Well it is official – if the Eckards had to choose a place to live (other than lovely Warragul) it would be Albany. Why are we punch drunk in Albany? It is truly the MOST BEAUTIFUL place we have seen – literally every corner you turn (and there are plenty) is another stunning scene – by the end of the day we were feeling truly punch drunk with beauty.
We started off the day with a beach walk – and on the walk decided (similar to yukky vegetables) to get the bad stuff done first. So Rich headed off to pay a visit to the hospital to get the rib checked out and I settled down to some study. Rich was given an X-Ray – not to find out if the rib is broken (which it is) but to check that no vital organ had been pierced in the process. No major damage (which was good to know for peace of mind) and basically an instruction to ‘suck it up’ …. can’t do anything for broken ribs and it will take about 6 weeks to heal. Righto – at least we know where we stand – as he pointed out, it is a good leveler for us – he has to slow down a bit which means that I can keep up for a change! (just don’t make me laugh or cough – it hurts – otherwise let me at the mountain trails).
Anyway, once we had that out the way and Rich was sucking it up ….. and quite considerable pain it is …. we headed into the lovely town of Albany. We took some fantastic photos from the main street – basically any place in Albany has a view – including the main street. We meandered through a ‘historic places walking tour’ and checked out all the heritage buildings from the gaol, to the replica boat that brought the original settlers, and even the churches and accompanying manses. (We criticise large church preachers these days for being
in it for the money but these the manses are just beautiful!)
From there it was off on a driving tour and oh my goodness – how stunning. Hopefully the photos we took did it justice, but really, even in the middle of winter, it was beautiful scene after stunning vista. (Did I mention that the bad weather blew over last night and today was a stunning, blue skied, warmish day!) for your reference think of a small city build around the granite massifs of Wilson’s Prom or Boulders in False Bay.
We soaked up the peace and tranquillity of beaches and rocks on the inside of the bay and then headed to the wild side, the side that takes the full brunt and incredible power of the waves coming in from the Antarctic. We witnessed the incredible strength of the waves in various landmarks such as the ‘Gap’ (sheer cliffs with the waves pounding into and through them); the blow holes (truly awesome to see the power of the water in a small space strong enough to blow Rich’s cap off) and the ‘Bridge’ (a worn bridge of granite that is due to collapse any day now). The day ended off with a full moon rising over the bay – sigh!! So lovely – as I said at the start, we feel punch drunk on beauty.
I always laugh at Richard – ever the scientist – it comes out all the time! We were discussing how the big ships get in through the sometimes very small gaps into the safe harbours. He told me that ports often insist on using their own pilots – but they don’t fly them in by chopper because it is too dangerous to drop them on the ships in bad weather – instead they have to come in on the tugboats and climb up the sides of the ship to pilot them into the harbour. We mulled this issue over for a while and then he said he thought that magnetic boots would work well to resolve the problem!
Then today, as we drove to one of the amazing natural wonders, there was a sign that said ‘no dogs’. I wondered aloud why no dogs were allowed – it is not like the place is teeming with wild life. He, without missing beat, said it was because of the ‘fragile quok’. I actually believe him for a while! (he he catch her every time).
Tomorrow we are off to Valley of the Giants (forest of tallest trees in Aus) with accompanying aerial boardwalk) and then overnight at Margaret River – what fun!
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