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Day 22 - Esperance -> Starvation Boat Harbour *
Today 180kms / Total 5100kms
* Google Maps can't find Starvation Boat Harbour but it's to the west of the Lake Shaster Nature Reserve. For those with an exploring nature, it's at :-
S33 55.200 E120 33.250
We have no idea (and can't find any reference) as to how Starvation Boat Harbour got its name, but presumably it wasn't because there was an abundance of food! Despite its name, this is a very pretty campground and we found a site about 50m from the beach.
No, the van is level, the wide angle lens is the problem!
The path from the van leads onto a beach leading away into the distance in one direction, and a rocky point in the other. There were quite a few people out fishing, and a lot of gulls and other seabirds in the area.
There is family disagreement on this one. I think it's a Skua, Sue thinks it's some sort of gull that isn't in her bird book. Twitchers: Answers on the back of a postcard, please.
This one we agree on! A Sooty Oystercatcher playing chicken with the incoming tide.
As mentioned, it's not the wildflower season, but a lot of eucalypts are in blossom.
Mmmmm, gum nuts...
Day 23 - Starvation Boat Harbour -> Cape Riche Campground *
Today 306kms / Total 5406kms
* Again, Google Maps can't find Cape Riche, but it's the nearest place on the coast to Wellstead (on the highway).
Cape Riche is at S34 35.917 E118 44.917.
Another travelling day from one bush camp to the next. We were hoping to follow the ocean road as far as Hopetoun, but a series of Road Closed signs made us proceed further inland, then back out to Hopetoun. We needed to get there as we needed to get to somewhere with internet connectivity for some business transactions, and it was the closest place in the area.
Hopetoun - what a delightful setting from which to conduct business.
Emails and phone calls out of the way, we continued on to Cape Riche.
Car, water, caravan. Nice!
The campground at Cape Riche is higher and further back from the beach, but still very pretty. There were a number of kangaroos wandering around as we went for our afternoon stroll.
This joey was a bit timid away from its mother.
Day 24 - Cape Riche Campground -> Albany
Today 150kms / Total 5556kms
Little did we know that the couple of kangaroos we'd seen the previous day was just the tip of the iceberg.
It seems the caretaker at the campground feeds them, so at 6:30 this morning, we had about 25 milling around the back of our van looking for food.
Just a short trip into Albany today. We opted for an en-suite site at the caravan park that had been recommended. This meant we had our own private shower and toilet just outside our van. Very nice - we may splurge again in the future!
After setting up the van for a few nights' stay, we went for a drive around the town. Albany was settled in late 1826 with a shipment of 26 convicts from Sydney Town. Today it is a centre for grain and super-phosphate export as well as a very popular tourist destination. The scenery is superb as it's set on three hills overlooking Princess Royal Bay with just a small passage out to King George Sound and from there to the Southern Ocean.
The ANZAC Memorial on top of Mt Clarence.
Looking out over King George Sound towards Emu Point, ANZAC Memorial on right.
Looking south across the port of Albany.
Day 25 - Albany (Frenchman's Bay / Whale World, etc)
Today 75kms / Total 5631kms
There is a large peninsula protecting Albany from the direct effects of the Southern Ocean. In the '60s and '70s, this peninsula was the home of one of the whaling fleets that hunted Humpback and Sperm whales. Thankfully, this enterprise no longer exists, but the old whaling station has been turned into a museum to remind new generations what used to happen on this otherwise beautiful part of the coast.
The Cheynes IV - one of 3 whale-chasers that worked from here.
Unlike the Japanese and Russian whaling fleets, this operation had no 'mother/factory ship' as they returned to port each night and the whale carcasses were processed at the whaling station. The smell is reported to have been terrible.
Fortunately, the museum is also a great resource for Cetacean research in general and promotes their well being.
On the other side of the peninsula, there is a wild and windswept coastline with nothing but sea between you and Antarctica. Early explorers were not very complimentary!
