Around Oz with the Munchkins: New shoes, a fishing frenzy, and whales

Having committed to a June 4 arrival in Perth, we were starting to feel the need for speed. Or at least we finally had a reason to speed up our snails pace. Indeed we have met numerous friendly folk who have covered more ground in 6 weeks than we have in 4 months! We meet them and have a chat then watch them disappear in a cloud of dust as we settle in for another day of fishing, hiking, reading and practicing the alphabet in the dust on the car. And yes it is wonderful to take our time but sometimes a reason to move on is a good thing for us! And so we drove on down to Albany. The kids' toes were hanging out of their sandals so we splashed out on some cool new camping shoes and quickly dropped their old shoes into the bin while they were admiring some pocket knives. We also invested in some MaxTrax - huge plastic that we can stick under the wheels should we get bogged in soft sand. Of course, we will never have to use them (!) but perhaps we will be more bold and tough and cool with them on board!

Albany seemed big with outskirts and an industrial zone and everything. We briefly toyed with the idea of staying at a caravan park in town and having a shower but decided that we could live with the dirt for a bit longer. So we headed away from the town to find a camping spot. First we made our way to a free beachside spot called Cosy Corner. However was a little too cosy - packed to the rafters with grey nomads of the type who flock to free campspots (not that we blame them). We literally couldn't get the trailer in anywhere despite our best efforts, so ignoring the gathering darkness we drove on into the national park in search of beauty and solitude. We found signs pointing us to Shelly Beach campsite and when we arrived down a treacherous winding road we thanked whatever forces had led us there. It was a picturesque little beach surrounded by lush green mountains. The campsite was small and lovely and almost empty! Bill was excited by the fishing potential of the beach - an excitement fuelled by the piles of sparkling fish scales scattered around the carpark...

Early the next day cars starting pulling up and and men got out with rods and eskies and stood silently at intervals along the beach until dusk. Zara, Kate and Sash decided to make themselves scarce for the day to allow Bill to take his place in the fishing line-up. We drove through Albany to Whaleworld, an old whaling station (the last in Australia to be closed - in 1978). We toured through the old flencing decks where they pulled the skin and blubber off the whales and viewed gruesome photos of sweating men decapitating whales and chopping them up. The kids couldn't get enough! We heard about the constant battle with white pointer sharks as they gathered in their hundreds to eat the flesh off the whale carcasses left waiting out at sea to be processed (they could only do one at a time and usually caught 3-5 per day). Then we donned some cardboard glasses to watch a cool 3D movie about whales called 'giants do exist' (title not so cool...). Embarrassingly we even joined in with the folk in the front row who kept putting their hands out in super daggy way to try and touch the 3D whales as they jumped out of the screen towards us! The kids spent a happy time on the whale-themed playground, sliding out of a whale's mouth and riding dolphins and fish. Then after we had finished exploring a real old whaling ship and playing pirates on the deck (Sash always gets to be Captain Hook...) we checked out the Aussie animals at the little zoo - an aspect of whaleworld that is apparently unrelated to whales and whaling history and, I assume, a grab for the attention of visitors who find themselves unmoved by the gruesome whaling past.

Enough whales. Time to head for Albany pool where we discovered an even more impressive whirlpool than the one in Esperence and even a waterslide down which Zara slid grinning at least 30 times (Sash wasn't allowed on it but was cheerful anyway because he has discovered the simple joy of rolling his body into a ball and floating under the water...).

Tired and happy, we drove back to the beautiful Shelley Beach where Bill greeted us with a totally delicious dinner of freshly caught fish and homemade chips. He had fished all day and caught masses of Herring and Salmon. And not only did he see heaps of dophins, he also saw a whale! Damn him!