Rain stops play

Yesterday when we booked into this campsite, we thought oh that's a nice spot, clean, tidy and near to the bathrooms, I can be first one in after the cleaner has been.......
Then it started at 20.30hrs and continued until 22.00hrs, our fellow campers going to do whatever before they go to bed...... There are 8 units directly behind us, all relatively new with super spring loaded door closers, so as to keep out flies, moths, spiders and Skink's......  This meant that doors were being closed automatically as people went in and also when they went out with a slam, it was incessant and together with Isaac's mum who wanted to know if he was alright and the 2.30am lovey dovey couple, we had had enough.
First thing this morning into reception and change our pitch from no 8 to no 30 we are far enough away not to hear any thing now but have to guess when the cleaner has been.  It's a brilliant bright sunny morning so we head to Torndirrup National Park and head along with a multitude of others to the Gap and Natural Bridge.  This is where the sea has eroded away the rock over millions of years to form a 'Gap' and a 'Natural Bridge'...........  The Gap is closed until March due to a new state of the art viewing platform being erected so we head to the Natural Bridge and the notice boards actually tell you they are waiting for it to collapse, so do not try and walk over it........Killjoys.....!
We do the other sights, mainly beaches, Discovery Bay, Cable Beach, Goode Beach, The Blowholes and then Stony Hill, this being the highest point in the park and it's Stony...... It's a challenge and I leave her that does not like heights and within 20 minutes, I'm the plonker getting in everyone's photographs as I stand on top taking in the view, the fresh air and my own photos.  Next stop Misery Bay for lunch and the weather looks as if it's changing, right quick let's get to Whalers Cove so I can swim in the Southern Ocean.....
Whalers Cove has a publicity paragraph that states it is excellent for snorkelling, we get there but someone is not happy with a car of three men who are obviously not out for a day at the beach.  We are parked next to a sign stating " Look, Lock, Leave" Thefts have occurred in this area...... So we look, lock and stay, we make it obvious what we are doing, even recording their car reg number, they obviously Looked and saw us, failed to lock but then Left....... One happy bunny next to me, who wants to apply to become a PCSO when she gets back, I've told her she can't, they have age restrictions.........
And so, Mr G W Shark, you failed to have the tastiest morsel known to great whites today, I got in your territory, swam about, got bored saw 3 fish, had a leak and survived the Great Whites Southern Ocean, the first time I have ever been able to swim in it, result!  As for Australian Publicity propaganda, I should have learnt by now......
We get back to the van and find a note from the Police saying we had messed up a covert undercover operation.........
Not really, we hear the 'You are out of Red Wine alarm going off' instead, this we realise is an emergency as the Bottle Shops (The only places you can buy alcohol) are closed on Sunday's, so we do 62 in a 60 speed zone, that's 60 kilometres on a dual carriageway and go shopping in still wet swimming gear........ We get a bottle and I stop hyperventilating but then someone wants to go to Woolworths food shopping, now have any of you ever been in the chiller aisles wearing wet swimming gear?  It was freezing and I can confidently state that men you are never going to impress anyone in those circumstances........
The sky is black, thunder is rumbling and some serious lightening is occurring in the distance as we park up in our new spot, next to and under a sort of weeping willow type tree, no banging of ablution doors for us tonight, however now when the rain is falling and the wind is blowing the hanging branches against the van, instead of boom, thud, clump, tonight
we have scratch, tinkle, scrape........... Oh the joys of the life in the great outdoors........

    The Natural Bridge.

   Misery Beach

   Steve'summit.  Note the regeneration after a fire.

    Cable Beach

Over that bit of Sea is Antarctica..........

We depart Denmark and head towards Albany, this is the furthest point South that we are going, which is telling us something, ' You are on the final part of your trip '. We will be going further East, next week and that's where we turn around and start the final leg back to Perth.

So we are in Albany at 10.30, shower, cup of tea and back on the road by 11am.  We are going to a forest walk around a lake where someone is hoping to see her favourite bird AGAIN......

The receptionist at the camp site has warned us that as it's sunny, that it's around a lake, we will see snakes and more than likely, Tiger Snakes who will chase us if they feel threatened.  2.5 hours it took to walk around the BIG LAKE and we did not see the slightest hint of a snake but we did see enough to hopefully keep someone happy until she is 60yrs.......

As we did not know how long this walk would take, we are slightly thirsty and hungry so off to Emu Point, a delightful if crowded beach with an exceptionally highly rated Cafe.  Don't get me started about the scheming old lady that managed to push in front of me, grrrrrr!

