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Thankfully we moved on from Hamelin Bay, not that it wasn't a beautiful area and it gave us an opportunity to look around the Margaret River region but we were both really missing our WiFi coverage. Our next stop was to be Walpole, we didn't know anything about this area but it was just a convenient distance for us to travel in one day. I had booked ahead because it was school holiday and also we wanted to get a site on the Sunday of a long weekend and thought we might be limited with options. We have booked for four nights and are looking forward to having a good look around. We enjoyed the drive here and commented that the forest surrounding us was very similar to what we would find in Victoria, I know we are on the South Coast of Australia but i think I thought it might be a bit different here over to the West. We easily found the park and booked in and chose a site down on the inlet, the water views are very pleasing and close enough to the small jetty for Robb to have a fish out there one day. We have set up and the weather is quite pleasant so we sat outside until it was too cold for me and I had to move inside.
It rained all night last night and in between rainfall the wind was quite strong, it was still raining when we were ready to leave in the morning but we decided still to go ahead with our day. Our first stop was the Visitor Centre in Walpole to see what there was to see in the area. The main attraction is the Tree Top Walk in the Valley of the Giants, the rain was easing off a bit so we thought we would make this attraction our first stop. It was amazing driving through the forest to this valley, the trees are absolutely huge and the main attraction are the Tingle trees which we had never heard of before but after today we will never forget. We purchased our entry tickets and headed over to the walkway. The engineering on this walkway is very impressive, we walked along the individual sections until we arrived at the highest point which at 40 metres was way above many trees but not the Tingle Tree which can grow up to 75 metres. We walked down the other side and then took the walkway through to the Ancient Empire, more Tingle Trees through here and lots that were open at the bottom, when you stand in them you can see exactly how big they are. We drove from here to the Circular Pool where we walked to the lookout to take a few pictures. The circular pool is interesting in that the water is quite frothy from the currents in the pool moving in a circular pattern. This whole forest is attractive and seems to be a popular picnic spot for visitors. We drove back to Walpole from here and stopped off at the bakery for Devonshire Tea for lunch, driving back from the bakery we made one more stop at Sandy Beach which is just down the road from the caravan park. The rain seems to have eased off a bit but it is very cold outside, I would like to turn around and drive back up North.
Today was a bit of a strange day, our intention was to drive to Denmark and have a look around and then to come back to Mt Frankland to take at least one of the walks. We dropped our prescriptions into the chemist on the way to Denmark, we tried to have these filled yesterday, however the chemist was closed for the Queen's Birthday public holiday in WA. On our way to Denmark we noticed a few diversions we would pick up on the way back. I loved this drive particularly because it reminded me of home, we could almost be driving through the Strezlecki's with the expanse of forests on either side and everything was so green just like home. We often complain about the weather in Victoria but when you look at the lush growth around the mountains you can appreciate it a bit more. We arrived in Denmark which is a bigger town than Walpole, where we are staying, and it is quite hilly and very pretty. We thought we would take the scenic drive which lead to many wineries and fresh produce outlets, we noticed a berry farm advertised and thought that might be a good place to visit, unfortunately when we arrived we found it was closed. We continued on our way and saw a sign for a cheese factory and that appealed and we drove on in the direction we were given, we passed an Alpaca Farm that looked quite busy and thought we may stop here on the way back but that didn't happen. We found that the cheese factory was combined with a winery, sounds perfect so we parked and walked inside, the ambiance was very pleasant and there were a lot of people here, we hadn't intended to have lunch out today but we were tempted by the cheese and ordered a shared cheese platter for two and a couple of glasses of wine. There were a lot of children around with the school holidays and this seemed to be a great place for families to come for lunch, we spent a very pleasant hour or so here before moving on. One of the places we intended to stop on the way home was the chocolate factory but when we pulled into the drive there was a notice up to say it was closed. We continued on our way home and came across a Toffee Factory which turned out to be much more than that. Denmark Good Food Factory had an offering of lots of produce from the local community and also advertised as having the very best burgers ever, I would have liked to try this out but was still full from the cheese platter. We walked inside and were immediately greeted by staff behind the counter, a big tick from me. There was lots of local produce on offer including, chocolate, toffee, sauces, relish, pickles and mayonnaise. There were sampling pots for each section and we took advantage trying many different products and finally walked out with a Salted Macadamia Toffee and a Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise, there was so much more we could have purchased but we have to be a little bit aware of space in the van. It was now getting later in the afternoon and we still had to pick up our prescriptions and do a few jobs at home so from here we drove off home and dropped our idea of visiting Mt Frankland.
