Perth / South Western Australia – Day 5 – Afternoon – Albany, Torndirrup National Park, Denmark
Ξ May 21st, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Albany, Perth, Self drive, denmark, family, personal, road trip, singapore, travel, western australia |
We left The Lily at about 1100hrs this monring for Albany.
The 85km drive took about an hour and a half, due to the heavy flow of traffic before entering Albany.
The first thing we did was to to head for the petrol station. We have a quater of a tank left, but was afraid that the petrol price will go higher when we go further into the trip. We have travelled more than 1000km thus far.
Second thing we did, we went straight to Albany Plaza, but could not find a free parking lot. So we parked at Woolsworth, and went over to Coles (in Albany Plaza) to buy our food for the next few days.
We also brought lunch from Subway, and then we proceeded on to Jesters Pie, the real reason why we came to this part of Albany.
Jesters Albany
1/77 Lockyer Ave
Albany 6330
Of course, its available all over Australia, but its only at Stirling Range I remembered about it and the nearest location would be here, I guess?
We bought:
Tender chunks of lean beef simmered in our traditional gravy
Skin-free chicken with bacon & button mushrooms in an Italian cheese sauce
Chunks of lean beef with bacon & juicy mushrooms topped with tasty cheese
Skin-free chicken marinated in Jesters secret Satay sauce. *Contains Peanuts
And thats $18, FYI.
We didn’t spend much time in Albany, infact, only an hour for the shopping that we did.
We then went on to Albany Wind Farm.
Albany wind farm is situated in Albany on the southern coast of Western Australia, the wind farm is about 12km south-west of the city.
“At Torndirrup National Park, the Southern Ocean has sculpted a Natural Bridge in the coastal granites and formed The Gap, where the waves rush in and out with tremendous ferocity. The Blowholes, a crackline in the granite, ‘blows’ air and occasionally spray. The noise is quite impressive. Windswept coastal heaths give way to massive granite outcrops, sheer cliffs and steep sandy slopes and dunes.
The area was one of the first in the State to be gazetted as a National Park, in 1918, though it was not named until 1969 and acquired its first resident ranger in 1973. Torndirrup was the name of the Aboriginal clan that lived on the peninsula and to the west of what is now Albany. “-naturebase.net
It was an easy 20mins drive to reach the Gap and the Natural Bridge.
They both share the same car park. Once you enter the attraction via the only walkway, the Gap is on your left, and the Natural Bridge, on your right.
The Natural Bridge
The Gap
Blowholes
The Blowholes is further south, by car. Lookout for a very inconspicuous sign on the left of the road, pointing you into the road leading to the blowholes.
Once you arrive, its another 1.5km walk, and it takes a cool 20mins to reach the holes. Wear good shoes as you will be walking and climbing over some rocks, which can be slippery.
Do not expect to see geysers of water sprouting out of the holes like the Old Faithful.
Its merely waves creating air pockets in the cracks and creating loud noises.
But still, its worth the 20mins walk to me.
Nothing much left to be seen, since I am not visiting Whale World, we drove into the Vancouver Peninsula, to find more stunning views.
Vancouver Peninsula
Its only then that I realised that its already 1600hrs and we have more than an hours drive to reach Denmark.
Denmark is a wonderful wonderful place to be in.
Unlike the route we have taken thus far, where all is relatively dry, Denmark has trees…. trees with GREEN leaves… and loads of them…
Found The Cove Chalet, and Illya immediately pulled us to the Wilson Inlet, wanting to show us this:
Spent another 15mins looking at the scenery, telling us that we can use the boat anytime, and that Honeymoon Island, although almost 200m off shore, the water level is only up to the chest level, but anywhere beyond that, its deeeeeeeeeeep.
He too showed us and walked us a distance on the Bibbulmun Track.
“The Bibbulmun Track is one of the world’s great long distance walk trails, stretching nearly 1000kms from Kalamunda (Perth Hills) to Albany (South Coast) through the heart of the scenic South West of Western Australia” – bibbulmun.org.au
By the time we got to Tingle Chalet, its late at night, and Illya had a volleyball game to catch.
Prepared the BBQ pit, and we had out first BBQ of the trip!
Shall show you Tingle Chalet tomorrow.
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