Albany - Day 5

We have had a lovely day, despite the weather being decidedly English it has rained all day. This is great for the locals who have not seen significant rainfall for months but not so good for tourists, but actually our day has been very successful.

On the promontory overlooking Albany harbour is the ANZAC Museum and Memorial. It is situated here because the ships taking the troops to Europe to fight in the First World War gathered here before departing from Australia. Albany has a huge natural harbour second only to Sydney in Australia and was an ideal rendezvous point for the two convoys. The museum, which opened two years a go, frames the harbour in its windows so you are always brought back to this starting point.

The photo here does not do justice to the moving memorial that has been designed. The top consists of a flowing stream of water that appears to be disappearing in the harbour. As you look into the water the names of every ANZAC soldier who died in the conflict are scrolling, seemingly synchronised with the water. The symbolism is of the soldiers embarking on the ships never to return.

The museum approaches the war from the perspective of the men, allowing their recollections to build into the bigger picture of the conflict. When you enter the museum you are given a card with a picture of an individual soldier. At various points around the museum you place this on a reader to be presented with archival documents and a narrative detailing their history. Additionally you have an individual speaker that retells the history of the conflict in the words of the participants. All this is pulled together so for instance you can cross reference the ship that each man travelled on and where it was located in Albany Harbour. It is one of the most effective museums that I have visited, using technology to explain not to overwhelm. A fitting tribute to the ANZAC force.

The site of the museum is much larger but almost entirely outside, hopefully we will be able to return tomorrow.

This afternoon we drove along side the harbour to the Tomdirrup National Park that comprises the peninsular at one side of the harbour. It is a very beautiful spot with a wonderful coastline. One feature is a natural bridge of rock that spans an inlet with the sea boiling below. Close by a platform has been constructed jutting out from the cliff so you are seemingly suspended above a deep ravine. 

Even in today’s poor weather it was a lovely spot. On the way back there is a replica of the Amity the first ship to bring settlers to Albany.

I try not to bore you with our eating habits, but tonight it was a first, crocodile meatballs, and very good they were too. Tasting rather like sweet pork served with a cranberry jelly. No more jawing from me then! 

The Road to Albany - Day 4

Firstly the view from our B & B is Esperance, looking over the bay to the Recherché Islands. The sun was shinning brightly this morning so you can see it at its best. We were quickly packed and were away by nine, firstly to fill up with diesel. With petrol stations up to one hundred miles apart you have to take every opportunity. We had thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Esperance, it had the feel of a very remote place and the scenery was wild and quite unique. Also nothing will replace the thrill of seeing kangaroos in the wild for the first time. Incidentally Australia has more specific signs warning of animals crossing the road then any other country I have driven in. Kangaroos, cattle, and horses are commonplace. Tonight we had to watch out for turtles and the Mallee fowl. There were also a couple of others, which I did not recognise. The B & B in Esperance was comfortable, with a simple but good breakfast, and of course the lovely views.

This first part of the journey retraced our steps along the Southern Highway, so we made good progress at a steady 110 kilometres per hour, watching out for passing road trains, monster lorries with two full sized trailers. Due to the lack of traffic driving is very easy. We stopped for lunch in a bird sanctuary, excellent and in common with most of the food so far, well priced. Uniquely I had a bottle of water sourced from rainwater captured at the sanctuary, a first I think.

We arrived in Albany in the late afternoon and found our B & B easily, after a warm welcome we settled into our very comfortable room. I explored the path along the bay, again it is a large natural harbour, with two large bulk carriers anchored waiting to load with ore.

We were recommended a fish and chip café that has just been voted the best in Australia. Once we had navigated the varieties available, we sat down to a plate of bronzie and chips. It was very good; there was no trace a fat on either. Marion puts this down to the fact that they use bran oil at a very high temperature.

We had a quick explore of Albany by car, which looks very interesting. Unfortunately tomorrow it is due to rain all day, if so there is the Australian Anzac museum to visit. 

