2015/10 Australia trip - William Bay & Albany |
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We headed east along the coast road towards Albany and chose William Bay national park as a coffee stop. It was relatively peaceful in the parking area and we had the 
usual battle with the flies, which ended as we hiked over the hill into a wind that nearly lifted us off our feet. It came with a blast of sand; you’d think that this would be a blast of shrapnel for the flies, enough to wipe them out but no such luck
Greens Pool looked amazingly peaceful considering the wind, and there were a couple of swimmers in. The water looked inviting, for a polar bear anyway. There were more flowers on the headland though getting them to stay still for a picture was a bit of a problem.
Over the headland was another inlet, protected by Elephant Rocks, appropriately named boulders of granite. We made our way down onto the beach and that’s where the rain caught up with us again.
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William Bay (2.24) |
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We had a longer drive on to Albany. I’d intended to stop for lunch at West Howe national park but I missed the turn and we opted for Torndirrup instead. There are so many national parks in the Southwest that we could repeat our whole trip without revisiting any of the parks.
Torndirrup is south of Albany, on a peninsula overlooking King George Sound. The parts we were driving through were more like Albany’s suburbs, but we found a road down to Frenchman Bay for lunch on the beach. It was still very windy and we didn’t feel inclined to explore the more remote and windblasted west side of the park.
Albany would be our last big town for a while, so we drove to its downtown to find a Coles or Woolworths and stock up with food. It was Albany’s Friday evening rush hour, quite a shock after a week in the boonies.
Stocked up, we drove north past Porongurup, a small park that does not have a campground, towards the Stirling Ranges national park.
The Stirling Ranges were looming on the horizon, dark and mysterious. We were going to be inland for a few days before returning to the coast at Fitzgerald River, and this is a good point to end Part 2 of our story.