A quick look at WikiCamp revealed Cosy Corner as the nearest free camp to base ourselves for a few days exploring the area around Albany. We arrived late in the day as we took the opportunity to restock in Albany and there was only one site remaining, but it was a perfect spot… bingo! In the morning the kids again took it upon themselves to prepare breakfast and deviated from the now norm of pancakes and produced a sumptuous feast of ‘Toad in the Hole’… basically slice of bread, cut a round hole from the centre, put bread in a frying pan, then crack an egg in said hole… delish!
First outing was to the Whaling Museum and what a great time we had. Although a grisly subject, it was a major part of Albany’s economy up until when Australia led the way in banning all whaling within its waters. The bloody and grim business of hunting then processing the whale was confronting to listen to, but the museum tactfully acknowledged the past whilst showing how the world’s view on whaling changed public opinion, along with substitutes for all the key products from the whale, which ultimately bought about the decision to close the whaling station. Accounts of the past and an excellent collection of various marine mammal skeletons gave us all some insights into both the industry in its hey-day and the humpback whale which is now a huge tourist drawcard for the region on their annual migration from Antarctica.
One of the remaining whale chaser ships was on display and the kids loved exploring the decks, learning a little about what life at sea must have been like as well as how they used to hunt the whales, harpoon, then tow the catch back to Albany. You had pretty much free reign of the ship and not a single cabin was left unexplored. Daddy particularly liked the engine room where all the highly polished brass gauges twinkled, and the telegraph beckoned… once a wreck diver always a wreck diver! Lexi liked the radio room, seeing a picture of the operator in his headphones she assumed this was the ships DJ! Reo enjoyed lounging in the captain’s quarters… I’m liking that he’s setting his sights high!
After the morning flew by we headed back via Torndirrup National Park. A quick walk, with much protesting from you-know-who, took us to the blowholes, which alas were having a day off, so back in the car and over to The Gap and Nature’s Bridge. Fortunately, the car park was in sight of the formation so it took a little less persuasion to extract the kids from the car. They’ve built a cantilever walkway over The Gap which allows for some exhilarating views, whilst mummy’s fear of height got the better of her, Reo seemed quite keen on leaning over with the wind in his hair and doing his own interpretation of the Titanic bow stance! Nature’s Bridge was impressive, and a plaque nearby recounted the lucky rescue of a tourist who climbed down to “get that shot” but was washed away by a big wave and spent a long time in the sea before eventually being rescued far out at sea… a good lesson to reiterate the risk of cliffs and unpredictable waves to the kids.
By now we’d driven through Albany a dozen times but not yet stopped at “That Boat” that Reo was desperate to climb on. Turns out it was a replica of the Brig Amity. A self-guided tour allowed you to explore the ship and learn some of the history associated with the region. This tiny ship held 61 soldiers, convicts, passengers, crew and sufficient enough provisions to establish the first settlement in the west, which later became Albany! They were certainly a hardy bunch! Whilst the officers had their own bunks and mess area (about size enough to swing a cat!) where they could actually stand up straight, the rest were squeezed into extremely cramped quarters, hot bunking and a ceiling so low that Reo was the only one of us who could stand up and not bump his head..!?! Knowing how fragrant Minty can get with just the 4 of us, in those close conditions onboard, week after week, it must have been pretty smelly!!! After Mummy educated us on how to get maggots out of the dry biscuits (place a dead fish on the bag of biscuits and the maggots crawl off to eat it – in case you’re interested), Reo quickly said “can we get off here now it’s starting to get creepy”!
We enjoyed our time in Albany, sampling various fish n chips, a refreshing ale at the oldest pub in the west and at the tourist information centre the kids had their first experience with Virtual Reality, which was hilarious to watch their reactions, spinning around, pointing and shouts of ooh & aah! As is becoming a regular highlight when we visit a town with a library we spend time there doing school work and some reading. They really enjoy perusing the books, having new stories read to them and doing some readers themselves. We also take the opportunity to join, where possible, so we can access the libraries collection of audiobooks, an absolute must for any road trip with children… at least for parents who want to avoid plugging them into a tablet and dealing with all the associated poor behaviour that we find follows hours on electronics! With audiobooks hours in the car disappear with zero complaints and even when we’ve finally reached camp, they’re so absorbed in the story they don’t want to get out!
