TripRoundUnder

After saying goodbye to the beaches of Esperance, it was time to continue heading west towards Albany.

We again decided to treat ourselves and found a great deal on Airbnb (please sponsor us) to base ourselves, in order to explore the region. However, we did have a night to kill before then and decided to try booking a cheap hotel instead of a campsite. We were quite happy with the cheap price we got, staying at a local pub, however, we were not quite so happy when the performing singer decided to do his 4th encore right outside our window… lesson learned!

We survived the night and decided to have a nice brunch and coffee to try and cover over the lack of sleep! However, in more bad news for Steve, he tried to do the right thing and after hearing an elderly man wanted the paper he was reading, went over and offered it to him. Not sure he was ready for the rejection he received from the man and I think he is still scarred!

We managed to relax for a few days at our Airbnb and Lauren loved the opportunity to cook an amazing brisket, which we of course video called our parents about to make them jealous.

After our stay, we decided that due to the rain and windy conditions, we would head inland and check out the Stirling Ranges. Quite different scenery to the flat Nullarbor and surrounding areas that we had been around recently! We didn’t really think that the weather conditions might also make mountaineering a difficult task, but we soon realised when we drove up to the renowned Bluff Knoll and it was covered in cloud, raining and blowing a gale…

We gave up on that adventure and after a little research, decided to have a look at Mt Trio and see if it was more hospitable. The bottom of the mountain was definitely a lot calmer than at Bluff Knoll and we decided to venture up the steep steps.

There was cloud cover, but Steve was optimistic that there may be some clear sky at the top! Steve was not correct. However, there were some great views on the way up and even though, this “view” from the summit was not exactly scenic, we thought it was worth the very steep stairs at the start and getting a little rained on.

We had thought about trying to stay in the Stirling Ranges, but decided we had had enough of the miserable weather and found a little campsite just West of Albany called Cosy Corner. This looked like a good place to base ourselves to sit out the continuing poor weather expected. I think it’s a good time to say that I’m pretty sure there are more ‘Cosy Corners’ and ‘Lucky Bays’ in Australia than anywhere in the world, we’ve seen that many! The campground was quite decent for a free camp and a definite highlight was becoming friends with a campground dog!

Before making our way towards our next major stop in Denmark, we decided to take advantage of a rare blue sky day at Lowlands Beach. A beautiful protected bay just up the coast from our campsite.

This ended up being a fantastic idea, as we found one of our favourite beaches of the trip so far! We met up with another troopy couple from earlier in our trip and had a awesome day by the water. Steve even managed to catch his best fish so far, a decent sized Australian salmon!

Denmark coming soon!!