Nothing like a cold windswept day to get you hunched over the laptop in a warm van…….but no excuse for a lamentable pun. When you’re on the road, sometimes you have to let the mail catch up with you, especially if you need to restock essential life affirming items not available at your local supermarket. With Easter and school holidays looming, we were grateful to find a spot at a fixer-up’er caravan park on the western side of Princess Royal Bay. What it lacked in state-of-the-art facilities, it made up for in the views across the bay and operated by fantastic hosts.
With Tamika away on sorry business for a week, I had a rare opportunity to indulge in secret pleasures like local history, war memorials and other “boring†(she says) activities. So, tell me about Albany you say. Well, if you plonked Jim Carey into the main street, you could be a bit player in The Truman Show…that’s a compliment. An historic whaling settlement, port and most famously, the launching pad for tens of thousands of ANZACS to the horrors of WW1, Albany is one of those location, location, location towns where they get pretty much everything right.
The historic precinct is nestled into, and in between, hills of massive granite boulders. Because of this landscape, nearly all the historic buildings were built in a small flat area near the bay. Those with a keen eye for history won’t have to pack a lunch to appreciate the effort they’ve gone into to preserve this part of town.
The rest of Albany is on the OTHER side of the ridge, so you can allow yourself the illusion of being transported back in time to the late 1800’s.
Albany is still a fully functioning port and a steady stream of freighters plying their trade, wait patiently for their turn in the various harbour inlets. Much of the inner harbour is too shallow to park a ship of any draught. From our vantage point at the caravan park, we could often see a ship’s superstructure seemingly parked on the beach, just behind a line of trees on the opposite shore.
I did a lookout crawl and found a communications tower that doubles as an observation deck. You can see why this location is special.
And there were plenty of spots along the local scenic drive to enjoy the views.
But as much as I enjoy a view, there is another attraction that is remarkable and unique. Albany takes its part in the ANZAC story VERY seriously and has created an amazing commemorative park that spans the two highest hills overlooking both the town, and the harbour, the departure point for our ANZACS It is SO well done, partly because of the defences put in place to defend the town are still there. Defs in my highlights reel.
In between the showers, I dragged my poor neglected golf clubs to Grove Park Golf Links, literally at the end of the street. Now, I’ll be frank. The greens are a patchwork quilt, the Par 3’s are long and the back nine is both unmapped and designed as a cruel hoax on unsuspecting first timers. STILL, for the average hacker, you will never have a better chance to post a score only a professional would sneer at. I’m framing this.
We‘d been told the crabs were “onâ€, and we’d never have a better chance to suck on some fresh claws. So we resurrected the crab trap from under the bed, bought the mullet and set it up overnight at the end of the pier. Poor mullet….untouched and unloved. Oh well, at least we’re consistent. We had better luck on a drive to Torndirrup National Park, just five minutes up the road. What we caught were some great views and imposing coastline, well documented and again featuring indigenous connection to country.
With the caravan park fully booked for Easter, the welcome mat was about to be pulled from under us. A google search revealed a bush camp in the nearby Stirling Ranges, that guaranteed an unpowered site, all day EVERY day. Let’s see.
Gorgeous place 💜