School was in and so far, on the second day, the boys are
still keen! Jack’s class is doing geography this semester and we found out that
they are reading our ultimate tour guide “Are We There Yet” so we spent the
morning going through our photos matching them with the drawings from the book.
Hopefully the kids in the class room enjoy it!
We headed into Albany and into Torndirrup National Park a
peninsula that forms the harbour for Albany. The first stop was The Gap and The
Bridge which are massive granite rock structures. The swell was really rolling
in which made the white spray blast into the air 10, 15 or 20 meters! You
couldn’t help but be in awe of the power of the ocean. A nice young bloke was
doing some rock climbing and was great with the boys showing them how he
secures himself onto the rocks and they were amazed as he lowered himself over
edge into an abyss.
 |
| The Gap |
 |
| London Bridge...why is it always the London Bridge? |
Next stop was the blowhole and again Bluff Knoll’s effects
were rearing their head as we walked the 900m to the blowhole. We were about
20m away when we first heard the hole blowing its air generated from the swell
30m below. The boys and I shimmied down to the edge of the hole (Don’t worry
mum it was safe) and just as Sam and I sat beside it and with Jack about 1m
behind us a huge swell rolled in under us causing a great boom from the hole
accompanied by a great gush of misty wind. My heart skipped about 10 beats and
I think it will take about a week before I will get Sam’s finger nails out of
my arm! We stayed for a few more little ones and then retreated back up the
slope. A couple of minutes late and
there was a GIGANTIC BOOOM through the hole and I thanked my lucky stars that I
wasn’t there for that one!
We headed back into town and had lunch sitting in the ANZAC
Peace Park on the edge of the bay. Albany is very significant as it is where
the first 30,000 ANZAC troops gathered together before they sailed for the Middle
East on November 1, 1914. It was hard to imagine what it would have looked like
with 38 boats, only 3 of them Navy boats, lined up in the outer harbour, filled
with our countries bravest young men, many of them who would never see Australia
again. It is also significant as one of the local Padre’s had a service on Mt
Clarence at dawn on their last day, and after returning to Australia in 1918
instigated what we now know as dawn service on ANZAC Day. The top of Mt Clarence
was closed to vehicles as they are preparing for the 100 year anniversary of
the troop departure so the boys and I took one of the recommended walking tails
to the peak where there is an amazing monument. It was quite moving to read
about the troops and think about their sacrifice.
The trip down was heaps of fun as I had carried the boys
bikes up to the top as there was a mountain bike path on the way down. There
was some pretty intense parts with oversized wooden burns that are almost
vertical, jumps that nobody in their right mind would go over, and very steep
sections that tested the boys will. We made it to the bottom amazingly without
a spill and lots of stories to tell Mum who had been working.
We grabbed some supplies as this is the last major
supermarket for the next week and headed back to camp. After a quick dinner I
set myself up in the truck to listen to the last day of the test. Its 11:30 and
there are only 9 overs to go and 2 wickets to get. I am loving being in WA for
the tests in South Africa as right now it would be 1:30 in QLD and 2:30 in the
day light savings states...C’Mon Aussies!
No comments:
Post a Comment