Off next to the City Centre and a walkabout, problem is, it's not really a city as we know a city, so 20 minutes and we have done it.  We do a lot of window shopping and then to satisfy my short fetish, I buy another pair, I will see a therapist on our return.........promise!

Best part was, we are in Albany's version of Bluewater, only on a slightly smaller scale, it has almost 20 shops..... When I see a family walking along and the mother has a sling around her, forming a type of pouch and inside is a baby kangaroo......... It's having a great time looking around at the shoppers.....  We did see a tv program here where if you kill a kangaroo on the road you should always check its pouch to see if it has a 'joey' on board, if it has then to remove it and take it to a animal adopter, who will then nurse it until it can fend for itself.  Thought of doing the same with these pretty black with a red stripe down its back, spiders, could bring them home so you can have one each.....

Whilst browsing in one of the shops I see a picture of Dog Rock, that's it I think, you have seen Monkey Rock, Elephant Rock so let's give you Dog Rock, we try to find out where it is and eventually find out we have gone past it twice........ We return and a photo for your pleasure is shown below.......

It's Friday, it's Fish and Chip night so we head off and buy flathead, hake and chips from the most nasally high pitched Australian voice we have heard so far before motoring as fast as we can to a secluded beach where we end up sharing the chips with the local wildlife.........

And so now, back in camp where if I roll out of bed the wrong way I'm likely to be sharing with the heron below and that if we go out in the dark to take a torch as there are a lot of King Skink's living behind us and the manager did not want us to think they are snakes and cause a Stink....

    20 feer from my bedroom......

    Some of the Big Lake walk.......

    Dog Rock

Denmark Disaster Day

We awake to the good news that the fires around us are now under control, not out but contained, from there on in, it went down hill and we should have stayed in bed..........
Not a lot got done during the morning, simply taking it easy around town before boredom sets in and we are off to snorkel in a safe Southern Ocean spot called the aquarium via a stop at the Blueberry Farm for a snack disguised as a photo opportunity for someone with the local bird life.  We drive up and turn onto its dirt road which has a sign unsuitable for caravans and trailers, we keep going, yowsers, look at that hill....... The van struggles but makes it up and down the other side and then only just manages to squeeze into the car park.  We walk into a shed and wait, eventually Mrs Grey comes out, she has very long straggly grey hair, grey trousers, a grey top and a grey complexion, she would be perfect in a pantomime of the wicked witch, without a lot of help from wardrobe........  I ask for an iced coffee, "can't do that we don't have ice", she replies, de ja vu, I think........ We settle for Blueberry ice cream, Blueberry Cordial and a Muffin, blueberry of course...... She has pictures of blue wrens up and I ask if the wrens frequent the farm, "They used to but we don't see them so much of late, they use to be in the bird bath a lot". Someone smiles and sits down eagerly near the garden and waits and waits during which time we notice the silver tape tied to plants, the CD's swinging from things, the birdbath having no water in and a plastic bird of prey swinging in the breeze from a tree branch........ Perhaps this would explain why they are not seen so much of late......... Suddenly she is besides our table asking us "What have you seen?"
Are they frogs? we ask, indicating the roof cross beams, she replies in a tone as only annoyed people can "How many are there, there? " She then counts them three times, huffs and puffs and disappears, which is what we suspect will happen to the frogs, once we have gone......
In the car park a family have turned up, parked next to us, have all the doors open and are having a picnic in the car.......  Grudgingly they pull the near side doors to so we can reverse out, however A hole Jonny, a 17 yr (approx) is at the rear of the car with the side opening door open whilst he is changing his trainers, the fact that this large van cannot move forward without hitting him or the door is a fact that he is oblivious to or is just being awkward, we sit and wait with the rear audible warning from the van sounding, after possibly a minute, it seemed longer, his father comes around, looks at us, looks at his son and pushes the door closed half way.........  I now have to do a three point turn to get past them, down the exit and with a friendly toot toot and a wave with three fingers and a thumb clenched in my palm, we leave and head towards the Aquarium snorkelling bay......  2 kms from it we come across a gate blocking the road, it has two CCTV cameras and a sign saying 'Private Property'  ( a New Housing Project) damn that's put paid to that but how the hell are we going to turn around on this single track road?  I'm trying but failing miserably when someone is coming out. They open the gate, I roar through, start to do a three point turn in front of them and crash into the fence......... The fence is still standing and no sign of damage to the van so I give the couple in the car coming out a friendly five finger wave and get back out, result!  So we thought until an hour later when we had overshot our turn off to another bay by 18kms, we read that the gate was installed to stop vermin entering the site and the public still had access by pressing a electronic button near the gate........... We drive back the 18kms and turn towards Shelley Beach in West Cape Howe National Park, when we run out of road......... We then have to travel on the worst road so far this trip, it is dusty, seriously rutted, has pot holes, is hilly and is 8kms long, the van is shaken just ever so slightly, we cannot hear each other for the vans rattling noise, we get to the Beach lookout and decide no more, we are still 2 kms away from the beach which is possibly 200ft below us, that means easy to get down but we could be risking it getting back up and so I do my Chicken impersonation over a cup of tea and use the tea bags as ear plugs for the return journey............