We felt like we had seen the best of the area and they were predicting thunderstorms in Walpole today. Robb was thinking about fishing on the park jetty if the weather was ok, we had heard that it was pretty good fishing out here. I had decided to do my fortnightly cleaning of the van in the morning and we would see in the afternoon. We had a read with our morning coffee and the weather had been a bit unpredictable with scattered showers but all up it was quite pleasant outside. I finished my cleaning, Robb had decided not to go fishing because of the showers but had helped me with the bed linen washing with transporting it from the machine to the park dryers. Finally I finished the cleaning and now it was lunch time, I made up our normal chicken salad which we both enjoy. After lunch I wanted to go into the town IGA to pick up a few needed items and I was still feeling restless so we thought we would take a drive out to Mt. Frankland. We never found Mt. Frankland because of the poor signage and we were a bit cross because we have found this to be the case in so many areas, so many times we have come to a cross road and there isn't any indication as to which road you should take. We followed our GPS and seemed to be getting nowhere so we eventually turned around and drove towards home. We did enjoy the drive though, it is a very pretty area and as I have mentioned before it reminds us of home. Tomorrow we are moving onto Albany for four nights and once we get there I will plan our next few stops after that. We are not in a hurry because of the situation in Victoria, we don't want to isolate to get back into our home state so if needs be we will sit out our time in SA.
Today we packed up to move on from Walpole to Albany which was only one and a half hours down the road. We have been trying to space out our stops so that we don't have any long drives ahead of us, also at the moment there isn't any need to rush back to Victoria. I took one last photo of the inlet we were staying beside just because we had sunshine today and it looked beautiful in the light. With coffee in hand we were on our way, we passed through Denmark again and I took a couple of photos on our way through. We skirted the town of Albany to arrive at our caravan park, Happy Days CP which is located on the King River. We are lucky enough to have a site right on the banks of the river, we have a beautiful outlook up and down this waterway and an added bonus is the family of ducks that seem to live close by to our camp. We are very happy with this position that we drove straight into and while we were trying to set up I had many warnings from the parent ducks not to get too close to their babies, they weren't very scary but they were very cute. We had lunch after setting up and then thought we would drive into Albany to pick up some brochures from the Visitor Information Centre so that we could plan our next few days. Albany is a beautiful old town with many historic buildings, we learned when we visited the Information Centre that Albany is the oldest permanently settled town in Western Australia, obviously we have lots to explore in this very pretty town. I picked up lots of information and then we drove slowly downtown so that I could photograph the buildings on our way out. On the way home we stopped at Handasyde's Strawberry farm where Robb picked up a box of 2nd strawberries for $10 intending to make a batch of jam and while we were there we picked up an ice cream cone each. They do Devonshire Teas here with real cream so we may even return here through the week. We continued on back to camp where we sat outside for a while until it was too cold for me.
