John & Wendy Go on Holidays

One of the 'drawbacks' of living on the road is that you never get to go on holidays - no matter where you are that's home. On the weekend just gone we decided to take a break - we headed up to Manjimup for a golf tournament, leaving the caravan in Albany and staying in a motel. This wasn't quite the treat we had hoped for, the accommodation in Manjimup isn't exactly 5 star, and we even had to make our own bed one day as they forgot to service the room.

We had heard about the tournament when we were staying at Manji in early December, and by all reports it was a very popular and well run event. The only draw back as far as we were concerned was that the main sponsors were the Kristoffersson timber furniture company. Not that we have anything against their lovely handcrafted products, we just have no room in the van for trophies such as dressers and coffee tables. The upside was that local wineries were also involved in sponsorship, so we were aiming to bring home some of this product. In the event John obeyed instructions and didn't win any furniture - in fact, didn't win anything. Wendy collared one NTP and 2 longest putts over the 3 day event, which brought a very acceptable haul of a pack of toiletries, a tournament branded golf towel, 2 bottles of wine and, unfortunately, 4 wine glasses. The latter will be given away to people here in Albany - we don't have any glass in the van.

The real problem came when Wendy won gross runner up (we still have trouble coping with the concept of gross prizes in a stableford competition, but it seems to be a popular thing over here in the west). In fact, she wasn't awarded the prize at all, despite having 49 'gross points' over the 2 day major competition, somehow they worked out that someone else on 49 points won and another golfer with 42 points came runner up. We lodged a protest, and after much checking and rechecking of cards it was decided that the winner stood but Wendy was runner up on a countback, coming away with a large timber framed mirror. At least it wasn't a tv cabinet or wine rack, but still large enough that we are still debating where we are going to put it in the van until we can get it into storage somehow.

We took the scenic route down Highway 1 back to Albany today, stopping at the Swarbrick art installation in the Walpole Wilderness Area. This is a series of art works set in old growth forest, with the highlight being the 39 metre long 'Wilderness Wall of Perception', a mirrored wall giving the history of the conservation fight in WA and the local forest. A very pleasant drive through tall timber, stopping at some beautiful beaches (although not for a swim), got us back home feeling refreshed after our weekend away.

Under the Big Top

The Circus Royale is in town here in Albany, and, having not been to a circus since we were kids, we thought we'd go along. We booked tickets for the show last Monday afternoon, but Tropical Cyclone Bianca snuck down the west coast and was forecast to cross the coast at Bunbury last Sunday then reach as far East as Albany. We found it hard to believe that we could get a cyclone as far south as here, but the warnings were pretty strong and we prepared the van by putting away all our outside furniture and putting up the awning. The circus rang us on the Saturday morning to say they had cancelled the shows from Sunday onwards as they had to pull down the big top, and of the remaining shows offered to us we chose Friday evening.

In the event Bianca fizzled out before she even hit the shore, so all we had in Albany was a bit of rain, but the big top stayed down for a few days and no extra shows were scheduled. So last night we had an early dinner then headed down for the big show.

Circus Royale is an old fashioned, rather hokey, affair. The ring master had at least a dozen changes of clothes, each more garish than the last - our personal favourite was probably the bright lime green sparkly jacket and pants, teamed with a black shirt and lime green bow tie. No lions, tigers or bears, but they did have ponies, llamas, geese and small performing dogs. At one stage 3 big friesian cows lumbered around the ring then propped their front feet on ramps set around the edge. We had ring side seats, and hardly looked at the white pony that trotted around under them, so transfixed were we by the huge cow's head placidly chewing its cud right above us and quietly drooling on our knees. Tumblers, clowns, acrobats, a not very good juggler (the dropped clubs didn't appear to be part of the act and the ring master's wide smile became more and more fixed) provided all the fun of the fair. The grand finale was a contortionist who squeezed himself into a box that was probably only about half a cubic metre, amazing to see but also slightly nauseating. When the cast came out for the big bow it didn't surprise us to find there were only actually 10 performers, including the ring master, there did seem to be quite a repetition of faces over the different acts.

All in all, we had a very enjoyable night, and at $30 a ticket ringside the less than perfect touches only added to the charm.

Wittenoom Cup Carnival

The premier event on the Albany golfing calendar is the 10 day Wittenoom Cup tournament, which culminates in a 2 day stroke event on the final weekend. Being the keen golfers that we are, we entered all events but one, and on that day we volunteered to assist as starters for the field.

It is a very popular tournament, with many golfers coming down from Perth, as well as closer towns such as Busselton and Bunbury. In fact, many of the events had a full field, with some late entries on a waiting list.

Albany managed reasonable weather on most days, with barely a shower during the entire time, and only a few days having the ferocious winds that the Albany golf course is renowned for. The scoring was pretty fierce, with winning scores such as +14 in the ladies 4bbb par (Wendy and her partner had a very respectable +9) and 51 points in the mixed 4bbb stableford (we had 45 points and just scraped in for a ball). John featured early in the tournament, winning the nine hole comp on the opening day and coming runner up in the men's par competition with +5. Wendy had a slower start, and after 8 days of golf straight was starting to wonder whether she had over-estimated the ability of her back to absorb punishment. However, a full body massage on our day off (courtesy of a birthday present from John) restored her to full vigour, just in time for the 2 day stroke event.