Before leaving Cosy Corner I was keen to take a drive into West Cape Howe National Park. Beautiful rugged scenery and a winding road down to Shelly Beach where we came across Doug and Annie who had just landed several Australian Salmon from the wild looking waves crashing onto the beach. We got chatting when Reo pointed out that one of the fish had a tail sticking out of its mouth. Not just one but two herring (about the size of our previous prize catch) popped out! The first was soon on a hook and being cast back out into the surf by Annie and in less then a minute another fish was landed. The trick with Australian Salmon is to bleed them as soon as you land them and stick head down in the sand, but none of us were quite ready for the jet of blood that gushed out as its neck was cut!
That left one herring and Annie asked if I fancied a go… you bet! Same as before, cast out, wham, fish on! Boy they can fight. A big smile on my face as I landed my first Aussie Salmon in less than a minute! That one too obligingly coughed up a herring, so this time the rod was handed over to mummy. Now this is the type of fishing mummy has the patience for, 30 seconds and fish on. She also had a huge smile as she wrestled it up the beach. We thanked Doug and Annie and now the task of filleting and skinning was handed over to daddy, who, if I dare say so myself, did a pretty good job! Now Aussie Salmon aren’t overly prized here as an eating fish, but that night we lightly fried it in some butter, garlic and Italian herbs with a side of fresh veg and spuds and the kids wolfed it down, licking their plates, so you be the judge!
The next day we did a recce down to Parry’s Beach as a potential camp spot. This is where the commercial guys net schools of Salmon on scale and they had just done so and were processing their catch… about 8 tonnes in one haul! They wait until a school is spotted in the bay then circle them with a net using boats then drag the whole lot up the beach with tractors… easy! Keep an eye out for Mendolia Seafood’s canned Aussie Salmon, which they hope will make a resurgence on the dinner table, all the way from Parry’s Beach.
Camp for the next few nights was Ayr Sailean, billed as a farm stay but with limited interaction with the farm animals when we were there, but nevertheless pleasant enough. The kids made friends with the nearby children from the next camp and randomly one of the families staying happened to be a troop of fire jugglers! Fortunately Ayr Sailean has an exemption from the blanket fire ban and we were all treated to an impromptu and enjoyable performance of fire juggling next to a roaring fire. Our Neighbours Ben & Celeste mentioned they were heading to Rockcliffe Winnery for their annual family friendly food festival evening and soon plans were being made to rendezvous there.
After what had been some pretty average weather, the sun came out and we sampled some tasty food from pop-up food stalls whilst enjoying a bottle of fine wine with great company. Between the live music sessions were cooking demos by Masterchef season 2 winner Adam Liaw. The kids were transfixed… jnr Masterchef’s here we come! When Adam came into the crowd brandishing a limited sample of what he’d just thrown together, Reo wiggled through the crowd reached up and grabbed the largest piece on the plate which we all managed to get a taster of… good boy! Needless to say it was divine!
Whilst fishing back at Shelly Beach, Doug mentioned when in Walpole to do the eco-wilderness tour down the Walpole inlet and we wouldn’t be disappointed. Taking a locals recommendation, we booked up. Unaware of what we were going to experience, what followed was a rather unique river cruise whilst the guide regaled us with hilarious story after story about either how the inlet became protected, the wildlife or the unusually significant historical figures that had passed through. He talked about a million miles an hour, so much was lost on the kids, but to give you an example of how eccentric this was, in the boathouse on the inlet that belonged to one of these historical figures they found a box hidden below the floor boards containing black and white photos of groups of people some of which turned out to be Russian secret agents..?!? He had the boat in stiches for the entire cruise. We all came off the boat with a new slogan though; “…he could have gone to the North pole, he could have gone to the South pole, but instead he came to Walpole!”