We started today with a visit to the Museum of the Great Southern. We were both quite impressed with this museum which explains the history of Albany with photo and information boards and interactive displays. There are various rooms that cover different periods starting with prehistoric periods and the evidence they have found from then to enable them to understand those times. There are stories about our first people, the animals that inhabited early Albany, the growth through various periods and the part Albany played in the first and second world wars. There is a play room downstairs that was very busy when we were there it seems to be very popular with young families. There is a display about lighthouses and then when you climb the stairs there is more information and a small theatre. We had heard that the movie was just about to commence so we grabbed a couple of pairs of the 3D glasses and found a couple of seats to watch this movie about the sinking of two ships through the war along the Western Australia coast near shark bay. One of the ships was the HMAS Sydney, we had visited this commemorative and we were interested in the story. Obviously this was a 3D movie and very well done, they had eventually found the ships and they had filmed the sunken ships as they are today. There was a bit of written information but most of the movie was looking at the ships as they are today two and a half kilometres under the water, we were pleased we took the time for this viewing. We walked from here to look through the buildings that make up this historic complex including the old school house which is in really good condition and over to the replica of the Brig Amity. You are able to walk over this old ship and you can't help but be really impressed with the ship itself but also the work that must have gone into rebuidling it. We left here and drove around to the Albany Convict Gaol which is next door but because the road has been closed off we had to drive around the block to access the gaol. We have seen many gaols on this trip and there isn't much more to say about this one but it has been kept in good condition. We drove around the back streets to get a good look at one of the churches we had seen in the distance and it turned out to be opposite Patrick Taylor Cottage museum. I walked down to the cottage and had a quick look around the outside and the beautiful gardens, I didn't go inside as I really didn't need to go through another museum. We took a quick drive down to and around the port, it had been raining on and off all morning and the weather was getting worse so we drove back home from here. After lunch Robb started on his strawberry jam, he had so many strawberries that he decided to do half today and then the other half tomorrow, it has taken him most of the day for one reason or another but it sure is smelling good.
We started the day with a visit to the Saturday Albany Farmers Market. I didn't prepare our coffees at home because we thought there was sure to be a coffee van at the market. We were lucky enough to find a car park opposite the market so we parked and walked over the road to the entry. We signed in and walked through the market to find the coffee van which as it turned out was at the very back. There was a long line waiting for their morning cuppas, I think we waited about 30 minutes but that is ok they were doing the best they could. With coffee in hand we walked around the very small market to see what was on offer. We picked up a few items of fresh produce and then returned to our car. From here we drove to the Albany National ANZAC Centre, I have to say Albany certainly knows how to do a museum. We didn't drive straight to the centre but took the turn off to the Dessert Mounted Corps memorial and lookout. The memorial was originally from Egypt where it stood proudly until it was desecrated one day and from there it was moved to Australia and rebuilt here in it's original design, it is very impressive. The lookout has magnificent views out to the coast from Albany and it doesn't matter what direction you look in the view is fabulous. We walked up to the higher lookout which gives you a higher view all around. We drove from here down to the museum, there are many buildings around the centre of historical significance so we had a quick look around before moving into the centre. We paid our entry and then had a quick talk about finding our way around the centre. We both chose a card about a different significant person in the war and the idea was that there were columns where we loaded our cards and on the screens in front we could read information about these people, we also had devices that we could open at various outlets and then listen to information about significant incidents in each world war. We loved this museum, there was heaps of information on the boards around the various rooms and the added little touches made it a bit more personal. We also loved that the information covered the war from the aspect of each nation not just Australasia. We walked around the outside a bit more from here as there was equipment on display and after that I walked up to the Convoy Walk and to the lookout before walking back to visit the canons and bunkers.