"The shores consisted of either steep naked rocks or a milk white barren land beyond which ... the ground seemed covered by a deadly green herbage with here and there a few grovelling shrubs or dwarf trees."
1791 - Cmdr George Vancouver, RN
"The country through which we passed... has but little to recommend it... Here the country is covered with grass and brushwood and in the part a little elevated there are forest trees; nevertheless the soil is shallow, and unfit for cultivation."
1802 - Cmdr Matthew Flinders, RN
Stony Hill overlooks the Southern Ocean and was the site for a Royal Australian Navy listening station, and then a Royal Australian Air Force radar station during WW II. The remains of the foundations are in the foreground.
Further down the coast, we took a walk along the top of the ridge. In among the sounds of the surf and wind was a very noisy flock.
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo having a feast on (what looked like) Hakea nuts.
Some of the rock formations along the coast are quite spectacular, especially with a large swell running.
The Natural Bridge. Of course, as soon as we arrived and aimed the camera at it, the huge swells stopped. :-(
With all the wind, the flora has a struggle.
This tree's had a hard life, but is still fighting!
Day 26 - Albany
Today 5kms / Total 5636kms
An 'R&R' day today, the highlight of which was a trip to Bunnings to get some bits of hose and fittings to do some running repairs to the waste water system. Such heady and exciting stuff!
Day 27 - Albany
Today 50kms / Total 5686kms
Last day in Albany today and we hadn't seen the 'Amity'.
This is a full sized replica of the Brig 'Amity'.
The Brig 'Amity' arrived in Princess Royal Harbour on Dec 25th, 1826. It brought a military party and convicts under the command of Major Edmund Lockyer. They came from Sydney to establish the first European settlement in the western part of the continent and built a small outpost here more than two years before the Swan River Colony (now the state capital, Perth) was settled in 1829.
Brisbane-ites may be interested to know that Amity Point on North Stradbroke Island is named after this ship (but we're still trying to find under what circumstances).
Sue talking to Jon, the guide on board the 'Amity'.
An unexpected sight in Albany is the new Entertainment Centre. The Albany Entertainment Centre is a prominent architectural landmark on the foreshore of Princess Royal Harbour.
The new Albany Entertainment Centre.
Day 28 - Albany -> Pemberton
Today 260kms / Total 5956kms
Today was where we stared to come into contact with one of the giants of the south west - the great Karri and Jarrah forests. We figured the best place to see these magnificent trees was at the Tree Top Walk at the Valley of the Giants about half-way between Denmark and Walpole. In 1996, a walkway was built to allow tourists to get a view usually reserved for birds and natural history photographers. Taking advantage of the terrain, the walkway slopes up gradually while the ground slopes down. The end result is that you find yourself 40m (135') off the ground and taking in the magnificent scenery as well as getting a close-up view of life in the canopy.
The start of the Tree Top walk, just above the forest floor.
The Karri trees are just magnificent. They grow to be around 90m (300') tall and rate as the tallest species in Australia and the third tallest in the world. Most of the mature trees in this forest are believed to be 300~400 years old. It is very difficult to get a decent photo as they're just so BIG!
This is a composite of 4 shots taken from about half way up the tree's height.
An idea of the engineering supporting the walk.
Note that you're walking on an open grid, so you can see straight through between your legs and on down to the ground. Not great for sufferers of vertigo! A guide told us after the walk that it was supposed to take you out of your comfort zone. Sue was seen nodding her head at that point!
Another type of tree that grows here is called the Tingle. There are red and yellow tingles and the name is believed to be a mistranslation of the local aboriginal name for the tree. Five hundred hectares of these enormous buttressed red tingle trees grow in the Valley of the Giants. They grow nowhere else in the world.
This one is called 'Grandma Tingle', and is believed to be 450 years old.
We wanted to press on to Pemberton as a friend had very graciously allowed us to use the backyard of her 'weekender' as place where we could park the van and radiate out to discover the surrounding area. Her 'weekender' is an old saw miller's cottage that became redundant when most of the local timber mills ceased production.
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