    You have just blown our cover

    The Beach we never got to........ Shelley Beach.

    Wild Flowers from Shelley Beach lookout.

    Found him this morning on the grass verge in the Street.

Mediterranean Climate, you are having a laugh.....

Along this part of the Coast all the publicity hype states how wonderful the climate here is because it's similar to that of the Mediterranean.  It's January, which means it's the equivalent to July, well can I just mention, I have never known anyone on the Mediterranean in July to get out of bed just past midnight and get a blanket and then about 3am get another blanket, it was cold last night, think it got down to 13 degrees.  This morning, I started off with T shirt but ended up in Rugby Shirt whilst out looking for a certain type of bird someone wanted to see.......
We stick to the Coast, starting at Poison Point, now remember I mentioned about the Oz practical use of names, we get there it's on the sea and what a stink, we think it was rotting Algae but put it like this we saw nothing alive there and we stayed just long enough to reach the sea and walk back.......
We need some bracing sea air, so off to Lights Beach and I notice we are being followed, get there and not a light in sight, except for the blue and red light on top of the Police car right behind us, we pull in, they pull in, I get out they get out, I pull out my camera they say hello and go to the car we parked next to...........  We walk off and come across 4 black Cockatoo's, these guys are characters and it's almost as if they are playing with us, but then, you guessed it along comes the nutty woman....... She thinks it's Winter as well as she is wrapped up in a shawl, only it's now midday, sunny and warm...... She starts talking about the Cockatoo's being funny to watch, almost human at times and then their prehistoric look and a stuffed one somewhere whilst I'm looking at her wrist to see if she has a hospital name tag on it........
The Cockatoo's are off and we quickly follow walking along a sand dune path through the scrub only to suddenly come to an abrupt halt after being eye balled by a snake on the path who confused us with Mrs Nutty and made a very rapid exit.
Next stop is Monkey Rock, a prominent granite rock surrounded by forest that if you stand on your head after drinking two bottles of cider, wearing only a sock, whilst singing 'I'm a believer' you can see a monkeys features in the granite..........
We stop at Ocean Beach for a late lunch and watch the life guard watching two imbeciles in kayaks going further from the shore over 4ft waves and the youngsters on holiday jumping, diving through the waves as they break, oh it takes me back....... No, not to being in a kayak silly.....
Enough beach let's do the Harewood Forest walk and half hour later we find ourselves meandering along a path in between 45m Karri trees, with the paper bark falling all around us and hundreds of butterflies posing for photographs. We cannot tell if any thing else is in the forest as the falling paper bark keeps making a similar sound to that of an animal moving in the undergrowth..... I give in, let's go shopping....... 
As we are loading the groceries into the van, someone becomes unduly excitable, which I thought strange as she does not like broccoli, but no it's because outside the van are several fairy wrens grabbing an early dinner and so, I end up staying in a supermarket car park with my big one fully extended out of the vans window......... 

    Performing for the Camera

    Nutty Lady alert, Nutty Lady Alert......

    Monkey Rock

    Lights Beach

    Just a little rough for me today......

Do you want to know my Secret.........

"No!" I say, "I'll tell you it later"
Someone mentioned to me that 'Monkeys like trees' well eek eek, we're off to the 'Valley of the Giants' a forest of Tingle trees, where they have a 420 metre long Tree Top Walk on a lightweight suspension bridge, 40 metres (132ft) in the air........
We get to the park, shall I tell her now, I think?  Not yet wait until after we have done the Ancient Empire Walk through the bottom of the forest, which was going well until, the children arrived, why bring them on something like this when they are not in the slightest bit interested, just so they can run about make a huge amount of noise, spoiling it for those that want to be there? It's not just me that's unhappy with them, someone has had her photograph of a Blue Fairy Wren ruined by the child 75 ft in front of his parents...... Still it's peaceful where they are I bet, she says.......
Two tickets for the skywalk please and one minute later we are walking up the ramp, shall I tell her, no bit late now!  For those of you that are not aware, having little legs means you are normally always close to the ground, which should you have a fear of heights, is awfully useful.  However finding yourself walking up into the tree tops on a narrow metal bridge, when you have such a fear, means you might as well be wearing my underpants........  

