From the Porongurup’s we headed off to Albany for a few nights.  This was another short 37km trip for the day.  Love these short drives.  My Bunnings list was quite long so that made the trip even more necessary.  Albany also has a Dan Murphy’s so that was also high on our list of places to visit.  We really enjoyed our last week in the Stirling’s and Porongurup’s and definitely would like to come back one time.  We checked into the Happy Days Caravan Park and were very lucky to get in.  They gave us the last powered site they had left.   Apparently there was a big croquet weekend coming up and Albany was booked out.  I didn’t realise that croquet still had such a large pull of players, good to see.  I think we ended up with the best site of all, our space was huge and no neighbours.

It had also been a long time since we had been in Albany so we were both looking forward to seeing what new sights there were to see.  We had heard quite a bit about the Field of Light display and also the new National Anzac Centre so we were looking forward to visiting both of them.  We weren’t disappointed.  The Field of Light display was very popular with many visitors there on the night we went.  We also did a great walk while in Albany called the Point Possession Heritage Trail.  This was on the southern side of Albany around past the Whaling Station Museum.  A nice easy 3km walk that took you along some coastline and beaches and through some nice coastal bushland.  It also provided some great views back towards Albany harbour.

We had a nice stopover in Albany but was on the road again and next stop Bremer Bay.  Bremer Bay was the only commitment we had made so far on this trip.  We were meeting Steve and Carol, our next door neighbours from Perth and also my sister Jan plus Chris and Ellie the dog.  Steve and Carol had already been in Bremer for a few days and Jan and Chris were arriving the same day as us.  We had booked in for 8 days so it time to chill out for a while and slip into Bremer time.  We were all in the Bremer Bay Caravan Park and boy was it busy.  Now all the kids are back at school it’s time for the grey nomads to travel and enjoy themselves.  The caravan park had the “sorry we are full” sign most days.

We were very lucky weather wise for our time in Bremer with fine days for most of our stay.  The wind seemed to pick up a bit each day but died down at night where the nights did get a bit chilly sometimes.  It was good to see Steve and Carol again and they both seemed to be enjoying there stay down in the south.  Jan and Chris arrived a couple of hours after us and once set up it was time for start of many sundowners. 

Chris and myself did try fishing off the rocks not far from the caravan park.  I had got a new rod for Christmas and was keen to see if it worked.  There definitely is a difference between fishermen on what you class as a big fish.  I threw most of mine back as I thought they were too small to keep while Chris thought all his were “big” and kept most of them.  It was all good fun and we did have a couple of good feeds of fresh fish.

The Wellstead Museum is also well worth a visit.  The displays are excellent and well presented that shows a good history of the early pioneer days around the area.  The displays of vintage cars, motor bikes and tractors is as good as you will see anywhere.  The café at the museum also does great pizza’s.    Chris also had his birthday while in Bremer Bay so that was a good excuse to celebrate and go out to the local pub.

Well our eight days were up quicker than we wanted but it was time to go.  Steve and Carol were staying on for a few more days, lucky them, Jan and Chris were meandering slowly back to Mandurah and we were continuing on towards Esperance.  We all said or goodbyes and it was on the road again.