All Seasons Albany

... some Emus! yup .. just running about wild .. a daddy and his 5 babies ... and in the distance was the mummy emu! and then we saw more and more .. now they are quite boring mainly cos they dont do anything! Then we carried onto the Tingle Trees Tree Top Walk .. which was good ... a 40 metre high tree top walk .. quite a bit sturdier than the one in Malaysia! and a walk around the Tingle Tree forest that had HUGE trees in it ...

... a little wooden shack, with a pot-bellied fire in it to keep the place warm, but you can order freshly caught fish to be cooked to your liking. We ordered salt & peppered squid, which was delish! It was really back to basics, where you even have to bring along, not just your own drinks, but also your own glasses, plates and cutlery!

... the depth of the swell, the sand was soft and white and the waves were textbook perfect for body-boarding. As it was, the blustery breeze and blue skies made us feel like we were driving around the Cornish coast in June, which as anybody who has done this knows, is no unpleasant way to spend a morning. We had fun checking out the Pink Lake which, perhaps unsurprisingly, is an unimaginatively named lake that is pink - sort of. I was a little disappointed, since I ...

... a little fearful of the height. We walked the 385 steps down the Natural Blow Holes which was okay, until we had to walk back. The history at The Gap stems back some 45 million years when Australia separated from the super continent called Gondwana. Gondwana connected Australia to the Antarctica and remnants of those past days still exist in the rock formations. The park had a family room and Jye caught up with ...

... by now adrenaline had pretty much taken over so it wasn't so bad. Absolutely thrilled to have conquered the climb but relieved to have something more than an inch wide to stand on Julie passed the challenge to Paul - not much pressure then! Determined not to be beaten by a girl he started the climb fairly confidently and it was around the half way mark that he started to think "This is a stupid idea!". After a moment or two telling himself how much ribbing he'd get if he wussed out now ...

... at 21 degrees. The best of it was that when we headed for the "scenic" route round the Stirling range the mist and rain decended for a quick image of the view as you head towards Kylrea and Glenelg from Portree... Our host Peter was entertaining, thank goodness because all in all, the area is perhaps better enjoyed in the spring/early summer, we were just a bit too late and glad to be heading up to the sunny north.

... of the day- just £5.90 for 5 steaks- just over a quid each- and the perfect gowithers- jacket spuds (thers a microwave in the kitchen) M.O.T.D is our cab driver home- originally from Clapham- london- hes never been back since the 70's- is that closer to dover than Eastbourne? Are we getting nearer to home with our meets as we get further away from good old blighty? P.O.T.D. the opposite of the one we saw ...

... as a stop gap. First up, we picked up some Mancunians south of Perth (they'd just arrived in Oz, and oh my were they white), then we headed to Bunburry to wait for dolphins who have been known to regularly come into the shore for feeding. Of course they wouldn't do that though if they knew people were actually going to be waiting for them! I saw a dolphin foetus in the discovery centre though, which was pretty gross. We headed on down to Busselton for ...

... it was a bottle of wine, some left over honeycomb snacks and an early night. We stayed at the Porognurup Shop & Tearooms, a pleasant place, offering shared bathroom rooms and a self-contained flat for only marginally more (A$60 rather than A$50), and absolutely top lentil burgers. On the way out the next day we visited Jingarra winery, very nice, especially a lovely crisp Reisling.

... them for a few minutes, then headed back to the camper for breakfast. Our boat whale watching trip departed at 9.30 from the town jetty. There were 2 whale watching companies there, ours being the most popular one. We had something like 27 passengers, the other boat (scerned) to have about 8. But, there were front and back areas outdoor, so thought we'd be ok, should we some across whales. On the way to Middleton Beach (our campground beach!) spotted a few ...