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Published: March 13th 2010
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After a surprisingly good night’s sleep, we woke to a glorious sunrise, still pinching ourselves that we’re in Australia! We started the day with a leisurely stroll along the beach and were greeted with the fantastic site of two beautiful horses bathing in the distance. Another surprise was seeing cuttlefish washed up on the beach - exactly the same as we stuck in the budgie’s cage as children - amazing what memories little things can spark! Had a chat to a few more folk down on the main site and got some good tips on how to make your money stretch.
We eventually set off for a good look around the area. Our first stop was McDonalds, mainly as they have free WiFi! After 3 blog updates however we felt we should move on. Dear reader, you may notice that we become more irregular on updating our blogs - it is really dependent on how often we can find a McDonalds (our only known source of free WiFi) - and whether we’ve stopped at a site with electricity to power up the pc!
Albany is a lovely historical town, which was actually established 2 years before Perth and is
the oldest settlement in Western Australia. We dutifully visited the rigged ship that brought the first convicts (rebuilt of course), the prison where they were kept, an old fisherman’s hut and a museum with the lighthouse lamps. There was a wonderful story written by a young girl who lived on the lighthouse island ‘we had a lovely life on the island but then daddy started drinking too much and mummy got bored so we moved back to the mainland’. In the 1920s many of the settlers were leaving as they were suffering from malnutrition - looking around, that’s not a problem any more!
Best of all ... and this made me chuckle all evening ... was the crocheted coral reef! It was absolutely brilliant! Apparently it’s a worldwide attempt to highlight the problems facing the oceans today. I have the pattern, so watch out when I get back!!
We also drove up to the highest points - Mt Adelaide with the old fort (closed) and Mt G with an ANZAC memorial to the men who fell in the 1914-18 war - including members of the Camel Corps ... never knew we had one of those! It was terribly
sad, especially the avenue of trees leading up the hill, each tree had a plaque bearing the name and details of a fallen soldier, normally stating that the tree had been planted by his mother.
There was a stunningly good view after we’d climbed up all the steps - and stopped to chat to an octogenarian who reckoned that my colour eventually returned to normal!!
We drove along the coast road, taking in the spectacular scenery, ending up at Emu Point where we could observe the Australians at leisure in their own habitat. We’d already passed several cricket matches - sometimes two taking place on adjoining pitches. John had a great time chatting cricket with a chap who used to coach a schoolboy team that Justin Langer played for. The chap had recently visited England and commented that it was men his age playing cricket, whilst it’s the young lads playing in Oz. And we have certainly seen lots of lads walking around in their whites.
But at
Emu Point we watched the families on the beach, the older ladies drinking coffees at the cafe, the teenaged kids walking up and down. Lots of people swimming in the lido area, and even more dotted around in boats. Several people walked past with their fishing rods. All there was at Emu Point was one cafe, some public toilets (extremely clean with showers), a children’s play area and a wonderful beach. And it seemed like everyone was out just taking it easy, chatting and enjoying themselves. As a lifestyle, it will take a lot of beating!
We eventually drove back to the campsite, and luckily no-one had pinched out spot, so we drove in and got stuck in with the night-time preparations. I’m slowly training John caravan etiquette ... we’re starting with ‘tidy up after yourself’...
Believe it or not, it got quite cool, so we eventually gave up and went inside (there were also some huge flying beetles flinging themselves at our light and rebounding into our vicinity). Our battery suddenly gave up, all the lights went out, so we took the hint and went to bed. *see previous comments re: our van!!
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