47. Albany

So while at the caravan park I put the heater on – all night – first time ever. It was so nice not to freeze or feel the cold air. Slept like a baby.

The next day we woke up and headed out to Whaling World. Wow! Not knowing that it was actually an old whaling station or what to expect it was definitely value for money. Thoroughly enjoyed it, except the dam weather.  It was freezing! We did the tour and looked at some of the exhibits. The tour of Whaling World gave us a great insight into whaling in the 70s and why and how it was all done.  The Whaling Station is in its original condition, clearly maintained as a museum.  With the rain increasing, the waves smashing on the rocks and the blizzard like winds, we asked if we could return (for free) the next day or when the weather was better.  Sure, not a problem. 

We went into town and grabbed a few groceries and then went and had a free shower before heading to our new camp at Cosy Corner East.  The forecast was for 100km winds, which we were dreading. We parked up, while it drizzled, and had a look around. It was right on the beach and although the weather was terrible and you couldn’t go down the beach, the sounds of the waves smashing were lovely. We were lucky to be in such a sheltered spot we didn’t even feel the wind that night.

We went to bed and watched a movie.

The next day we tried again to finish Whaling World.  The weather was slightly better with rain breaks every 5 minutes and the winds slightly less ferocious.  We finished seeing what we wanted to and left.  We looked at the Salmon Holes and it rained. We tried looking at the Blowholes, got 200m along the tracked and turned back, because of the rain and then tried the Natural Bridge and Gap.  Seeing these two places was actually quite spectacular in such rough and windy weather; a little scary too walking along the rocks.  The waves were getting pounded into the rocks and splashing up onto the carpark and of course us! Anyway a few quick photos and we were back in the car.

We returned to the Blowholes to give it another go after a couple told us they were really good.  We managed to get there and back (1600m return) just as it began to rain again.  Verdict – they were crap.  Nothing like the ones we had previously seen at Kiama or Tassy. You really didn’t get an aerial view of the water coming in just a little splash and a woosh noise. Oh well, the exercise and 78 steps did me well.

We then went into town again and had a nice shower and return to camp.  The skies had cleared a little.

We woke to a beautiful sunny morning so off we went. Our first stop was the hospital, to get Rhys’ itch on his eyebrows looked at. While I waited there Rod and Mitchell went and did the washing.  It felt like such a waste being inside on such a beautiful day.  But after 2 hours we were off.

We headed for Emu Beach, which was just gorgeous. It reminded me a little of The Whitsundays with the gorgeous coloured water and islands.  There were a few trawlers that went through the channel while we were fishing, which was quite a pleasant sight.

We saw a man catch a snapper off the beach/rocks, so decided we should have a fish ourselves. Not that I needed much convincing to go fishing. A few bites but we caught nothing.

We left as the clouds started coming across, had a hot shower, grabbed some hot chippies and headed back to camp.  The weather there was much better and social chit chat began.  There ended up being Louise and Paul, Kym and James (with two boys) and Martin and Amanda (with two boys) all standing around chatting.  It was so lovely seeing all the boys play soccer and to find such a big group of people, in the one spot, with kids.

PHOTOS: Albany