Photos from last couple of days

Kangaroos at Lucky Bay

Cobalt coloured sea and surf at Lucky Bay

Hole Shaped Rock on Great Ocean Drive

View from Great Ocean Drive west of Esperanc

Stonehenge

Kangaroos and white sand – Day 3

Today dawned overcast and cooler, but we were completely refreshed after our first really good night’s sleep in Australia. Our bedroom looks over the sea and a group of islands, named after the French ship that discovered them, Recherché. The town of Esperance is named after the other ship in the French fleet.

About forty miles west of the town is the Cape le Grand National Park, an area of spectacular coast and very white sandy beaches. We were headed to Lucky Bay for two reasons, it is supposed to be the whitest beach in Australia and if you are lucky there are kangaroos on the beach. Well we were fortunate, there were several on the beach including a number of joeys’, Marion tells me that is what a small kangaroo is called. It was incredible to see them in the wild but also amazing to see how calm they were. You could approach right up to them and they did not react at all. They were very easy to photograph, and I will share some of the photos I took when we next have a good Internet connection.

The beach was also very white; the sand was very fine but had compacted so that it made a very firm surface. This contrasted with the sea, which around the shoreline was cobalt blue. It was truly a magical place, made more so by the lack of people. There was a campsite but other than that no development, and perhaps thirty people on a couple of miles of beach.

We drove back to town via Stonehenge; yes a farmer has created a replica in the middle of the Australian countryside. Just as the original does, the stones line up precisely with the sun’s rays on the solstice. The site was shut so we did not have the opportunity to wander round, just as was looking forward to painting my woad on!

The sun started to come out in the afternoon that heightened the views of the coastline on a circular tour known as the Great Ocean Drive, or as nobody appears to call it, GOD. It was a series of white sandy bays being pounded by the very blue sea. In between there were rock formations one with a hole right through it. Most of the beaches were completely deserted. It was a very spectacular coastal drive. Along the cliff top is a walking/cycling path so in the early evening I had a refreshing walk, it had to be brisk as by now the wind was quite keen.

A great day was rounded off by a lovely meal in fish restaurant. The local scallops, simply cooked were amazing. A much more subtle less meaty taste and texture than the ones at home. We did confuse the waitress with our questions about the fish on offer; do any of my reader (s) now what a gummy and a bronzie are. Well a bronzie is the local name for shark, which apparently are quite common here. Our waitress nonchalantly told us of her encounter with one, he was just curious and swam away. I am sure she was genuine and not just spinning a yarn for gullible tourists. 

So a very interesting day in a very beautiful area, tomorrow we drive to Albany.

Perth to Esperance - Day 2

Today saw us make an early start from Perth for the long trip to Esperance. The early start was essential as we had 750 kilometres to drive. As it turned out it was really easy. We arrived at the Avis office as they drew back the bolts, in return they hired us the “beast from the East”, a gigantic Mitsubishi SUV. Fortunately our first tentative forays were easy as there was little traffic around, it being a public holiday. We followed the sat-nav out through the Perth suburbs and were soon on main roads in the country. Well for the whole of the day we saw less than ten cars travelling in our direction. For most of the time the car was on cruise control. The countryside was given over to wheat production, and as we drove nearer the coast, large scale cattle farming.

There was almost no habitation in fact all day we probably passed through three villages in total. On average it was 100 kilometres between petrol stations. Added to that apart from the petrol stations almost everywhere else was shut for Labour Day. However for a lunch stop we were really lucky. We turned off to the small village of Corrigin, population 1700, on a good day. There we found the Corrigan Hotel, as Marion said the bar looked like a prop for A Town Like Alice. It was everything you imagine an Australian country pub would be. There was great hospitality and a really good snack lunch. There are no photos unfortunately today as the Internet connection is not good enough. Hopefully I will catch up later in the week.

