After realizing we weren't going to be able to swim with the whale sharks or the giant sea turtles up in Exmouth, we decided to try our luck down South this break.
After a quick stop at clean-skins, we plugged in our GPS and headed towards Albany in Caddy (the car).
Now the most frustrating part of this trip was the fact that we are fact quite avid campers back home. In Edmonton we have all the gear, the chairs, the stoves, the axe, the pots/ pans, coolers.... everything that you could need for a camping trip. However, one little problem.... we're in Australia. Well no worries as the Aussies say. We borrowed a one man tent and air mattress from my school, bought an eskie (on wheels!!) and threw in pillows. What more could we need? Little did we know that we were heading into the storm of the year. Okay, it wasn't the storm of the year but it did rain for 7 days straight!!!
7 days of rain in a one man tent with no tarp! Somehow we managed to stay relatively dry.... Dave took the leaky side.
We spent to the first two nights at Shelley's beach outside of Albany. Somehow we got the best spot at this little gem of a campsite on the ocean. As the sun was setting (at 5pm!) we hustled to cook our food on the communal barbie and then hid in our tent until 5am when the sun came up or for the rain to stop.
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| View from our tent on Shelley's |
It just so happened that we were in Albany having breakfast when we realized that we were there for Anzac day. It was not only surreal to be experiencing Anzac day in Australia but to be in Albany was by no means a coincidence. During WWI, the Australian ships would travel to NZ and the East coast collecting troops before heading over to Albany to collect any WA soldiers. For many Aussies, Albany was the last view they had of Australia before heading into battle in Europe. Many, many soldiers never came home. The service was beautiful and very touching and the rain and fog of the morning only added to the very powerful ceremony. It was so nice to know that Remembrance Day is celebrated in other countries with such respect.
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| ANZAC Memorial |
After Albany we headed to Denmark (no, not the country) where we discovered another completely hidden wine region! Needless to say we went for our own wine tour and had a very, very fun afternoon. Besides wine, we did the Tree Top Walk where you can walk 60 ft above the ground in amongst giant Karri trees.
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| Standing 60 ft in the air with the giant Karri trees |
We also saw the Gap, a massive crevice of granite and the Natural Bridge which was absolutely spectacular.
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| Holding the Gap open |
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| A Leprechaun on the Natural Bridge |
After camping for 4 nights in the pouring rain we decided it was time for a real shower (mostly I wanted a TV to watch the Royal Wedding). We headed to the Karri Valley Resort and it was breathtaking. It was the JPL without the mountains but the kangaroos made up for it. Dave fished (and still says there was no fish in the entire lake) and I got to watch all 10 hours of the Royal Wedding uninterrupted!
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| Karri Valley Resort |
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| Skip the local Joey |
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| Dave trying to catch some dinner |
Overall, we absolutely loved the trip down south but we're even happier to be back home in the sun!
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