Onward and upward she goes and gets to the first corner, where she stops, waits, gauges, assesses and looks at me with a face I've not seen before and utters the words, "It's moving" I reply "Tut, now you know my secret........"  
Yes dear reader, the whole structure sways, bounces and shimmies as you and everyone else are walking on it.  I advise my little lady with her head 137 ft above the ground, that it's designed like that, perfectly safe and is not as high as the trees I had climbed......
Oh the relief in her face, it still wasn't there......... But she persevered, carried on walking and did the whole sky walk without vomiting, she actually did a large part of it on her own as it was taking me much longer crawling around on my hands and knees with my eyes shut...... So CONGRATULATIONS Little legs, another achievement with a tick in the box........
Those of you that have been to Javea are aware that we look out onto a mountain called 'Montgo' and that it appears from some angles to look like a sleeping Elephant, with that in mind we go to see what 'Elephant Rocks' in Denmark, the town in Australia, not the country, looks like.  We arrive in the car park and what I like about the camper van is, before we set off, we can have a cuppa.  Now whilst sitting consuming said cuppa, along comes a couple, who appear slightly older than us and this is frightening, it could be me in a few days I mean years time....... They open the boot and put their stuff in, then get in the car via the front doors, sit there for a few minutes before starting up and reversing out in front of us and then whilst I'm pressing the vans horn, they drive off at a great speed of knots with the boot still open...........
Elephant Rocks is supposed to resemble a herd of Elephants paddling in the water, maybe I just was at a different angle but at no time did I see these large rounded granite boulders appear to be a heard of Elephants.  Notwithstanding that, it is an extremely attractive location and different because of the boulders, my photos do not do it justice, and around the corner is another equally attractive place called 'Green Pools' where a lot of families were swimming, I asked them about the water temperature and they all said it was warm, even though it's the Southern Ocean.  Might try it out for myself tomorrow........
And now we are in one of the nicest campsites of our stay so far, it's just outside of Denmark on a bend in a river, it's called 'River Bend' ......... This is something we have noticed, in how practical the Australians are with their street names, Library Rd, Beach Rd, Inlet Cres, Coast Highway, Rifle Way but we have never ever seen a ' Cul de Sac' and our favourite is the sign on the opposite side to a dual carriageway, " WRONG WAY - GO BACK "

    I'm a high flying, high flying bird.......

    Elephants paddling in the Sea.......

     Elephant Rocks Beach with two people on the middle rock, grrrrrrrr!

    Green Pools

Mummy, Please can I.....

When I was a little boy, my Mother would always say to me " Stephen, lift your head up" as I constantly looked for a discarded sixpence in the road as she wouldn't give me any pocket money......... Today, I am now officially asking my Mummy for permission to look down and see where I'm stepping......... 
As my eyes open I wiggle my toes and lo and behold, 1. I can feel them. 2. It does not hurt (as much). I'm up and we are soon off to Nornalup National Park to see the Breaking waves of the Southern Ocean, whilst also keeping a look out for any sea going mammals, from Conspicuous Cliff.  What can I say, totally underwhelming, the only good point was talking to the two council workmen preserving the boardwalk.  Next stop Peaceful Bay, whilst it should be peaceful due to being unattractive it was heaving with boats, fishermen, kids from the campsite and two female sand robbers....... They had driven down and were keeping tabs on me as I wandered about looking around, according to my other set of safety eyes and then when they were satisfied I was no threat, they got out their sack and spade, walked over to the soft sand next to us and started to fill the sack up, I could not resist the opportunity to make a fuss over the photo I was taking of them.........
Okay the day will improve, especially as we are heading towards circular pool, described as an oasis on the Frankland river, whilst en-route one of the cars in front of us must have just driven over a Tiger snake as by the time we had turned around, walked back up to it, it was no longer moving just simply another piece of road kill, damn we thought.  Circular pool we try to be positive, but the Frankland river is now just a trickle and the pool has a distinct green tinge, so off to a lookout, lunch and a up lifting cup of tea........ 
And now for the piece de resistance I say, the Giant Tingle Tree, I try and make it sound as exciting as possible to her suffering from wren withdrawal symptoms, but there is only so much even I can BS about a tree with a hole in it........ We arrive and follow the path, reading the signs along the way, I'm in front and read about the red winged fairy wren flitting across the very path we are on, We turn around and both go look, there 6 ft in front of us is a 4ft Brown Snake sunbathing but what with the movement of us going for our cameras, it slips silently into the scrub....... The tingle tree, the giant one that is, is actually more impressive than we first thought, it's been through at least two bush fires, which is what has hollowed out its insides, is 400 yrs old and can apparently fit 100 people inside its girth at the bottom.  So that's it, the excitement is over, back to the van, during which time I am not looking at the ground but in the trees for a red winged fairy wren when my safety eyes for the third time this holiday, shrieks, "Looooooooook" I turn around and down alongside my right foot, within striking distance is a five and half foot Brown Snake........ He is not phased by our presence, sticks his tongue out and looks around at us as we move away whilst holding cameras up to our eyes......  She moves towards what appears to her to be the smallest bit of prey until her tongue picks up on my male pheromones, another pair of underpants ruined, she slithers towards me and I get some good shots from directly above her, until I fainted...... Apparently she slid silently into the scrub, thinking why waste my venom, he would have been a pain in the arse anyway..........

