Australia 2019, pt III

From Porungurup it’s only a short drive to the very different Stirling Range. Since this is the only place in WA with some real „mountains“, we had to go anyway. Lovely forests! Bluff Knoll is a must, not really long, but some nice elevation gain on the short stretch plus fantastic views from the top (on a clear day). We could see over the whole national park and down to the coast. Beautiful. Since we’d finished quite early, we wanted to do another one – unfortunately the road leading to Talyuberlup Peak was in a relatively shitty condition, so I spared myself the effort of driving it with our poor 2WD … and we simply went to Toolbrunup instead. Fascinating how the flora can differ so much within the same area. A lush forest, very green, wonderful walk. Then back to Porungurup for some more parrots – and off to Albany the next day.

Three statements – one of which is *not* true – guess which:
1. In Albany, they have a giant statue of Roger Whitaker at the town entrance and all cafes are required to play at least three tracks by „Old Beardy“ per day.
2. At Handasyde Strawberries you can buy the best strawberries in the world.
3. Handasyde Strawberries is also the local hotspot for meeting MILFs who like to show their vagina to bearded strangers.

Albany itself is a nice little town with a nice city beach, Middleton Beach. Our apartment at Dolphin Lodge was only a few metres from said beach, there’s a great running track next to the beach up to Emu Point. Another great orchard with the best peaches in the world is Nicklup Orchard, on the way to the enchanting Two Peoples Bay. The third place to buy good produce is Mt Melville Fresh. Nice people, good stuff. Little Italy does a great pizza, too. So the culinary situation was close to perfect, the beach was nice, and on the next day Torndirrup NP was waiting for us, the hike to Bald Head to be precise. Kind of a must-do for me, obviously.

So, in order: 1) MILF Food at Handasyde, 2) Funny little skink not happy with us, 3) Giant dangerous furry chickens at the wonderful „Old Marron Farm“ Cafe on the way to Two Peoples Bay, 4) Field of Light: Avenue of Honor ANZAC Memorial in Albany at night, and 5) Rats Bar 😀 .