Perth to Albany Roadtrip - Part 2

Welcome back!

In this one we continue heading towards Albany and I tell you all the places we visited in between including:

- Meelup Beach

- Bunker Bay

- Eagle Bay and Eagle Bay Brewing

- A full day tour with Margaret River Discovery Co.

- Mammoth Cave and Jewel Cave

- Hamelin Bay rays

- Pemberton, valley of the giants tree top walk

- Greens pool and elephant rocks in Denmark

- The national ANZAC centre in Albany

You can find us on youtube at Shire Travels and on instagram at shire.travels.

Transcript

Welcome back Shire travels. This is part two of our southwest WA adventure, traveling from Perth all the way down to Albany. Thus week I left you at Busleton, Jesse, where we had just done the underwater observatory tour, which is fantastic. After that we stopped in at Dunsborough to have a quick look at the beaches and it was really nice. We carried along that northern section of coast line and we headed to Mealup Beach. Meup Beach was absolutely beautiful. We were very lucky to be there on the day where it wasn't particularly windy, beautiful blue skies. The beach was just stunning that the water was so calm and clear. If you imagine beautiful Margaret river beaches, I guarantee this is exactly what you're imagining. The carp park there was pretty small. We did manage to find a spot for the moat home, but if you were there on a week end or in say a school holidays, I bet it would be pretty difficult finding a park. We spent a bit of time there just swimming and enjoying the water and then we walked along to the rocky end of the beach, kind of to the right if you're looking straight at the ocean. We needed to get content wearing our dometic cats as we were taking part in the fall of the summer relay. If you're not quite sure what I'm talking about, make sure you check out part one and I explain everything there. We got a heap of content and then we went just down the road to Eagle Bay, which was equally as stunning you walked down summit steps and there is the most beautiful yacht parked out in the crystal clear blue water. It was just so calm and stunning one thing that surprised us as well I guess coming from Victoria is that there was hardly any one on the beaches. Yes, we were there during the middle of the week, but even so on some of the beaches there were only maybe four or five other people. We also went ahead a quick look at bunker Bay as well. again it was just as equally as beautiful as the other beaches that we had been to. If we come back here as part of our big lamp, I reckon we would try and spend about a week here, try and make a bit of a holiday within a holiday and explore all the stunning beaches. We then decided to head to Eaglebury brewing in order to get some lunch. They had good pizza, good cider and they were in a really great location. We were in a little bit of a rush that day because we had actually booked onto a self guided tour in Mammoth cave. Margaret River is famousose beaches, but it is also quite famous for its caves as well. It has heaps of different caves you can look at, all different shapes sizes, each offering something just a little bit different. One of the reasons we chose to do mammoth cave is that it was selfguided. We booked the last tour of the day as we knew we would be a bit rushed and we were pretty much the only people there. It was quite cool having its entire cave all to ourselves just to casually have a walk through. Now when you turn up to the ticket office there, you're given your audio guide and headphones and a bit of a map or walk through of exactly where you have to go. Now whilst it was an audio tour to be honest, I was only really half listening. It gives a lot of information, and to be honest, the cave is just really nice to look at. We thought mammoth cave was great. We really enjoyed doing the self guided tour and being able to go our own pace. One thing we liked about mammoth cave and another cave we went to see which I talk about later on was that they are very accessible and you don't have to do any rock scrambling. There are some that require you to kind of crawl through narrow gaps and things like that. P personally, that just does not appeal to me at all, being a little bit claustrophobic. So this one was great. It was just walking up and down a few stairs, really not that difficult at all. Once we finished with our self- guarded tour, we went and checked into our accommodation. We stayed at the Margaret river caravan park, which is right on Margaret river itself. It was a great place to say very no frills and quite basic, but in saying that you're really there for the location and it was very central. The next day we went on a full day tour of Margaret River and we went with the Margaret river discovery Co. Our talk at Shawn picked us up in the morning and the first thing on the agenda was canoeing on Margaret river. This was a really good experience and something quite unique to do in the Margaret River area, and that was kind of the theme of the tour as we went around. It was kind of choosing a few things which yet are quintessentially Margaret river, like we went ahead some wine, we went to some nice speeches, but also doing some really unique experiences as well. Canoeing on the river was great. It was really easy getting in and out of the boats. Sean helped us with everything. The river itself, very wide, calm, easy to canoe down. Sean also took a heap of pictures of us as well, which was great. It was a very relaxing and interesting way to start the morning. Next we headed on to one of the beaches in Margaret river. It might have been right next to Margaret river mouth as it goes out into the ocean, and we just grabbed a coffee slash hot chocolate to warm ourselves up after canoeing. We grabbed some morning tea from that shop as well, and then we went and ate it next to a waterfall. Only a very small one. It was just kind of a few very steep rocks in the middle of the river, but it was a really special spot, summer which if you hadn't been on the tour, you would just have no idea it was there. It was an amazing spot just to sit. We ate our morning tea and Sean also talked to us about Mamanuka honey and all the honey that's in the area as well and we got to taste them. Next we drove to Fraser Gallop estate. This is a very fabulous estate in Margaret River. We drove down the driveway. They have all the vines in their rows and at the end of it is a beautiful big house. We got to do a behind the scenes tour of the processing and they told us exactly what part of the harvest they're in at the moment, all those sorts of things. It was really