    Conspicuous Cliffs

    Lunch Time

    The Tongle Tree Bottom

    Fe Fi Fo Fum I smell the pheromones of an English man

    Snake joke: What's the similarity between Steve's pants and me?

    Answer:       We are the same colour...........

Forest Overload

As I was consuming my medication last night in the hotel bar, it started to rain ever so slightly, so with only one of us needing said medication it was decided to return home before it got too wet and messy due to the leaf mulch patch we were camped on.  We did that and settled in to a riveting night of Australian TV, during which we could hear thunder in the distance with the odd spot of rain on us.

This morning having awoken with the song 'These legs were made for walking' ringing in my ears but with literally nothing working below my waist, I used one of the muscles left functioning normally and turned on the TV news.  OMG we have the bad fire to the North of us, a new fire to the west of us and another to the East of us, started by the thunder and lightening from last night.  The Southern Ocean and Antartica are south of us so we decided South it is.  My normal 2 second jump from the van has turned into a 30 second swing from the steering wheel, a grapple with the wing mirror, followed by a ten foot waddle before I can resemble a human walking but looking extremely similar to John Cleese in a famous tv sketch........ I refuse to shower again with the flies, moths, bugs and other creepy crawlies so head back to the van, where I suddenly see a van that appears to be camouflaged as a Brown and White zebra........ We wanted rain to clean the van but it now looks worse than it did, so after breakfast we break another campsite rule (water is a valuable commodity) and rinse the van over, at least now it's a uniform dirty van.......

Then whilst en-route today South to Walpole we deviate and undertake a 23 kms drive along the Great Forest Tree Drive, it's one way and on dirt........ It takes us over an hour during which we did not see a thing, in fact, we find ourselves 3 kms back along the road we had travelled in on, not a happy bunny..........

We arrive at campsite, right down on the coast, if we go any further South our wheels will get wet, but as we reverse into our site we are approached by a female who has rushed across from the laundry to say, we might have a problem with going so far back and her guide ropes.  Now normally I'll help and oblige anyone, but today is not a good day for me, however had she approached in a friendly way, my reply of " More a problem for you than us" would have sounded something similar to, okay thanks for pointing that out, I'll pull forward two feet........ Don't understand why Julie is laughing at that bit.....

Needless to say she storms off and I put another nail in the coffin of Oz / UK relations....

I see the cleaner finish cleaning the Gents toilet block and Whoooooooooooosh, I hobble over and basically get an invigorating pressure wash the water pressure being so high.......

I am then taken on a 4km walk around and through Walpole knoll, basically another forest, looking for anything with either four legs, no legs, two wings, a tail even eight legs but we see nothing other than a Kookaburra, which my pain sensors are still of the opinion, it was not worth it.

So we are now flat out on our backs in the van and do not intend to move again today and all the time our unfriendly neighbours are taking a short cut across our site as if to prove a point. Tomorrow I do hope my legs are going to be better as we will have some fun with said 'We are real camper bullies' and as he is bigger than me, I'll need them to run away........

    23 kms of this

    And this

  

    Our natural fire break.