Big Surf, Rain and Hail in Albany

August 24^th

We were awoken this morning to the sound of rain (it had been going all night) which promptly turned into the sound of hail and all our hopes of exploring today seemed to go down the drain. But after the hail finished it cleared up a bit and the sun was even making a cameo appearance so we took our chance and took off.

First stop was the visitor centre to get a map. The lady there was wonderful and told us all the best places to go. What neither Paul or I realised was the close ties Albany had with the ANZACs. Apparently it was the sight of the first dawn service in Australia and the majority of soldiers left from here so it was their last sight of home.

We headed out to the Gap and Natural Bridge. Of course the minute we pulled into the car park it started to rain so we sat for a while until it became hard to distinguish between the rain and the sea spray (should give you an idea of how rough the water was). The Gap was fantastic – probably the height of a small office block and the water was just pounding into it and creating fantastic spray. The Natural Bridge was great too and if it had been a clam, still day we probably would have walked over it – not that the pounding surf or the wind stopped Luke from asking.

Back in the car and we headed for the blowholes – in hindsight the sign at the start that said there was no guarantee of them actually blowing probably should have popped a red flag but no – I had seen the Kiama Blowhole blowing and it was great and the surf was really strong so we optimistically headed of on the 1.6km walk that involved stairs and yes, that’s right, rocks. Yeah the blow holes blowed big time. It was like a fissure in the rock where a small amount of sea spray came through.

We then took a drive to Frenchmans Bay and couldn’t believe the aquamarine colour of the water even on a day like today – once again we agreed we will have to come back in summer.

And then the rain came – we waited for it to stop but it didn’t so we headed back to the camper trailer for a late lunch and I took a couple of Panadol for the headache I had woken up with that had grown to epic proportions and promptly slept for a couple of hours. I missed nothing because it rained the whole time and is supposed to do the same tomorrow. That means we will have a first for this entire trip – a wet pack up – not bad for over nine weeks on the road.