Albany

From leaving Albany we went a short way to a lookout point at Cape Leeuwin for a 10 minute breath of fresh air. From here we went on to Augusta for breakfast at a bakery and to see where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean for another quick stop. From here we drove through Pemberton to the 61m Gloucester Tree; one of the oys from the tour climber the tree but it was hard work both going up and down - especially when his flip-flop broke!! From here we drove to the Valley of the Giants to do the Ancient Empire Treetop walk (Walpole). This is a lovely treetop walk about 40m high up. We had lunch in a park in Walpole which was also nice apart from the horse-flies which have a real nasty sting in them!! On to Greens Pool (a beautiful beach at William Bay) where we walked over Elephant Rocks where we watched the Southern Ocean crash against the rocks. We then drove through Denmark to Albany, whether the hostel provided free cake and coffee (real coffee) free of charge on arrival!!

Our first day in Albany was a chill out and orientation day, as usual. The town/city is actually quite large with quite a few shops. In the evening we went to see "Quantum of Solace" at the cinema - we disagreed a bit about the film but it was nice to go to the cinema. The next day we walked up Mount Clarence to the ANZAC war memorial (a gooid few km's uphill) where I almost killed myself on some very slippy marble steps in flip flops but managed to narrowly escape a fall! In the afternoon it was cloudy, and just as well as we had to go online to look at washing machines as the one at Colwyn Terrace has decided to pack up!! The next day was cloudy and a bit showery so we took a long walk in to town but didn't venture too far from the shops! The next day we caught the local bus up to Emu Point and walked back along th elength of Middleton Beach and all the way back to Albany (about 8kms?). It is a beautiful walk from the end of the beach to Albany on a purpose built boardwalk which runs along the coastal cliff. We really like it here and consider staying for even longer but decide to go and see what Fremantle is like instead (little did we know at the time that we actually come back to Albany for Xmas!!).