On the road again! After what had become an extended stay in Perth of over six weeks, and despite the many good times we enjoyed there, the gypsy bug had well and truly bitten us both by the time we nosed out into the Perth morning traffic on the next leg of our WA adventure.
Destination Albany..a new highway and new horizons...we were in a buoyant mood as we made our way past the Perth airport and onto the Albany Highway. We climbed over the Darling Ranges and continued southwards through the rolling hills and farming lands (no photos....'same old, same old') to our chosen overnight destination of Kojonup. Why Kojonup? Geography more than anything else. This small farming township lies a tad over halfway along the 415 kms between Perth and Albany, as good a place as any, we decided.
When I rang to book a site at the local caravan park, I was told that there would be no problems in accommodating us...."just roll up, love....you'll be right". Indeed we were. We had our pick of the drive through sites, but because the park was a shade beyond our comfortable walking distance into town, and it was still pretty hot, I unhitched in any case.
The Kojonup Caravan Park is, well, different. This became evident as we came to a stop at the entrance to be greeted by the gaping mouth of a model hippo. Odd we thought. You don't find too many hippos in country WA.
It got better. The original owner of this park was obviously 'different' to say the least. How often does one drive past Superman changing in the telephone box to reach one's site. I just loved it!
Although the park sites were, as we expected, not grassed, they were large, level and shady.... all we wanted for an easy stay.
The somewhat ramshackle, but very well set up camp kitchen provided the venue for a pleasant hour of so that evening where we acted as a pair of older sounding boards for two young, broke and somewhat homesick English tourists who were trying to decide whether or not to find work and then push on around the country once their finances were back up to scratch (they had come down the WA coast from Darwin) or go home and come out again later. We were unanimous...go home. They agreed!
We did a whistle stop drive around the township with a view to returning for a slightly longer stay. Kojonup is the home town of one Brigadier Arnold Potts DSO, MBE, MC, the soldier responsible for commanding the fighting withdrawal of the Australian troops along the Kokoda track. This action has been described by military historians as 'one of the most critical triumphs in Australia's military history and one that an apathetic nation has still to honour' (in all fairness that comment is now somewhat dated).
Potts' reward for his magnificent strategic and tactical management of this campaign?....he was dismissed from his command by the Australian commander-in-chief, General Thomas Blamey, in an action widely considered to be 'one of the most disgraceful actions of his (Blamey's) military career'. From all that I have read of this incident and its antecedents, I could not agree more. It is strongly suspected that Blamey's actions were in direct response to the outrageous comments made by that American popinjay Douglas MacArthur, who, with a total lack of knowledge or understanding of the conditions under which the Australians had been fighting on 'The Track', accused them of lacking courage. I'll comment no further...it's a very dangerous thing to get me started on MacArthur!
The good citizens of Kojonup have erected a monument in Potts' honour, something we did not get to visit on this short stop. I hope to remedy that in the future.
The haul into Albany the following day was relatively short. Our trusty electronic navigator took us the back way to our allotted park on Emu Point, a matter for which, in hindsight, I remain grateful. Albany can be a tricky place to get around for the uninitiated. But more of that later.
Although Emu Point is some 8 kms from the Albany CBD, we had chosen one of the two parks in that location for a few reasons, the first of which was that it took pets. Secondly, the Rose Garden Caravan Park is one of the 'Acclaim' group, and because of our use of these parks in Norseman, Kalgoorlie and Perth, we now enjoy the benefits of their discount scheme. Thirdly, the location of Emu Point had been strongly recommended to us by a good friend who had previously stayed in this area.
So here we were on Mermaid Avenue, Emu Point
where we drove past the local tennis courts and bowling club
and the park on the opposite side of the road
The haul into Albany the following day was relatively short. Our trusty electronic navigator took us the back way to our allotted park on Emu Point, a matter for which, in hindsight, I remain grateful. Albany can be a tricky place to get around for the uninitiated. But more of that later.
Although Emu Point is some 8 kms from the Albany CBD, we had chosen one of the two parks in that location for a few reasons, the first of which was that it took pets. Secondly, the Rose Garden Caravan Park is one of the 'Acclaim' group, and because of our use of these parks in Norseman, Kalgoorlie and Perth, we now enjoy the benefits of their discount scheme. Thirdly, the location of Emu Point had been strongly recommended to us by a good friend who had previously stayed in this area.
So here we were on Mermaid Avenue, Emu Point
where we drove past the local tennis courts and bowling club
and the park on the opposite side of the road
until here we were, our home for the next twenty days or so.
Fees paid, we made our way past the entrance barrier
and along the entrance roadway
to Fifth Avenue, and our new address on an elevated site under the shade of a massive peppermint tree.
From here can see south out over the waters of King George Sound, albeit across the tops
of cabins and caravans on the lower level in front of us, and we are close enough to the beach to hear the waves on a still evening (not that there are too many of them here!)
One thing we do have here at the Rose Gardens is oodles of room. Apart from a large site and slab, we have a paddock on the other side of the van in which to park the Cruiser and plenty of space behind us for the clothes line and our personal 'beer garden'. And lawn!! No more sand for the time being except where we expect to find it...on the beach!
The playground and recreation room, which are immediately below the back of our site, do invite the attention of the odd rowdy youngster or two from time to time, but by and large we have enjoyed real peace and quiet to date, such a welcome change from the constant racket in Perth.
But again that word 'compromise' rears its head.....our price for our view and this large relatively isolated site...exposure to the wind, and in Albany there is plenty of that, and cloud and rain! We hadn't seen a drop since our first week in Busso in early November, and, of course, as determined by Murphy's law, we did received a goodly drop on our second day here...just as I was battling to put up the annex.
Mind you, since then we have been as snug as bugs in rugs, although I was quick to install a special set of brace poles we carry to provide additional support to the arms which hold the end annex walls. These are a great piece of kit which are simple to erect and provide real stability when 40 kph winds are doing their best to reduce our outdoor refuge to shredded canvas.
And we both agree that the discomfort presented by the occasional over enthusiastic coastal zephyr is a small price to pay for the welcome relief from Perth's heat.
The front of Rose Gardens, oddly enough, is given over to cabins...sorry, chalets (this is the West). This is common practice in most parks where the real view can attract the increased rental fees and although a roadway runs along part of the front of the park,
so too does the sealed walking track which extends along the shoreline to the other end of Middleton Beach, a sweep of pristine white sand some 4 kms long.
From this same point in front of the park I panned left to take in the expanse of King George Sound where one of five large bulk carriers can be seen at anchor in the roads, and then
further left to take in the main entrance into King George Sound, and left again
to show the small sheltered local beach and beyond that, the channel between the sound and Oyster Harbour at Emu Point.
The Albany harbour, recognised universally as Australia's finest, if not the world's, is a massive body of water, about which I'll have much more to say later. For now, welcome to the Rose Gardens park and our immediate surrounds.
Oh, and by the way, I did mentioned it does get windy did I not? No prizes for guessing in which direction it was blowing on this particular morning!
Even Max was tucked up with his head down....'let me know when it settles out there!'
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