One thing the kids did learn about on the cruise was NURDLES! What you may well ask are nurdles? These are small plastic pellets about the size of a lentil. Countless billions are used each year to make nearly all our plastic products, but many end up, via mishandling by industry, in the sea and ultimately into the food chain being mistaken as food by various and numerous types of marine life. We were shocked to find a good handful along the shoreline in a matter of about 10 minutes. Apparently there had been a recent large-scale spill and these were only the first arrivals! Once again plastics are prevalent in how we are affecting our delicate marine ecosystem.
No visit to Walpole is complete without stepping into the mighty Tingle forest to marvel at the sight of these magnificent giants. We learnt how they grow from a tiny seed, smaller than a grain of sand into these huge trees that live for hundreds of years. A popular photo that everyone loves is the family gathered in the hollowed-out base of the tree. Some are big enough to literally park a car! Curious as to why this happens, the centre of the tree dies, and the dead wood starts to rot. When a bush fire comes through, the dead wood burns hollowing out the centre but leaving the outside bark and living edge of the tree. We got the obligatory photos and took a leisurely walk through the forest admiring all the gnarly shapes and imaging tree faces frozen in wood. Following the forest drive we ended up at Mount Franklin and after cajoling the kids to walk the 300m to the viewing platform, admired the views of the forest stretching out far and wide below.
On a windy overcast day we headed down to Greens Pool and Elephant Rock. I remember this place from our last adventure, but the grey skies and crashing waves didn’t make it look quite as inviting as I remembered. The lure to hunt and pick up nurdles however enticed the kids to explore the rocks and shore line and we spent a good few hours blowing away the cobwebs before heading back to camp.
As we arrived in this area renowned for its soft fruits, we regaled the children with tales of fruit picking back in the home country… memories from our childhood of pick you own fruit, one for me one for the punnet – yum. Without really checking the season, we promised they could have a go. Turns out the season was over, so somewhat disappointedly we settled on plan B, a road side fruit n veg stall. Tragically they’d not got any raspberries left on the stall and after sharing our sad story with Jo who owned the stall, she said she still had fruit on the bushes and we were welcome to come round back and pick-our-own, yeah! The kids had a ball and Jo showed us around her allotment, pointing out all the various fruit n veg she was growing and telling the kids a little about planting and growing, something they’d never manage to glean from their (not so green fingered) parents!
With an improvement in the forecast we decided to hang around the coast a little longer and decided to try out Banksia camp which is 4WD access only, hoping this would get us a bit of seclusion we’d been missing thus far on this trip. It was probably one of the first camps where we’d be able to test out Minty as all signs advised against caravans, which, as we’ve previously explained Minty, a hybrid, is not! I’m pleased to report little drama to get to camp and on arrival we had the entire place to ourselves on the first night and the pick of the sites… perfect. Turns out to be a pretty gorgeous place, stunning rocky cliffs, white sandy beaches and turquoise albeit rough seas.
Keen to try a fishing tip we’d learnt from Trev (Boat Harbour) on how to catch herring, a simple white straw over a hook with about 1m of line behind a float, which you cast & reel in quickly, we headed to the rocks. First cast I hit the only rock with the float and cut the line – argh! Quick bit of re-rigging and we were hauling out herring quicker than you could imagine! So many we started getting fussy on size. Freshly lightly fried herring fillet is yummy. The new arrivals to camp were a friendly bunch and pumped up by the days fishing exploits, Reo confidently announced to his fellow campers that tomorrow we’d feed everyone fish – no pressure! I need not have worried as the next days fish were just as bountiful, but you try filleting 13 herring, not a quick task, but everyone was very appreciative of their little fishy snack and Reo was as proud as punch.
After extending our stay by a day or so, enjoying the beautiful stop, it was finally time to leave the coast behind us for now and head inland towards the southern forests. We packed up, successfully navigated the 4WD track back to the corrugated dirt road and then joined the highway north, but with no plan where too…? WikiCamps to the rescue…
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