Part II - Just Hold On We're Going Home

Day three, we said good morning to some cute cows staring at us blankly from the side of the road. I was adamant that we head west to Denmark, because I've seen so many beautiful photos of the place but there wasn't really anywhere that I wanted to go specifically. Once we got into town, we made a stop to a supermarket to replenish our supplies (i.e. coke for Jeff, and snacks for me). I also quickly searched "Things to do in Denmark," as a last ditch effort to find out what to do there with my limited internet.

Below is the picturesque place called Greens Pool. The water was even clearer than I remember it being in Albany, and the sand felt even softer under my feet. The sky reflecting off the ocean was also so, so blue that I couldn't believe what I was seeing was for real. Unfortunately, neither of us brought our swimming gear with us, but the water was freezing cold that I don't know if we would've been able to stand being in that water anyway.





















There was also a sign next to Greens Pool directing us that to our left was Waterfall Beach. Now, who could pass up a name like that? I like waterfalls as much as the next person. Imagine our surprise when we found the "waterfall." You can see it in the second photo, and it was tiny! I'm a short person, but it was even shorter than I am. We were sure that fresh water was flowing from it though, and I really enjoyed the marbling effect the water made on the sand towards the ocean.







Next we went to the Valley of the Giants, home to the gloriously giant trees near Denmark. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Grandmother Willow in person as well.







At this point, it was getting quite late and we wanted to make it to Margaret River before sun down simply because I didn't want Jeff to be driving 110 km/hr in the dark. We managed to make it there at around 5PM, where we settled down and had a shower before heading off to dinner. This was also the one night I forget to bring my ID, and ask to be carded at a restaurant/bar. And that's the story of how I was denied a glass of prosecco with my dinner, and I made fun of Jeff - who was allowed some white wine - that it must've looked like he was dating someone underage. He wasn't happy.

The next morning we ate breakfast at a cafe I unfortunately can't remember the name of.







Then we filled the car back up with petrol and made our way north back to Perth.



But not before we visited a couple of wineries to taste what they had to offer. First we went to Leeuwin Estate, which I always remember as having a very beautiful venue. I wasn't disappointed, and proceeded to take many photos.















Next we went to Voyager Estate, only because I make it a point to visit this winery every time I come down to Margaret River because of it's beautiful gardens. We didn't taste any wine, but that wasn't the point of this detour.





Our last stop was The Watershed winery. I know, it seems like we were a bit rushed for time but that's because we were. Also because we couldn't risk drinking too much when we had a long drive home ahead.









After this, we finally turned to go home, and made it home in one piece. Of course, the rest of our adventure was spent mainly in the car so I have no awesome photos to show you guys from that.

I hope you enjoyed coming on this journey with me through my photos, and I'm looking forward to the next time I can share my travel stories with you.

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Part I - The Drive and A Mountain

On the 16th of October, Jeff and I embarked on a short four day road trip towards Albany without many intentions at all. We didn't plan anything except the general direction we wanted to go, which is how I like to plan my travel adventures just for an added bit of spontaneity. We left Perth at around 10AM and began driving south-east, intending to reach Albany at 2PM. However, we got sidetracked by a sign that promised "Giant Ram." Australia has this obsession with big things, and I've yet to see any of them so we took a detour to see this fabled ram.



Isn't he magnificent? Thinking that would be our only detour, we trekked on. Until we noticed a strangely flat, white surface to the right of the road as we were driving along. We pulled over to the side of the road to take a closer look at what was there. Turns out we landed on the moon!







Just kidding, it was actually a giant lake made entirely of salt. We took a few photos and tried walking towards the other side of the lake, however the salt wasn't as densely packed as I thought it was towards the centre of the lake, and my foot fell through the salt and into the black dirt underneath. I suppose that was our sign to leave and continue our journey towards the south.

By this time we were getting hungry so we stopped in a small town and into a pub for lunch.



And took some photos next to a set of train tracks (which you'll get to see later), and then went back onto the road.



Trust me when I say that this was the point where it would be a straight journey to our Airbnb, but alas, it was not to be. We were so used to seeing the blue sky, red dirt, and green trees, that the instant we saw a peek of pink from the corner of our eyes, we knew it had to be something good.





We both thought that we would have to take the five hour drive from Albany to Esperance to see a Pink Lake, so it was a great surprise when we noticed this one, although it is margins smaller than the one in Esperance. We spent a short while there admiring the distinct colour and I was trying to convince Jeff to lick the salt but to no avail.

Disappointed that he wouldn't taste it, we went back to the car and finally reached Albany at 4:20PM, nearly two and half hours later than we expected.



After resting for a little while, Jeff urged me not to take a nap and for us to drive down to the beach and have a little adventure there. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our cameras out so there are no photos of that, but the water was clear and the sand very soft and white. I did bring my small point and shoot though, so you can see what I mean in my vlog that I will be finishing with editing soon and will have that up.

The next day we went to eat breakfast at York St Cafe, which was delicious. I had the waffles and I was very surprised by how crisp the outside was, but how soft the batter was. We also spied this cute dog riding on the back of a motorcycle wearing a visor and sunglasses - so cute. I know you can barely see it in the photo below, but I'm hoping that you can just imagine it.







Below are a few shots we took of Albany before we left. Unfortunately, we weren't there for long enough to enjoy the city and take better photos. Albany was definitely a beautiful place to be and I'm looking forward to the next time we come here so I can enjoy it a little bit more by spending more than half a day there.







Day two consisted of us making our way north again to The Stirling Ranges, we intended to camp a night and hike up a mountain. There were so many different mountains to choose from, and I'm not too sure which ones are pictures below, but how amazing do they look from afar?









It looks even better when you're standing on top of one. We hiked up Mt Trio, simply because we planned to stay at a camp site near there. The more popular of the mountains would be Bluff Knoll, so we've put that one on our list of mountains to climb next time we are here.



















It was a hard hike as it was a lot steeper than we anticipated. Let's just say that I'm glad I've been doing a bit of exercise before going on this road trip. We had to stop a few times for a break from the sun, but that didn't stop the relentless flies that were pestering us. I would recommend going in the early morning or early evening, just so that you don't have the sun beating down on your face and hopefully there would be less flies.

After conquering Mt Trio, we made our way to the camp site. We got a little lost, but we ended up there okay.











Although we had a gas cooker, we also made a small fire because I've never been camping before and have never actually made my own fire pit. We also had marshmallows to toast, and it was probably a healthier option to roast them over a genuine fire pit than over a gas cooker.

The next morning we cooked up the last of our sausages, bacon and eggs and continued towards day three.

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