Another day another market, today we started with a visit to the Albany Boatshed Markets which are held in the. as you would guess, the Albany Boatshed. We were expecting to see the same people here that we saw yesterday but that wasn't the case. At the entry to the shed there was the market breakfast food van and a smoothie van and then when we walked inside there was a good variety of stalls. We found the coffee truck first off and ordered and when we had our coffees we wandered around the market. We picked up an asparagus quiche and crusty loaf for dinner tonight, there was a Sri Lankan food stall with hot food and a Thai stall, all the food looked excellent. The other stalls included jewelry, sauces and pickles and cupcakes. There was also a woodwork display in one of the other rooms and upstairs. We walked outside and we were going to follow the other people here but when we saw they were walking towards a car show we decided not to go any further. Our next destination was the Albany Whaling Station which was located on Frenchman Bay. We stopped off at one of the lookouts over this beautiful bay and I took a few photos before moving on. We arrived at the Whaling Station parked and walked inside. We paid the entry fee which included a visit to the Whaling Station and entry to the Botanic Gardens and Wildlife farm, we only wanted to visit the Whaling station but we didn't think the cost was too high just to go through here. The Whaling Station exhibition was excellent, the whole whaling industry was quite horrific looking back on it now but when you watch the movies in the various sheds around this exhibit and hear from the men involved at the time you can understand why they were doing what they were. It was interesting listening to their stories in that they all signed up for this work because there wasn't a lot of work around at the time but the longer they were working here the less inclined they were to continue, they could recognise the social structures of the whales and appreciated their intelligence. If there was any saving grace for this industry it was the fact that every part of the whale was used, nothing was wasted. I felt this was a great exhibition in the way it was presented and the amount of work to get it up to the standard it is but also and more importantly I think we have to know about the past to hope to make changes in the future.
Today is our last full day in Albany, tomorrow we will be moving on to Ravensthorpe for two nights. We probably could have spent another couple of nights here as there is still so much to see but as we continually say there is always next time. We have both been struggling through these last three days as we have both come down with a touch of gastro, not enough to stop us but some times it has been a bit of a struggle. We have decided today to once again head towards Frenchman's Bay but this time instead of visiting the Whaling Station we will visit points of interests around Torndirrup National Park. Our first stop is Stony Hill which we didn't really have any expectations of but we were both very pleasantly impressed. These large rocks/boulders that feature heavily in this area can be found all around Albany, we have even come across a few houses that have been built around these large rocky areas. We took the path around and over these rocks until we decided we had seen enough and then tried to find our way back, we did get a bit lost at one stage but eventually found the track we needed. There were lots of native wildflowers around here to add interest to our walk. We drove back from here to the Blowholes and set off on the track to this attraction. We passed a family returning and asked if the blowholes were active today and they said they weren't and it wasn't worth the walk down. As the total walk was 800mtrs and there were 78 difficult steps down at the end to basically see nothing we decided not to go any further and turned around to drive to our next stop. Our next stop was the main attraction of the area, the Natural Bridge and The Gap, I had researched this a bit and seen photos of the area and was quite excited to actually visit here, and we weren't disappointed. We parked out car and as there were park fees we checked that our annual fee covered us for this park and it did. We first of all walked to the Natural Bridge and it was as impressive as it's photos, the views from here were magnificent and there is something inspiring about these huge rocks. We walked back from here to The Gap where we were suspended out over the rocks to watch the ocean pounding in underneath, such a spectacular sight and it was so much fun to hear the gasps as the water surged out into spray once hitting the rocks. This was an excellent experience and one that will be added to our favourites list.
Today we moved onto Ravensthorpe, we didn't have any particular reason to come here except that it was halfway between Albany and Esperance. I think the highlight of our trip was driving past Stirling Ranges which gave us many impressive views out on the horizon. Ravensthorpe is a small town and I think the main highlight here is Fitzgerald National Park. It is always a worry when you walk into the Visitor Centre and ask for brochures on what to see in the area and they stare at you blankly. We did walk out with a bit of information though and think we might drive down to Hopetoun tomorrow to take a look around. We took a quick look around town and drove around the caravan park when we returned. I gather Ravensthorpe is used mainly as a stop off point between Albany and Esperance and I don't think much else happens here.
