Perth Day 5 - Albany

Assalammualaikum wbt,

Sunday, 6th May 2018

So today is our fifth day in Perth, and today we’re going to continue our journey to South Western Australia, Albany. Waze said the journey would take about 4-5 hours drive. We bid our goodbye to the beautiful Geographe Bayview Hotel, wishing we would never leave this place but had to. We took the journey via Albany Highway and man, it’s a... umm boring drive for some people. Hahaha. One is because of the speed limit, two; is the straight road, three; is lack of stops and four; not much of other vehicles. But I secretly enjoyed it because of the view. Priceless, you can’t get it here in Malaysia. View of vineyards, wild kangaroos, farm, group of sheeps, desert, wheatfield. Be mindful when you drive because sometimes Kangaroo would suddenly jump out of nowhere and it is advisable not to drive during nighttime at this area because Kangaroo usually attracted to light. 

The weather today aren’t so good, the wind is quite heavy and sometimes drizzling along the way. In Australia, to plan for your trip, always check the weather forecast. Unlike here, their weather is quite extreme, when it’s good, it’s really good, when it’s bad, it is really bad that you can’t go anywhere. Plan your journey wisely. If you spot any fuel station, please fill your car because another stations might be miles away. Please download offline Google Map because there is no phone service nor radio service at all. I should’ve bring a CD really. Luckily I use Waze, if you already entered your destination, it would still navigate and detect your car movement. Well, if you have neither, don’t panic, the highway has the signboards and not so confusing because there aren’t so many junctions, just a straight road. 

We arrived at Albany town few hours later, a bit delay from our original plan because of the bad weather and too many stops. Well, if you’re carrying many people and a kid, this is much expected, nature call, snacking time, things like that. For the first stop, we went to The Gap and Natural Bridge. This is basically a highlight of our trip. Heck, we even extend our flight itinerary to go here! Yes, originally our flight itinerary only for 5 days but we extend it to 7 days because I couldn’t hold myself from seeing all the pictures posted here in the Facebook Group. I.Must.Go.Here.

However, when we got here, the weather is bad, eye sight is blur, wind is so strong, you gotta hold to something, well especially for someone as skinny as me. Something unfortunate happened here too, everybody else had went down from the car except Mak and of course Hanif Aiden, and I did too following them. When I opened the door, I couldn’t control it since the wind so strong and it was pushed to the back so fast and I am struggle to push it back to close since I’m against the wind. When I managed to, the allignment has went a bit off and needed to be adjusted everytime we tried to close the door. This rather upsetting me because I didn’t take extra insurance for the car only basic one that will cost up to $700 maximum should there is any damages to the car. This is the biggest turn down (for me at least) of the trip and killed the mood for the entire trip.  

Anyway, back to The Gap, I spotted despite the strong wind, there are quite a number of tourist that brave enough facing the storm to go to the designated bridge to see the Southern Ocean. Many too has turn their car back. No point anyway because you can’t really see anything and the risk is too high. Can’t really imagine what’s down there. J dared myself not to go there, I tried but the visual sight so bad and it’s dangerous because the rock are all wet and slippery. Well, deaths have occurred few times here, although there’s a designated path for walking, I did not go further. We just record a video from the parking area. Allah swt indeed has a better plan, a week after we’re back, there was an fatal accident occured whereby a tourist plunged to his death when he tried to take a selfie there, during a very good weather. 

After that, we went to Albany Wind Farm, which also just nearby, but because of the wind is too strong, I didn’t follow my family to climb. You have to climb the hill a bit to see the windmill view. Plus, I saw a snake signage, so it brings the creep out of me, so I stayed at the car waiting for them. Afraid I might see a flying snakes in the strong wind, lol! Is that even possible? Another plus point to repeat this trip in the future haha! 

After that, we continued our journey to our next accomodation, Park Avenue Holiday Unit. I really love the road in Albany, it’s actually on the seaside overlooking the Princess Royal Harbour. Although it was drizzling, it looks so beautiful and serene, it would be such an amazing sight during a good weather I bet. Park Avenue Holiday Unit is the only accomodation U could find in Albany that could cater large number of us. The size is small and decent, just ok for us. The least appealing accomodation for us throughout this trip although it is slightly expensive compared to others. It has 3 bedrooms, only one bathroom and a small living hall + dining area. But maybe because it’s a small city, and not much of choices unlike the Perth CBD. And I heard, it’s a quite an expensive/elite place, thus explains the price. But, the view in Albany MashaAllah, so beautiful and calm with the mountain overlooking the oceans. Such beautiful beautiful place. I wish we extend our stay in Albany, 1 day (well not even half a day considering the journey) spent here plus with the bad weather, wasn’t enough for us to really exploring the beauty. It’s like in Monaco, although I never actually been there. Slight note, it is advisable if you could shop fresh supply (fish, meat, poultry etc) in Perth before coming here because of its limited Halal resources. If I’m not mistaken, there is only one Kebab restaurant here. Unless if you can eat Kebab for two days straight, then it’s ok. 

After checking in, we took a walk around the homestay, there located such beautiful garden and small lake within walking distance, about 200 metres. Little did I know, if we walk a little bit further, we can reach to Middleton Beach. But, it’s already late evening and no point anyway to go there. Hanif Aiden had fun chasing the goose and watching the ducks. Surprisingly, the temperature aren’t that cold and I didn’t even wear my jacket. We bought the thick jacket purposely for Albany trip because it’s in the southern part, so logically it would be colder than Perth. Turned out, it was the other way around. 

That night, of course I couldn’t sleep well thinking about the car damage and how much would I be charged later on.