Week 8 of full-time travel - Albany to Denmark

Chris & Sally made us so welcome that we ended up stying for a total of 5 nights. We were out and about in the day, but got together every evening to make dinner and eat together.

Selfies after coffee at Kate’s Place cafe

How the heck has Steve make it look like I’ve lifted the Whaling Boat out of the water?!

We had some fantastic veggies that were home grown, just a few feet away from where we had parked the caravan, and really enjoyed chatting over our meals. I cooked dinner one night and Steve cooked for us all on our final evening. Unfortunately, that meant that Sally and the kids (Zoe, Xander & Saxon) also had to endure Steve’s cooking!!! Chris didn’t get home from work until after dinner - still not sure if that was planned!

Hooked up and ready to leave

Leaving Chris & Sally’s place on Tuesday was a bit sad… until we realised that we were blocked into their street by a broken-down car! The street is very narrow and an elderly lady’s car had broken down just as she turned onto the street. The lady was eventually tracked down and her car pushed onto the kerb whilst she waited for the recovery service to arrive.

Chris & Sally had given us great reviews of camp sites that were nearby and so we decided to try our luck at Cozy Corner East. This is a Shire-owned bush camp, which gets very full, very quickly. Being mid-week it was a bit quieter and so we found a fairly level spot in a sheltered location in no time, and set up for a couple of nights.

Our own little sheltered bay for the princely sum of $15.00 per night

The weather took a turn for the worse, so Cozy Corner ended up being not so cozy after all! 

We got quite a bit of wind and rain, but that did not deter us from exploring locally - we took a drive out to a local beach - the coastline down here is stunning and we can imagine it being packed in the Summer.

Driving down onto Hartmans Beach

This would be gorgeous on a sunny day

Look! A big rock!

We rounded off the week by relocating to Rivermouth Caravan Park in Denmark. Denmark town is so pretty and the caravan park is right on the water, with great facilities.

Week 7 of full-time travel - Nyabing to Albany

After the excitement of the car show at Nyabing, we decided to head further south. We arrived at Gnowangerup and checked into the Shire caravan park. Although we do have a small top-loader washing machine in the caravan, we decided to use the very clean laundry facilities to get our “big” washing done (bedding and towels). Two big wash loads and less than an hour later, we jumped into the car for a ride around the town.

They REALLY like their tractors in Gowangerup!

By the time we got back from our little drive, the washing was dry annd another couple of caravans had joined us at the caravan site. We chatted to our ‘neighbours’ until the sun went down, then retired for dinner and an early night.

We headed off the next day and decided to stop at a free camp, just before the Stirling Ranges. Louis’ Lookout has beautiful views across to the mountains and we also got a fantastic sunset.

 

Even though its camp was at an intersection, there was very little road noise through the night, but it did get a bit chilly.

Woolly hats for the win!

The next day, we headed down through the Stirling Ranges.

The drive was very picturesque and we arrived at the Porongurup Range Caravan Park in the afternoon with plenty of time to get set up before dark.

The next day, Steve decided that we should go to the Granite Skywalk. So we headed down the road to the Porongurups National Park. Oh my goodness! How far from the car park?!?!

 

It took us 1 hour 45 minutes to get to the top of the pathway, then all we had to do was’The Scramble’ and the 7m high ladder!

 

These hand/foot holds are placed for people with longer arms and legs than I’ve got! 

 

Just the 7m ladder to go? Easy peasey!!!

The whole trek to the top took ages and I felt like my legs were made of lead, but we made it to the viewing platform at the top!

Worth it for the view

We made our way back down the ladder and the scramble, but before we headed back down the trail we stopped to look at the Balancing Rock.

 

Don’t let it squish you, Steve!

The walk back down the trail only took 45 minutes (including the time it took for Steve to pick me up off the floor when I tripped and went face-first onto the ground!), but we were glad to have made the effort.

The next day we went for a drive into Mt Barker - lunch at a cafe an a bit of grocery shopping were all we could manage with how much our legs were aching from our outing the previous day!

Thursday we made our way down to Albany. We had booked one night in a caravan park on the opposite side of the bay to the port and we were glad we arrived when we did - our spot was right on the water and not long after we parked the caravan, the rain set in!

See those big grey clouds…

We had to run some errands in town in the afternoon and got absolutely soaked, but an early dinner at the Earl of Spencer pub made up for it.  

The next morning, the weather had cleared up a bit, and was much more pleasant. 

 

Look how close we were to the water.

We parked at the caravan day-use parking area, and popped into town to grab some groceries. The walk took us past the replica of The Amity.

Do you reckon the Landcruiser could tow that?

 

To round off the week, we had been invited to stay with friends, Chris & Sally, for a few days. They let us park our caravan in their back garden and made us really welcome.

Best garden free camp in Albany!!!

Week 6 of full-time travel - Nyabing to… Nyabing?!?!

Monday was a Public Holiday in WA for Labour Day and most places were closed. We went for a drive around the area and ended up in the Nyabing Community Hub for the evening. Again, we were made to feel very welcome and were having a lovely quiet evening, talking to Amy (barmaid on a working holiday from Hull!) and Parrot (local guy who has lived in Nyabing forever and works for the Shire) when the CEO of the local Shire (Adam) came in with a drill in his hands. Apparently, the only local fuel pump had gone offline and the fuel company had advised that the Shire had a key to get to the reset button. The key could not be found, so Adam decided he would drill out the lock and deal with the missing key the next day, when everyone was back at work!

Adam stayed on to chat and have a few drinks with us. He and Parrot were telling us that there was a car show planned for the next Saturday and that we should come back to town - they even told us that the caravan park would be free for the Friday and Saturday nights. We told Adam that we hadn’t been able to pay for staying at the caravan park last night and tonight, with the Shire offices being closed, but we would pop in and pay the next morning. 

While chatting, Adam asked what we did for work and Steve told him that he had been a plumber/gas fitter - well, cue the guys trying to talk us into staying long-term and offering Steve a job with the Shire! Steve politely declined and explained that we’re only a few weeks into our travels, and still had so much more of the country to see.

The next morning we popped into th Shire office to pay our camping fees and were again asked if we would consider coming back for the car show the next weekend. We said we’d think about it and then were off on our way to our next location.

We arrived at Kukerin less than 45 minutes later and picked a spot at the town caravan park.

6352 is the Post Code for Kukerin

Kukerin is not a big town, but it was the ideal location to take a trip out to Lake Grace.

 

The lakes at Lake Grace seem to go on forever

We ended up stying a few nights at Kukerin, but decided to go back to Nyabing for the car show (and free camping!)

We got parked up at Nyabing and strolled over to the Community Hub. Parrot and Amy were both there and were both happy to see us back in town. We didn’t stay too late at the Hub because we knew the next day would be a long one!

The car show was in full-swing by the time we walked down to the main street. There was not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was perfect. There were lot of cars and even more people.

Just a few of the cars on display…

 

The Shire had arranged for the cars to compete in a Short-Stop Drag Race knockout competition. The main car park had been closed down and start and stop lines painted. We were stood right by the side of the area - First to go were the street cars and classics. Then the souped-up muscle cars had a go…

There was so much tyre smoke that the final had to be run three times, because the adjudicators couldn’t see who won! 

After so much excitement, we had a drink or two at the Hub, and chatted again to Amy and Parrot. Adam called in and was pleased to see that we’d come back again for the event.

We didn’t stay out too late, but had a sneaky go on the brand  new jumping pillow at the kid’s playground, on the way back to the caravan (no limbs were broken!!!)