Albany to Pemberton

On Sunday morning, bright and early, we set off down to Albany, a town on the south coast around 400km from Perth. We drove through the wooded hills that surround Perth and then down through rolling countryside dotted with farms and vineyards. The town of Albany itself is not that interesting, but it is situated within an amazing natural harbour within a bigger bay called King Georges Sound. Although the weather was rather overcast and much cooler than in Perth, the coastline was absolutely stunning.

All the beaches were pristine white sand and the water gorgeous shades of blue, grey and green… although rather nippy for swimming in! We took some great walks around various bays and clambered on the granite rocks which surround a lot of the beaches. I was also rather over-excited to see my first kangaroo!

From Albany we drove west the following day towards Denmark, taking a detour to 4WD across the dunes and cliffs at West Cape Howe, the most southerly point in Western Australia. All along the coast were more stunning beaches and interesting rock formations where the granite had been worn away.

We then headed slightly inland and north into the forests around Pemberton, and stayed two nights in a gorgeous log cabin on Lake Beedelup. Surrounded by karri forests, there was plenty of wood for burning in the log fire and after a day’s cycling, tennis and golf we relaxed with a bottle of red wine which we’d bought earlier from one of the local wineries (after having sampled a wide selection!).

On the way home to Perth, we stopped to admire the 1.6km long wooden jetty at Busselton, which was beautiful. It was nice to be back in sunnier climes!