Day 194 Albany, WA

It seems so strange to be back in the big smoke after spending the past month staying in quiet little "out of the way" places.  We do prefer the smaller towns with the quirky caravan parks that usually have an abundance of friendly faces.  Larger towns seem to lose that friendliness a lot of the time, but I'm jumping ahead of myself because Albany might just be the exception to the rule.

We didn't leave Peaceful Bay until almost ten o'clock because (a) we don't have far to travel to Albany and (b) it's hard to leave this beautiful place 🙁.  But having said that we saw as much as we possible could in the area and didn't leave too many stones unturned.  It's a shame the weather wasn't more forgiving because some of the beaches we visited would have been amazing on a hot summers day.

Hooking up the car to the van these days takes us less than ten minutes.  After almost seven months on the road we have it down to a very fine art and we both know our respective jobs.  The levelling system we put under our van before we left has been an absolute godsend and makes raising and lowering the van, for the Toyota to back under, a very simple procedure.  

We follow Highway 1 - South Coast Highway - until we reach Denmark and just past Denmark is a Scenic Drive towards Albany so we turn off the highway and take this road.  It was a good choice.  The countryside is very picturesque and in the far distance we can see the wind turbines at Albany.  We stop at a little town called Elleker where there is a General Store/Cafe/Service Station.  There is a good size area for caravan parking so it is perfect.

As we head towards the Cafe we are greeted by the smell of sausages cooking on the bar-b-que and someone calls out to us "do you want a free sausage".  It is the local Bush Fire Brigade who have set up an information stand to educate the locals about the fire danger that the summer will bring.  There have been some dreadful fires in this region in the past year and the damage they have caused can still be seen by the number of dead trees high on the hills in the Denmark region.  We tell the firies that we will go and get a coffee and then partake of one of their delicious looking snags.

Inside the Cafe/Grocery Store is a treat to behold.  Everything is so beautifully presented and you just can't help but purchase something!  For me it was a Grocery List notepad but there was heaps more I could have purchased if I wasn't living in a caravan!  We ordered our coffee and tea and took them outside where we grabbed a sausage.  We couldn't take one without making a donation of course, and I secretly think that was the idea 😜

From Elleker it is just a hop, skip and a jump into Albany where we are staying at the Albany Gardens Tourist Park.  It is another G'Day park and as we are members, and have accumulated quite a few points over the past six months, we are automatically given early check in.  That is very good because we arrive here before midday.  The van site we have chosen is en-suite and the sites are spacious and green with a good size cement slab for the awning.  All the sites are angled and this is a brilliant concept because it gives everybody a little more privacy.  No need to put up the privacy screens!

We are here in Albany for three nights that I feel will be just the right amount of time.  You may recall that we drove down to Albany from Porrongurup to tour the heritage area and also to visit the Brig Amity.  These are two of the significant tourist sites in Albany so they have been ticked off our growing list of things to do.  Tomorrow the rain will once again descend on us so we will stay with indoor activities that will include a visit to the Albany Whaling Museum.  I'm really looking forward to that.  Philip visited it back in 1976 so it will be interesting for him to see the changes....