Albany

We had a bit of a driving day yesterday – packed up at Mason Bay and headed for Albany. We drove through Ravensthorpe where Nick and the kids went to the local museum while I went to the IGA –they were quite interested in a settler who got speared in the neck by the local indigenous people for something that he had done. It’s a shame that we missed out on Fitzgerald River NP – I finally rang the ranger from Ravensthorpe who said they were actually opening it up for camping yesterday, but by then we’d kind of made up our mind and decided to keep on our route.

Then we decided to take the scenic route at the Mason Bay ranger’s suggestion, and drove through the Stirling Ranges. They really were amazing looking mountains – just suddenly sticking up out of nowhere and I couldn’t decide how best to describe them – they kind of looked like someone had drawn a squiggly line as their top, leaving lots of little sharp peaks, or like the top of whipped cream can look (in peaks), or meringue, or even a bit like a person’s profile if they were lying on their side (nose, chin, stomach sticking out etc).

Anyway we didn’t stop anywhere but just enjoyed the view as we drove and decided to stay just outside Albany at Betty’s Beach, on the northern edge of Two People's Bay - we decided to stay out of town to make it cheaper, because we want to stay in Albany for a few days - it seems like there's quite a bit to see here and if we were in a $30/night caravan park that would make it expensive. So Betty's Beach was in our cheap camps book, but we didn't get there 'til quite late - partly because we got a bit lost and had to back track quite a bit, the long way around. It's a strange kind of campsite, we got there right on dusk and there were a few other young people there standing around a fire (having just passed the 'no fires whatsoever' sign) and a sign saying it's a salmon fishing spot, so we thought they might be people there for the weekend to do some fishing. We set up a bit further away and lit our own fire (there are even concrete fireplaces!) in between these corrugated iron shacks that look very old and pretty disused. They might have been put there by people going there to fish or something, we're guessing, as no-one is using them this weekend. It kind of feels like you're on someone's land though, even though they're not there. I’ve since looked it up in another booklet and saw that it’s supposed to be a commercial fishing spot! Oh well, we’re only staying one more night. When we got up we saw some of the other people out on the rocks fishing so haven't actually spoken to them before heading off into Albany, and then didn’t get back until dusk this evening as well. It's a pretty rugged but beautiful spot, not a swimming type of spot, quite windy, but still attractive.

Anyway we headed into Albany for the day, went to the Saturday markets and got some goat's cheese which we haven't had yet, then an ANZAC memorial where someone pointed out a whale in the harbour (kind of in the distance), followed by driving down to Middleton Beach, which has to be the best 'town beach' (as the Info Centre lady described it) I've seen. Amazing coloured water, people swimming lazily, a walk around the headland in search of that whale (didn't find it again), followed by fantastic fish and chips at the Squid Shack at Emu Point. I can see why Bron and Mike enjoyed living here - who wouldn't, it's just the most beautiful town, spread around a number of bays and inlets. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful sunny day - all I needed to really make my day was to see a whale up close (still waiting). After lunch we went to the Princess Royal Fortress which has a lot of historical military stuff, including, most excitingly, old artillery guns that the kids can sit on and turn around and 'use'. Lots of fun, and it ended up taking up the whole afternoon. We might be here quite a few days with other stuff to see, not to mention a few beaches to hopefully go to - we stupidly forgot to put our swimmers in the car this morning or we could have made the most of the weather. We’re thinking of packing up from here in the morning, taking our trailer into town while we do more sightseeing, and moving camp to the western side of town, to a site which is slightly closer in.