Our Saturday tee times were a bit of a shock, with Wendy teeing off at 7:32, about the time we tend to be thinking about getting out of bed on a usual day! However the conditions were perfect, with the first nine holes played before the wind started, and before it got too hot as this was Albany's best attempt so far at a summer's day. Everything went right in Wendy's round and she came in with a gross score of 77, nett 69. This was easily the best gross, and put her ahead in the nett by 1 stroke. John played fairly well but had a few problems on the green and came in with gross 84 nett 75.

On Sunday we played in the afternoon, which once again proved to be the best of the day as it avoided the showers that were about earlier. John improved his score, with 79/70, while Wendy kept playing good steady golf and scored 76/68. This meant she had the best gross score on both days and the best nett score on both days, so needless to say the best overall gross and nett. In common with most tournaments they only allow a player to win one prize, Wendy was awarded the major trophy for the best nett - the photo above shows her with the perpetual trophy which is displayed in the club house and will have her name added to the previous winners'. She was given a small replica bowl of this trophy, and a very nice overnight bag.

The complete list of scores for the week is available here, as well as the report on Wendy's overall win.

As well as the golf, the club also had a quiz night on Tuesday which we attended. Our encyclopedic knowledge stood us in good stead, and our team took out the victory prize by a comfortable margin of 3.

So all in all a fun and rewarding week, but we might have a rest for a few days now to give our bodies a chance to recover!

Lies, Damned Lies and ......

For our 100th blog post we thought it would be appropriate to have a look at some statistics from our trip.

We spent nearly 12 months travelling before our 6 months off last year, and in that time we drove about 44,000 km, of which around 19,000 km, or nearly half, was towing. Given we had a few longish stays at places during this time, such as 2 months in Darwin, this shows just how big Australia is, and the long distances between towns in some places. In the 6 months since we've been back on the road again, we've driven 18,000 km, with about 9,000 km of it being towing, so the 50/50 ratio is still holding good.

Of course, any discussion of driving stats has to include fuel consumption. The patrol has been averaging around 11 litres per 100 km when not towing, and about 18 when towing. The towing figure is very much affected by conditions, in particular the wind, with consumption soaring as high as 24 l/100km when towing directly into a strong wind across the Nullarbor.

Luckily, although diesel could not in anyone's imagination be described as cheap, it hasn't been as high as we experienced when we did our first trip in the van. We always fill up in town before a day's towing, and if it is going to be a long distance we also fill the sub-tank, however there are occasions when the distances are so great that we have to fill up again at roadhouses along the way, where prices can skyrocket. In the first half of this trip our average diesel cost was $1.336 per litre, while in the current phase it has been $1.323, both of which are significantly less than the $1.80 we were paying in 2008. The most expensive fuel we have purchased was $1.779 at the Nullarbor roadhouse, but we saw some for $2.04 at the Aileron roadhouse in central Australia. Fortunately, someone had warned us about this roadhouse so we were able to avoid buying there. Surprisingly, the cheapest fuel isn't always in the city, the cheapest we have paid was $1.149 in both Perth and Port Augusta in 2009.

In reality, while the cost of fuel is significant, it is still not a major factor in the overall cost of the trip, and the fact is that if you want to travel around the far-flung corners of this country it is just a cost you have to accept.

Albany Sightseeing and Walking

The weather has warmed up a bit in Albany, so as well as continuing with our regular golf we have done a few tourist things around town and the surrounding region. When we were here last year the waterfront area was a building site, with the most notable feature being seemingly endless cyclone fences, but now most of the building seems to be finished and the brand new Albany Entertainment Centre has opened. It is quite an attractive building, designed to mimic the shape of a boat. We checked out the upcoming events but it doesn't look like we'll see the inside as paying guests, so we contented ourselves with walking around the outside.

Porongurup National Park is about 30km north of Albany and has several walks. Last year we did a walk trail up Nancy's Peak, this week we tackled Devil's Slide. The first couple of km of this walk were reasonably easy, uphill along a fire trail, but for the next 800m or so we scrambled very steeply upward. At one point the trail seemed so steep that Wendy was unable to walk up the rock face, but had to sit down and ease her way up backwards on her backside - it was only after this fairly scary operation when John was contemplating whether to do the same thing that we realised the trail actually went around this steep section and John could scramble quite comfortably up to the same point. The photo above shows the view back down the trail from the top, with Nancy's Peak in the background. As the photo shows, it wasn't a very nice day, and we were worried that the mist would turn into rain, which would have made the descent over the granite rocks very slippery and dangerous, but luckily the rain held off until we were back down at the car park.

From quite early in its colonial history the harbour at Albany was considered to have immense strategic importance, and late in the 19th century it was decided to build a fort on one of the surrounding hills. The site continued in this role until 1956 when it was decommissioned, and over the subsequent years it fell into disuse and disrepair. Now the city of Albany has renovated and repaired many of the buildings and it is open to tourists as the Princess Royal Fortress. Albany was the place from which most Anzacs departed for World War I, and for many it provided their last glimpse of Australia. As well as photos, artefacts and stories from this period, there were also several other historical displays related to the history of the various fortifications on the site, and of Australians at war. We were surprised at how interesting we found the displays, and spent more than 2 hours wandering the grounds and buildings. Its site on top of a hill overlooking the harbour also provided magnificent panoramic views, and the lovely sunny day showed Albany at its best.

On another day we drove west to the West Cape Howe National Park. We were hoping to drive down to Torbay Head, which is the most southerly point in WA, but the track looked too sandy for novice 4wders like us, so we contented ourselves with doing a short walk along the top of a ridge and admiring the sweeping views up and down the coast in either direction.