We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Cosy Corner campground near Albany, discovering it was right on the beach, but well protected from the wind by a line of trees. A gorgeous little spot for free! The kids were also delighted to find another family travelling with five children to play with while we were there! We enjoyed walking on the beach and getting some beautiful views of the southern ocean and some beach cricket with our other friends.
On Wednesday we headed into Albany to visit the Brig Amity, a lifesized replica of a convict ship captained by Lockyer in the 1800s. We loved being able to explore the ship, even down below deck. We then checked out the Museum and historical buildings close by, including the old schoolroom. Albany is quite lovely, built on the hills rising from the shoreline.
Each night at the campground after tea, we would get a visit from the local bandicoots, coming right up to our van and hanging about looking for scraps, which was pretty cool.
On our final morning at Cosy Corner, we spotted whales playing only about 100metres from the shoreline, and sat watching them spirt water, flick their tales out and roll their tummies up...how majestic and awesome that was to see!
On Thursday, after some very drawn out goodbyes to our new found feiends (this doesn't get any easier when we find special people along the way) we drove the journey to Ravensthorpe. Its just a tiny little town on route to Esperance, with a quirky little van park where we stopped. It is famous for its variety of wildflowers, and we did see quite a few of them on the drive in. The 'wildflower show' advertised in all the tourist mags was nothing to write home about though...I am not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't 600 little stem samples in glass jars on shelving in the Senior Cits hall run by some little grey haired ladies! But hey, it passed about 15 minutes of our time in sleepy Ravensthorpe!
The weather turned nasty by Friday afternoon, and the winds became destructive and the sky turned black! We decided to stay put and wait it out rather than heading closer to the coast again, and in the morning Captain Slow was still dry inside and in one piece! The rain had stopped and the winds settled, although still blowing, so we felt safe enough to set off for Esperance.
We decided to stay at Cape Le Grande National Park, about 50km further East of Esperance, a spot quite wild with stunning coastline scenery. The icy cold winds blow straight through us though when we first arrive, and we hope for the weather to improve if wre are to enjoy this area at all! A quick walk along the beach and a pat of some very friendly kangaroos before we cosy up in the van for the night to stay warm.
On Sunday, we wake to sunshine and no winds, thank goodness, and decide to head into Esperance for the day, starting with a visit to a friends church, then onto Tanker Jetty to see if 'Sammy the Seal' will come and say hi. (Sammy is a wild seal who apparently makes regular visits to the jetty to get fish scraps from fisherman, but we didn't see him today unfortunately.)
We take part of the Ocean Drive up to Observatory Lookout, and see some of the most spectacular coastline views we have seen though, so glad the weather is better and we get to see it. Reuben gives us a bit of a scare at one of the beaches, climbing up a rock ahead of us and then us losing sight of him on the other side where there were massive crashing waves and rips! Then he pokes his head up out of a crevise and looks at us all as if to say "what are you all screaming about?" Hence, our little climber learnt a big lesson today about not going so far ahead of mum or dad!
Monday is a glorious, sunny day and we decide to do the walk from Lucky Bay to Thistle Cove in the morning. It is a beautiful walk taking you up high on the rocks, with amazing scenery to enjoy along the way. The afternoon is an easy one, enjoying the beach and warmth and the friendly kangaroos. And yes, the kangaroos do actually sleep on the beach...we didn't believe it until we saw it!
This coastline is spectacular and we feel very blessed to have seen it, walked on it and had some sunny weather to enjoy it! Unfortunately though, both Dwayne and I both seem to be allergic to it, and haven't stopped sneezing since we arrived...not a spot we could settle in no matter how tempting!
Today we have stocked up on snacks, checked tyres, etc for our next big trek - that loooong, straight drive across the Nullabor.
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