The starting point

The starting point

Wednesday 15 January 2020

15/1/20 Repair reprieve




  Leaving our lakeside camp spot , we headed into Katanning for some fuel , before heading south to Cranbrook where we stayed last year . The drive took us past some of the salt lakes that I flew over last year - not so impressive when they are dry though . 
  Continuing on we had to go out to the Albany Hwy to Mt Barker , where we stopped for lunch in a warm 34 degrees . We got going again and about 30 kms out we found another free camp for the night near Narrikup Cricket Club Ground . The ground has a boundary fence and a part of that fence is made of old cricket bats - makes for a good looking fence !


   After a quiet night , we made our way into Albany , staying at a park about 9klms out of town , we had a couple of nights there before the van went in for repairs . They even had a spare house for us to rent for the night - no cabins were available , but they charged us the same amount - lovely people !
 Fortunately the van was ready next afternoon - and yes - it's fixed yahoo !!! So with that we thought we'd support the park and stay for another week . 
   As it was a nice day , we headed out to Two Peoples Bay NP . Little Beach is a spectacular spot , beautiful clear water and white sand , a few granite rocks thrown in . Unfortunately for us , a lot of other people have also found out about it - the carpark was overflowing , but we got there as someone was leaving - score . 
 This is the view from the path down to the beach - Stunning !


  At the far end of the beach is a granite outcrop , and over the other side of this outcrop is another beach - Waterfall Beach - it too is stunning as well . There was a group of young men playing beach cricket there as well as a few other people enjoying the beauty .


  The waterfall was just a trickle over a rock , running down onto the sand and into the ocean . The view is across to Mt Manypeaks .


    Incredibly clear water and sandy bottom , rocks seem to be just sitting in the water enjoying the day .


 After enjoying the beauty for an hour or more , we made our way back to the van . 
Having plenty of time , we are enjoying not rushing around filling every available minute with something to do or see . We are spending our spare time catching up on jobs that need doing , finding that there are a few things that need some more attention than others - one of our roof vent fans needed replacing as well - back to town to find they had one in stock , have to be happy with that .
 A few days later we headed up to Mt Clarence and the remembrance drive , parked at the top and were going to go for a walk up to the top monument , but found a circuit track leading off the bottom of the carpark , so decided to take that instead . It turned into a 3klm walk down a lot of steps , then an access track beside a water pipeline , then a track back up to the top again , quite a pleasant walk . The track also went past some housing , not for long though - this is looking west toward the wind farm .


  This is looking further to the north , Albany is a spread out city , with many more houses etc round to the right of photo .



  This is part of the harbour , probably had a lot to do with Albany being the first settlement in WA . The dock area is just out of picture bottom right - past the wood chip piles . A cruise ship was in port today as well , adding a few thousand people into town .



  Our weather has been varied , usually windy , sometimes overcast - more so over the last week or so  temperatures have been struggling to get past 22 degrees - I know , everyone over east is saying we'll have that please , overnight has been getting down to 12 - we are wearing jackets during the day !!
  Time to go for a drive , we headed west toward Denmark , but along the old road rather than the main road . First stop was East Mutton Bird Beach and Shelter Rock . The photo from the lookout shows the beach and Shelter Rock to the left . Straight ahead and to the left is West Cape Howe - the southern most point of WA - Cosy Corner is also straight ahead on the other side of the bay .


   This is the view as you go down the path to the beach , to the sheltered stretch of water beside the island .


  This is the beach complete with orange rocks .


 The bird came out for a fly - check out the colour of the water - and today is full overcast ,



  One side of the island is calm , the other waves crashing onto rocks .



  This is Shelter Island looking back toward the Torndirrup Peninsular NP.



   Leaving here we called in to a few other spots , but most were out in the wind , so we didn't stop long there , but found a lot of Christmas Trees with these orange flowers .
 

  Around to Cosy Corner Beach , stopping under all these very old tea trees , branches have been twisted and contorted into some weird shapes .



 This is Migo Island




 Around further into West Cape Howe NP to Shelley Beach - this was taken from the lookout and hang gliding and paragliding take off . Landing spot is down on the beach in front of the grassy area - also a camp site .


  The left hand end of the beach is protected by these huge granite boulders .



   Kangaroo Paw is out in flower everywhere around here at the moment , predominantly this colour .


  This is the view from a track beside the road down to the beach , spectacular scenery .


  This photo is Sheeley Beach Rd and is a beautiful section of Karri forest .


 There you are , up to date again , here's map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=12rJwSQWF1WuMJZSBiQpG5_JbRBs8A8lp&usp=sharing




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