interesting. We then got to have a look through the barreling room and we had a private lunch in the barreling room at two. This was great. They talked us through a whole different heap of wines and then they brought out food to match with the wine. It was fantastic. We then got to go to the public area out the front and taste a few more wines and buy some if we wanted to as well. Sean our Tor guide was fantastic as we were driving all around the micaret River area. He was giving us running commentary on everything we can see and do there, significant events that had happened. It was really interesting. The last part of the tour was walking a very small section of the Cape Cape track. This is the walking track that runs from Cape natural east in the north all the way down to Cape Lein in the south. We parked up and just walked a very small section of it on the cliffs. It was fantastic. There were lots of wild flowers there and kangaroos hopping about. It was a really special spot. one thing that was quite cool as well was the Westp pack shark spotting helicopter flew by a couple of times, and they are pretty familiar with Sean they're all locals, he's local, and so they stopped and hovered for a while. They gave us a little bit of a flyover, low down, which was really cool. We then got dropped back to our accommodation and it was a fantastic day. It was really good tour to just get a taster of all the different things you can do in Margaret River. We would highly recommend it so check out the Margaret River Discovery Co. The next day we did a guided tour of jewel cave. This is what is considered one of their show caves, which means that all the rock formations in there are particularly beautiful. I would absolutely have to agree as far as rock formations goes, the ones in jewel cave were fantastic. If you check out our footage on YouTube or Instagram, you can see just how amazing it is. There was one rock formation which looked like a group of trees together. It really was quite incredible. Another thing they did on this tour which was quite cool was at one point they switched off all the lights in the caves and their torches, and we got to experience complete pitch of black, which as our tall guys told us, is not something you really ever get to experience, that often being in total darkness, and it was a little bit creepy butoc cool. jewave again very accessible. There were a few little spots where you did have to watch your head, but in saying that there was no kind of crawling between narrow spaces, there are a few steps at the start and end, but apart from that, I'd say it was pretty accessible. One thing to remember when going into the caves is they are quite cold so make sure you bring a jump or a jacket. As I mentioned before, there are a lot of different caves in Margaret River. They all offer something a little bit different. I would recommend checking out one or two it is something quite unique to experience in that area. Next we did a very quick stop at the Margaret river chocolate co. This was amazing. They had every different type shape, chocolate you can imagine they had chocolate quackas and all different sorts of Australian animals. The best part has to be that when you walk in the door they have some huge bowls full of samples that you can try. We stocked up on a few sweet treats and then headed on our way. We headed down to Cape Leind have a quick look at the lighthouse. I think for memory it was free, which was always a bonus, and we did have to have a bit of a laugh at the binoculars there which had a big sign on them saying do not look at the sun. You'd think they'll be obvious in this day and age, but hey, you never know. The next morning we got up and drove to Hamlin Bay. We were hoping to try and find the apparently elusive sting rays and bulrays that live in the ocean there. I'd seen people on Instagram, YouTube, etc., saying about how they sometimes come in really close to the shore if there's people fishing. Now, I'd seen people go there on YouTube and have no luck and people kept saying, is it a bit of a urban legend or myth? And so we were incredibly surprised when we got to see this gigantic bulray and stingray turn up. There were some people that turned up that had some small fish, some bait, and they were throwing it into the water and these bulrays and stingrays were just coming up to them. It really was quite cool. You'd walk into the water and just kind of splashed the water with your hands around your ankle and they would come swimming up to you almost like a dog. Now in the water with the waves and the bulray was absolutely gigantic. They would come kind of crashing into your ankle and almost knock you off your feet. It was a great experience. You got to kind of half pat them as they come up to you as well. obviouslyviously you do have to be a little bit careful, but they seemed friendly enough. I was really happy that we got to see them. I've since that video was taken gosh, that must have been in about eight years ago. I've seen heaps of people go there on YouTube and hardly anyone gets to see them, so we must have just been it very lucky the day we went. I did do a little bit of research online beforehand and I think it is said that the best time to go down there was around about 10.30 11 o'clock in the morning. The day we went in the water was pretty choppy. It was very overcast, so I don't think it's particularly weather dependent whether they turn up or not. Then it was time to start heading out of the Margaret River region to head to Albany. The first place we stopped off at was the Gloucester tree. This is one of those incredibly tall straight trees that's got the ladder that runs up the side of it. I use the term ladder very loosely. It can't be called a ladder. It is just a whole heap of metal prongs stuck in the side of the tree that you can climb up. If you're crazy enough to do so, they lead all the way to the top of the tree where there is a platform where they used to use these as fire lookout posts. Now, how you still be able to do this in this day and age of health and safety gone mad, I don't know, because there is nothing to stop you if you fall down, safe to say we did not have the stomach for climbing all the way to the top, we climbed up maybe two or 3 metres, took a few pitches and left. Next stop was Pemberton for the valley of the giant tree top walk. When we got there, we walked around the area on the ground, which I think is free to walk around. There's some nice little paths there and you can also walk through the trunks of some really old big trees. We paid extra to go up and do the