We eventually arrived in Esperance around 17:30, before dark. This was important as everybody we have spoken to warned of the likelihood of hitting kangaroos after dark. This maybe apocryphal but suffice it to say that the first kangaroo that we have seen in Australia was a dead one by the side of the road!!! Our b & b is beautifully situated overlooking a lovely bay that frames some offshore islands.

We shared our pub venue tonight with a lot of fire fighters. Part of the national park near here is closed because of bush fires, however despite being warned about it three hundred kilometres away it seems that it will not affect our visit. Plenty to see tomorrow including hopefully kangaroos on the beach.

Perth

We slept well after arriving at our hotel around midnight. The arrival into Perth had to be the easiest we have ever experienced, from getting off the aircraft to being out of the airport took only twenty minutes. I suppose conditioned by watching Australian Border Force on the TV at the gym I was expecting a protracted process, just the opposite, just polite efficient officials.

We would have slept better but from a telephone call from Laura who is in Auckland at 7am. Her lame excuse that she had forgotten there is a five hour time difference between there and Perth. Mind you I went straight back to sleep. After a leisurely breakfast we set out to explore in glorious weather, hot and sunny with a pleasant breeze. We started at the central boat quay and were fortunate to catch a cruise just before it left for Fremantle, about seventy-five minutes away down the Swan River. 

This beautiful stretch of water varies from a few hundred metres width to a bay 4.5 kilometres wide but is only navigable to shallow drafted boats.

The cruise was enhanced by a lively, humorous commentary that centred considerably on the house prices and the rich inhabitants of the riverside properties. There was more to the cruise than that though, dolphins jumped out of the river near the boat, there were sandbars stretching almost right across the river, and the world’s largest urban park. It was a really lovely relaxed trip for us on the first day of our adventure and enabled us to get a feel for Perth. It is a largely modern city with a typical high-rise downtown area bordering oh the river. It does not appear to have many tourists and little tourist specific infrastructure. As it has for us I think for tourists it is mainly a gateway city for Western Australia, which it dominated having about two million of the 2.6 million inhabitants.

After our return to the city we fortuitously found a micro-pub for a late snack lunch. I had an excellent IPA, which augured well for beers to come. It was lovely just to sit in the afternoon sunshine. Unusually for me I then had to do some shopping, we needed a cheap sat-nav for the rest of the holiday, so I explored the central shopping district. By chance I found a discount computer shop fairly quickly that had a glass case full of sat-navs. When I asked about the content the assistant helpfully said that it had New Zealand roads as well!!! I guess it will end up on Ebay.

So after reorganising the cases for our road trip we went out to dinner at bar/restaurant, Partition Kitchen. There we had a superb meal, it was sharing plates, but unlike is sometimes the case there was no shortage of food. After bread and olives we started with beef tartare mixed with piquant flavourings. The principal courses were wagyu beef with wasabi and tomatoes olive oil and tofu. The puds were perhaps the highlight, Marion had gingerbread ice cream with rhubarb and sour cherries, some of the rhubarb appeared to be freeze dried, contributing to a huge medley of tastes. I had an orange sponge soaked with espresso, which was fabulous.

All in all a great first day in Australia. Tomorrow is a long drive so we will be up early, perhaps Laura will give us a wake-up call to help!

In Transit

This is an interim update while we are travelling down under. At the moment we are in Hong Kong on Saturday morning, eight hours ahead of the UK, after a twelve-hour flight from Manchester. We have a seven-hour lay over before our flight to Perth. Time is a little confusing, I think I have just had my second breakfast, and I am sure that I did not have dinner on Friday night!!! Still we have both had a good shower and now feel refreshed.

The flight was excellent, probably our best long-haul experience in the last few years. The films were bang up to date. I watched If Beale Street could Talk, which was very moving by a director at the top of his game. The portrayal of two young lovers and their family’s interaction was brilliant. Marion watched the Oscar winner Green Book, which she found very entertaining. So on the next flight we might just swap round. 

So we will leave you with a picture of Marion having her favourite iced coffee, the first of many.