April 26 - 30

Day 25 – April 26 – Perth (Fremantle)

Stayed in Fremantle all day today – we spent the morning cleaning the motorhome inside and out. It was very dusty so took a while..

We then caught the free local bus (public transport in Fremantle puts Sydney to shame…) into town and saw the sites. A great day, even though there were lots of people around due to the public holiday. We went to Fremantle Prison for a tour – which was very good. A very large prison which was used in convict times and finally closed in 1991. Peter our tour guide regaled us with various tales of life during the various stages of the prison – we were shown the cells, exercise yards and also the flogging rack and gallows – where many prisoners were hanged over the years.

Great walking around Fremantle afterwards, we walked through vibrant streets and markets towards the docks where we had an early dinner of Fish and Chips at Cicerello’s. Tomorrow we’re off to get the motorhome fixed up and back to the southwest!

Day 26 – April 27 – Perth (Fremantle) -> Bannister

Today was all about maintenance! We went to Winnebago in Maddington (sw Perth) first thing where they squeezed us in to their schedule and fixed our water pump (ended up just being a dodgy switch that needed some tweaking) and our external shower (longer job, had to be completely replaced). They were very good however, they made sure we were all set to go and didn’t charge us full time for their labour. We then dropped in at a bicycle shop called ‘CycleBuzz’ where we fixed Ben’s bike and the co-pilot bike, and finally we had the windscreen replaced at Windscreens O’Brien. That took longer, so we caught a cab back to Fremantle and went to the Maritime Museum – we saw Australia II which won the America’s Cup, but the highlight was a guided tour through HMAS Ovens, a decommissioned submarine. A very technical tour, our guide actually served on the submarine in his younger days and insisted on describing in detail how the sonar, periscope, weapons and virtually every other system worked. Ben says he now knows everything about missiles, torpedos, and mines! Amazing to think that over 60 men served for weeks (sometimes months) on end on board.

When the windscreen was finally fixed, we headed out of town and started driving southwest – we made it to a roadside rest stop at Bannister. We’ve had a couple of restful days in Perth waiting to get the Winnebago fixed, but now time to head back into the countryside…

Day 27 – April 28 – Bannister -> Albany

We drove down towards Albany, and discovered that Mt Barker is yet another wine region – we browsed the wineries and racked our brains for all the wines we’ve enjoyed (note – we are definitely not wine connoisseurs), and the only one we recognised was Plantaganet. We dropped in and bought a couple of bottles. Good timing since our supply from SA had just run out. Hopefully this will keep us going until Margaret River!

We then went to Porongorup National Park and climbed Mount Hawley. It was a steep 1.7km climb up and then back down again. Ben was very reluctant – we had to cajole him every step. It was only at the very top that Bruce had to carry him, so he did well. Lot’s of nice trees but no view until we got to the very top, and then the view was spoiled by the haze – which we found out later was caused by the farmers burning off large parts of their properties in the region. Great exercise though!

In Albany we went to a very helpful information centre, and then went to Emu Point caravan park. Very nice – but very expensive… The kids wanted to stay there because it had a bouncy pillow. After we had settled the kids then came and said that it was closed! We said to jump the fence and use it anyway..

Day 28 – April 29 – Albany -> Cosy Corner

First up was the War Memorial right at the top of Mount Clarence, just up from the centre of Albany town. The 1st ever Anzac Day service was held here. There were still some wreaths from the 2010 service on display.

We spent a few hours at ‘Whale World’, which used to be a whaling station (in fact the last active whaling station in Australia, it only closed in 1978). It is now a museum devoted to whales and the whaling industry. We saw some great films about whales and catching them, we did a tour of the station where we heard in gory detail how they cut up and processed the whales, and we explored a whaling ship – called a Chaser. Quite vivid and gruesome photos and descriptions. There is a skeleton of a pygmy blue whale (washed up on shore one day in Albany in the 70’s), which is 22m long! Still quite staggering when we were told that Blue Whales can reach 34m in length.

We saw some more rock formations called the Gap and the Natural Bridge – very impressive but still don’t stack up to the Apostles! And we saw another wind farm, this time with towers 65m high and blades 35m long. Apparently the wind farm serves 50% of Albany’s power needs, and they’re thinking about building more turbines.

Dropped in to Woollies to stock up – and we have this down pat now. Michelle writes up 3 lists – one for Erin/Luke, one for Bruce/Ben, and she gets the complex things. Very efficient, the whole thing was done in 20 minutes!

Albany was a great place, a very pretty town in a huge protected harbour. Definitely a place to come back to!

Day 29 – April 30 – Cosy Corner -> Shannon

We stopped in at Denmark information centre, and were surprised to find the world’s largest barometer! It is 12 metres high – and every six minutes the water drops down and then goes back up towards the top when a vacuum is introduced to the top of the tube. The kids loved racing the water level up to the top of the stairs! When the water reaches the top it then boils, even though the temperature is only 20 degrees Celsius, because of the vacuum. We also heard the sound of a ringing bell gradually disappear as a vacuum was introduced into a jar – proves that in space no-one can hear you scream! The whole exhibit was constructed by a Dutch man who emigrated to Australia (Denmark) in the early 90’s. Fascinating – and unexpected!

The kids went swimming (Brrr!) at Greens Pool, a lovely calm huge rock pool, and then made Elephant skin with the grey sand at Elephant Rocks. Afterwards we dropped in at a Meadery to have honey ice cream, on our way to Dinosaur World. Sounds impressive but was a couple of dinosaur skeletons, with reptiles and birds. We arrived at the right time so the kids handled lizards, snakes and birds. Michelle was befriended by a cockatoo named Eddy that kept following her around and pecking her toes. Some friend!

We took refuge from the inclement weather inside the giant Tingle trees at the Valley of the Giants Treetops walk. Very impressive, but we were more impressed with the Otway fly back in Victoria. It was excellent driving through the tall tree forests of Walpole National Park, and we stayed in the very spacious and picturesque Shannon National Park campground. One of the best yet! We toasted marshmallows around our camp fire (we have resolved that Michelle is much better than Bruce at starting a fire), and drifted off to sleep surrounded by Karri and Jarrah trees. One of our best days!