Albany, AUSTRALIA

November 27 – 28, 2008

From Margaret River we drove along the coastal road 251 to Augusta. It was a lonely stretch of road with hardly any car. We passed through some forest of tall trees with white bark and impressive trunks. Later, I learned that it was karri forest, Australia’s tallest & most majestic forest.

After checking out from our motel in Margaret River, we visited Leeuwin Winery

After Augusta, we sidetracked to Cape Leeuwin to visit a historic lighthouse. This was also the meeting point between the Indian and Southern oceans.

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

This is also where the 2 oceans meet

From there, we drove on Highway 10 until the GPS told us to exit onto the smaller road. Trusting the GPS, I followed. Then, the road turned to gravel country farm road. I still thought we were on the right track until the GPS asked us to turn into an even smaller gravel road. I retraced back to highway 10, and followed it all the way to Pemberton. We had wasted a good 1 hour on the country road. It was too late for us to catch the tram going into the karri forest.
We passed through 2 small towns of Walpole and Denmark before reaching Albany our ultimate destination almost night time. We checked into our motel in Emu Point. Then, we drove into town to look for a Thai Restaurant. Unfortunately, it was closed for quite sometimes. We did some grocery shopping, bought some fish & chips and had dinner in our room. It was a long drive for me.

The Wind Farm

The Coast at the Wind Farm

The next day, we toured Albany Wind Farm, a power generating station based on wind power. The view of the coast was picturesque. We drove to the Gap & Natural Bridge in Torndirrup National Park. These are 2 natural features carved from ancient granite by the forces of nature. The Gap features a 25 metre drop to the ocean. Then we drove to Whale World, Albany’s historic whaling station. We had lunch at the place, bought some souvenirs and went back to our motel.

The Gap

Been There!

The Bridge

Been There!

Whale World, Albany's former whaling station

Our motel in Albany

We decided we had enough of Albany and was ready to drive back to Perth. I took a short nap and after that we began our long drive back to Perth. By night time we reached Perth and stayed at Nina’s place in Bentley. At least we had 2 more days of shopping before our flight back to KL.

Our car during our stay in Western Australia