The long trek to Albany and back

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Hi everyone

Yesterday we drove to Albany which is 400km from Dunsborough. It
was a cold and windy 19 degrees which was a bit of a shock after leaving mid
30's temperatures. You wouldn't have known it was summer.

We have been hearing the news that Brisbane is underwater again.
We hope everyone is safe. We are resigned to the fact that we will have had
water through the garage and office but there's not much we can do about it
expect clean up. After last year we're really good at it :-)

We came to Albany so that peter could visit the local whiskey
distillery. I enjoyed the coffee and the Internet connection. It is unusual for
a distillery to be so civilised. This one, the Great Southern distillery http://www.distillery.com.au/ was
very much more friendly the ones in Scotland. It's one of 15 distilleries in
Australia and the only one in WA. While we are on the subject of whisky,
it's Robbie Burns, the Scottish poet who loved a wee dram, 253rd birthday.
Although the annual clan gathering at the RB statue in the Valley (where whisky
enthusiasts drink, recite poetry and play bagpipes) has been cancelled due to
inclement weather, Peter is having his own private party!!!

On the way to Albany we went and saw the centuries old Tingle trees
at the Valley of the Giants Tree Walk http://www.valleyofthegiants.com.au/
We did the Tree Top Walk on a 40 m high walk-way through the canopy of the trees.
It is a series of sixty-metre, lightweight steel trusses built on steel
pylons to form a secure ramp. It was very windy so the walkway swayed a lot and
we both felt dizzy. This was accentuated by the fact that you could see through
the walkway to the ground. Not for the faint of heart. Here's a YouTube video so you can see what it was like up there in the trees.

Albany is a really nice place for two reasons. It's a pretty
historical town and the people are incredibly friendly. I mean really nice and friendly.
In the shops people couldn't do enough for us. It makes for all the snobby
places that we've been to. Albany is also famous for its ANZAC connection when in 1915, the first and second ANZAC convoys left for Egypt from Albany. These convoys consisted of troop ships from all over Australia, as well as New Zealand, and included the flagship of the China Station and a Japanese battle cruiser as part of the naval escort. In Egypt, the troops trained before being landed at Gallipoli to fight the Turks. For the thousands of Australian soldiers who died at Gallipolli, this was their last chance to walk on Australian soil.

We're home now at Dunsborough after the 400km drive home. It's been 42 degrees here today.......hot.......!!We went to a sheep cheese place on the way home and tested 6 sheep cheeses. It was great to have a choice....it's still not easy to get nice sheep or goats cheese at home so it was a real find.

At sunset today we're trekking the 50 metres to the beach and drinking our champagne there. Looking forward to that!

pj and sandy

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