Voyage to the Great Southern

Sunday 20 - Wednesday 23 December

Sunday morning we were up at 8am despite a rather late and wine filled evening the night before.  Very excitingly we were heading off on a four day trip down South to Albany.  By 10am we were ready, packed and on the road and 6 hours later we arrived in the small and pretty city.  By the time we had collected the keys to our unit from the tourist office and bought food and alcohol supplies Anna and Kevin had caught up with us and we headed in convoy to our base for the next four days.

Our unit was just off Middleton beach which is the main beach in the area and so once we were unpacked and settled in we took a stroll along the beach to stretch our legs and take in how gorgeous it is.  It wasn't a long walk however as that evening we had guests coming round and there was dinner to prepare.

Both Kevin and Peter and Jenny have friends who have moved down to Albany and Kevin's friend Paul was coming that evening with his girlfriend Allie and their young baby Elvie.  We had a lovely evening and Elvie was very good.  It was nice to hear about how Paul and Allie enjoy living down in Albany and made me look forward to seeing more of the area. Later in the evening we also had a surprise visit from Peter's friend Jeff who he has known ever since he lived in Jersey and who came over to Australia around the same time as Peter and Jenny.

We discussed with Jeff which beach might be warm enough and wavey enough to have both a swim and surf at the following day and a plan was made to visit Mutton Bird beach.  Once Jeff left everyone headed off to bed and Anna and I decided to have one last glass of wine before following them.  As it happened one glass lead to another and we ended up staying up chatting until rather later than expected (3am).  It was lovely to get the chance to have a good catch up, I wish there was more time for it.

Due to this we were a bit slow getting started the next morning, although we were up at 8am.  It was just nice to have breakfast together at holiday pace and take time to pack a lunch up for later.  Once everything was sorted we headed over to meet Jeff and also Fernanda the Brazilian exchange student who was staying with Jeff and his wife Sue.  We all had a quick stop at Bayonet Head look out to get a view across the coastline and nearby Islands and then went over to Mutton Bird Beach to appreciate the white sandy beaches at closer range.

Mutton bird beach is stunning!  It is long, gently curved and pretty with grassy cliff banks.  There was barely anyone around and we saw Mutton birds.  It was a little breezy when we arrived (Albany is quite a bit further south than Perth and correspondingly cooler).  But by the time we had had a lengthy walk along the beach it felt warm enough for a swim and bit of body boarding.  We had a brilliant time in the water, it felt lovely and warm once we were in and it was really fun in the waves.  It was so good I went back in for more after lunch while the others had a sleep (other than uncle Peter who watched me in case I drifted out to sea and needed rescuing).


We had all had a bit too much sun by the time we headed back for tea and xmas cake and showers.  That evening Jeff and his wife and Fernanda were coming over and Rob and I were in charge of cooking.  It was another fun evening and further bottles of wine were consumed, as well as rather a lot of chocolate.  However that night we all headed to bed by 11pm.

The plan for our second full day in Albany was to walk along the boardwalk that runs from Middleton beach (where we were staying) into town.  We had sun from the start today and it was lovely following the path along the twinkling coastline.  Admittedly it was a little longer than we had quite realised and everyone was ready for refreshments by the time we reached town. We also then took the slightly shorter but less scenic route back to have some lunch.

After lunch we did the touristy visits to the gap and the natural bridge which were beautiful and epic.

Then we visited the wind farm on the hillside.  Amazingly this wind farm of 12 turbinds powers 50% of Albany's energy needs!  A wind of 7km/hour can turn the propellers and there will only be on average 7 days a year that there is not enough wind to turn them.  I think they are beautiful and a real positive sign.

Then there was still time for a swim on the way back at the town end of Middleton beach where there is a jumping off platform in the sea which Kevin, Rob, Peter and I swam out to and practiced our diving.  Our final stop for the day was to visit Paul and Allie's house for a beer and a catch up before picking up noodles for dinner.  Everyone was pretty snoozy that evening and after a spot of telly watching everyone started heading off to bed and sadly our time in Albany was over.

Wednesday morning was our earliest start as everyone was so well slept and so we were packed up and ready to leave by 9am.  We were taking a different route back through the Stirling Ranges today as on the way home we were going to tackle Bluff Knoll mountain.  The walk to the top was only 3km however this was all up hill up large steps!  It was hard going but we persevered and the view was stunning.  At times the view was rather close for comfort as the mountain is very steep, almost vertical, and the path is quite narrow.  Rob had to challenge his vertigo at these moments.


But eventually we made it to the top and took the congratulatory photographs before going back time.  I had underestimated the walk back, we all got wobbly legs in the constant battle against gravity. It is tempting to run down, as naturally you start to.  Anna and Peter did this once, however we decided not to this time as the combination of the very uneven surface and my natural lack of balance and grace suggested I should stick to walking down.  The walk was 6km in total but as you can see from this that underestimates the extent of the climb upwards!

A well deserved lunch awaited us at the bottom and then we started the drive home.

It took quite a while to get back via this different route and we didn't walk through the front door until 10pm!  We ate the pizzas we'd picked up on the way, unpacked the car and sloped of to bed exhausted but very happy.  The trip to Albany had exceeded my expectations, it was great to see more of Western Australia and really really lovely that the six of us got to spend four solid days together.