road a couple of years ago and their friend Ross, came over for a goodbye evening the night before we left and waved us off on Monday when we started south through the beautiful ‘UP’ country. Theres Manjimup and Nanup and Beedelup, in WA all the UP’s are down in the south. We particularly loved Nanup with its quaint old buildings and stunning roses in full bloom.

After Nanup we drove through Pemberton, which is surrounded by massive Karri forests interspaced with green dairy country and grape vines marching up rolling hills with wineries and chocolate outlets and sinful temptations at every turn. The green is heaven after 2 years in the red centre.

After Pemberton we found Shannonn National Park, our destination for the night, which was set in the most magnificent Karri country in the state. It is part of the Walpole Wilderness with lovely facilities. A lonely, peaceful retreat with hidden walking trails creeping beneath towering, silent forest giants, opening out onto creeks and a dam and thronged by twittering birds of mysterious identity.

I walked and walked and Geoff sat with his bird field book and ticked off bird sightings.  Our campfire was crackling when I returned and we baked a dinner on it to eat in the light of the flames under a twinkling sky.

It is hard to imagine that this was once the site of a thriving forestry village.

The next night was spent in a howling gale in Denmark, a pretty town on a huge inlet where I was blown up the river walk and battled, head down and just about clawing along the ground against the gale to return to the caravan. We drove along the waterfront and found a delightful new destination to return to in more favourable weather.

I was really excited about the next day as we were headed for the tree top walk between Denmark and Albany and we had wanted to do this for years.

Our guide gave us a ground tour before we took to the treetops.

It was full of descriptions of bush tucker and what the trees were. Tingles are the main tree and they are the second tallest in Australia after the Mountain Ash of the east coastal forests.

Many of the Tingles hollow out with a combination of termites and fires and we all walked inside their mighty bases, many are over 400 years old.

We walked up into the treetops. It was even wheelchair friendly and a great experience.

Then it was on to Albany. The highway is good and the scenery is lovely. We stayed at Emu Beach in Albany and explored the old buildings in the first town in WA.

The Anzac Memorial on the shore remembers the thousands of diggers who, like my grandfather in the First World War, had their last view of Australia in this harbour as the troop carriers formed floatillas to sail them away.

In Albany there is a convict Goal and the Amity tall ship set in a historic precinct and the information centre has walking maps of the town depending on your interest… historic or scenic.

Princess Royal Fortress high above the town perched on a granite boulder is a must see and we explored its tunnels and guns and took in the views across the water to the granite islands that show their heads all over the sound.

Princess Royal Harbour inside King George Sound was fun to explore. The town and waterways are notable for their huge granite outcrops and even in the yards of houses in the town huge boulders feature.

The site of the whaling station and the natural arch and other beaches and coves in Torndirrup National Park are a must see although thankfully whaling is a mere memory.

This week we move on towards the east and our first crossing of the Nulabour. We will free camp for our first night out and look around Esperance on the way… I’ll tell you about it next week if I have signal to send in my weekly offering.