walk which takes you through the tree top. It was an interesting walk and good experience, definitely a lot less scary than that Gloucester tree. You head high up into the canopy and get to see some of the really tall trees that they've got there. We were a little bit unlucky with the weather the day we went it was very overcast and a little bit rainy, but in saying that it did still meet for some quite nice pictures and was a good stop on the way down to Denmark. We only stayed in Denmark for one night. This was just as a stop over on the way down to Albany. We didn't get to see much there at all, and it's definitely somewhere that we want to come back to. The only places that we went to are the main notorious hotspots in the area, so Greens pool and elephant rocks. Greens pool was fantastic. If you are into your snorkeling, if you've got young kids, it is a perfect spot to come to. The weather wasn't too bad while we were there, but for us it was just a bit cold to go snorkeling. If you were there on a hot day, it would just be the most fantastic place you could set yourself up for a day there. Greens pool is quite literally that is a pool really well protected from the ocean, hardly any waves there at all. We then walked the I think it must have been about 10 15 minute walk over the headline down to elephant rocks. This was a nice spot. It's good to just pop in. have a bit of a lookout. I can't see that you would really want to spend an entire day at that spot, but it is nice you're walking high above the rocks at one point and you can kind of make out why they call it elephant rock. The next day we kept heading towards Albany and we stopped off at Swiss Annie's fine chocolate. It was just a random place that we saw on the side of the road, which said it was open. They had some beautiful gardens there and some delicious chocolate. As we had a bit of time before we could check into our accommodation, we stopped off at the great southern distilling company or lime burners, as it is known. They made single malt whiskey, and so we decided to do a tasting and it was absolutely delicious. We bought a couple of bottles of their small batch whiskey, which highly recommend popping in, they also do distillery tours there as well. It's on one of the main roads as you're heading into Albany, and there was heaps of parking out the front as well, all good fit a moat home or if you have a car in caravan, it would fit there no problem. Next thought was the gap and the natural bridge, which is in Tongerup National Park. The gap is a big gap basically in a cliff in the ocean and they have a metal boardwalk that kind of juts out over the edge. I wasn't a huge fan not being a fan of height, but it was kind of cool to see the power of the ocean crashing through there. Natural bridge was pretty cool to look at as well as you might have guessed it is a natural bridge that is made from the rock where the waves had crashed underneath. The only gripe I had for this place was that the parking there was astronomically expensive. It was $12 for an hour or something absurd, and that is on top of your national parks pass that you have to buy in order to go there. We finally made it to Albany and we checked into our accommodation, which was at the big fall on Middleton beach. This spot was perfect. It's a little bit out of town, but not too far. You can actually walk into town. It was probably about a 20 minute walk. It is absolute beachfont as well. The beachfont there was really beautiful. We did a walk along there in the evening and collected some beautiful shells. The spot where it sat as well is also walking distance to some pubs and restaurants, which was really handy. While I did strike traveling in the moat home, one thing that was a little bit frustrating was that we had to pack everything up if we wanted to go somewhere. I think having a car and caravan is just a little bit more convenient you can leave the caravan set up as it is. Anyway back to Albany the next day we went and looked at the national Anzac center that they have there in Albany. Also I'm probably seeing Albany in Albany different every single time who knows how to say it? The National Anzac center was fantastic. It was fascinating. There is so much history there. I had no idea that Albany was such a central point during World War I. It's where thousands and thousands of men in Australia came in order to be put on to boats and sent out to places like Gallipoli. Once you've got your ticket and you head into the museum, you're randomly assigned one of 32 Anzac characters, and as you walk through the museum, you kind of work out where they've been, where they've come from, what training they did, what was their role in the war. This was quite a good idea to kind of keep moving throughout the museum and finding different points of interest, relating to the person that you are assigned. I thought it was good in particular because there was just so much information in this museum. It's quite typ of most museums, but it was kind of information overload. And so it's quite good to kind of have that card, that person and a bit of a story to kind of follow along. As I mentioned before, there is so much information inside, there's also spots outside that you can go and have a look at as well. We enjoyed our time there. It was absolutely fascinating learning about the role that Albany had in the first world war. Now we didn't have time to see anything else in Albany. That afternoon we decided to walk back to the caravan park and just enjoy the facilities there. They had a really nice pool, so we spent the last afternoon of our trip just relaxing. The next day we got up early and we took the inland road back up to Perth, which was about 4 1/2 hours. While the road home was doing a lap of Australia as part of the fall of the summer rel late, it did have to go back to Perth, I think in order to be serviced and then someone else was going to drive it back to Albany in order for it to start the next leg, and that was sadly the end of our trip, dropped the mot turn back, hopped on a plane and it back to Melbourne. We loved our time in the southwest of W Way like I said before, it is somewhere we absolutely want to come back to. I think there are so many places that we missed our on and other places that we definitely want to come back to, particularly some of those beautiful beaches in the Margaret River. If you want to see any of the footage of this trip, don't forget you can find us on YouTube itshire travels. You can also find us on Instagram as well as Shire dot travels. Thanks for listening and I'll see you in the next one.