We drove down to Hopetoun in the morning and we weren't really sure what we would do after that. We drove straight down to the jetty and had a look around here. The water is the most beautiful colour or probably more correctly colours and the sand is as white as you can possibly see, the contrast between the white sand and the colours of the water is startling. There was a young boy fishing on the jetty and when we asked he said he can normally catch something from here, mainly herrings. We drove back into town to take a look at some of the older buildings in the area and stopped off at the IGA to pick up a few items for dinner, we were going out to lunch and when we do this we normally just have a cheese platter for dinner. From the IGA we walked over to the bakery to see if we could buy a French Stick for the platter but they were out of them but offered to cook us a couple of focaccias rolls which we accepted. While waiting for them to cook we walked around the street and noticed a hairdressers next door to the bakery and as we are both due for hair appointments I stuck my head in the door to see if we were able to have Robb's hair and beard trimmed, she only had 10 minutes but said she would squeeze us in which was really nice of her. It turned out to be a lovely experience and we had a very pleasant visit, she suggested we visited Cave Point Lookout in Fitzgerald River National Park before we returned to Ravensthorpe, it sounded interesting and it wasn't that far away so we thought we would do just that. We walked back to the bakery and picked up our rolls from the lovely staff in there, I must say everybody in town had been most helpful with one thing or another, we enjoyed our time in Hopetoun. We drove from Hopetoun to the National Park and we were immediately so happy we did, this would have to be one of the prettiest parks we have entered, helped along of course by the fact that it is wildflower season. As we drove along we pulled into a couple of the photo lookouts and the views from here were absolutely magnificent and the views were all around not just the vistas over the water but the hills and ranges behind us too. We drove onto Cave Point Lookout, parked and walked the 300mts to the lookout itself, we were so glad we had listened to the hairdresser, we couldn't help but be impressed by the views here and walking around I took lots of photos of the flowers in bloom. There was a higher walk to the cliff top which we also took and laid a stone on the rock cairn that people have been adding to when they visit this spot. We didn't go any further into the park but turned around towards Ravensthorpe it was getting later and we were hoping to have lunch at the pub and wanted to get there before the kitchen closed. We needn't have hurried because the pub wasn't open that day because of a shortage of staff, it is something we have been coming across all through our travels, these small towns really miss out on the overseas backpackers not being able to enter the country. We stopped off at Ravy's Country Kitchen instead, not quite what we were planning on but the food was good and the service excellent.
Originally we were meant to be moving onto Esperance today but when I tried to organise accommodation last night we couldn't get anywhere until Friday, we took this availability being a bit worried that if we left it we may not get anywhere for the weekend and we particularly wanted to spend a bit of time in Esperance, we knew it wouldn't be a problem to extend our stay in Ravensthorpe as they don't take bookings and there have been plenty of spots for the time we have been here. We didn't have much to do around here but as we had both had a touch of gastro we felt a quiet day would do us good. We planned on having a coffee in town in the morning and thought we would call into the office on our way out to book the extra night but unfortunately the office was closed, we weren't concerned as they have a notice out front telling people if the office is closed just find a spot and park and then call into the office later in the day to settle the account. We returned to the Ravy Country Kitchen for coffee as we knew that was open and the service had been good here the previous day. Robb found a table while I ordered our coffees. We sat there for quite a while reading and enjoying what turned out to be a pretty good drink. From here we drove to look at the painted silos, not our favourite ones but you still have to admire the work, we then took a quick tour around town mainly admiring the beautiful gardens before returning to camp where we spent the remainder of the day. We called into the office but it was still closed, the weather was beautiful and we sat outside the van in the sunshine for most of the time, we had lunch inside because there are more flies in this town than wildflowers. We saw the park owner walk past us later in the day and I called out to him saying we would call past later to pay, he was pretty easy going and it wasn't a problem.
No. It wasn't but I'll have to look it up
Loved these areas. We stayed on a farm park roughly half way between Walpole and Denmark for 4 nights. Not far from the dinosaur park. Enjoy Albany.