If I were a journalist

From Perth I took the bus to the town of Albany. My first break through to somewhere random. It was a good 5 hour drive, which these days feels like a mere cat nap, and cap nap I did, whilst admiring some of the lush green scenery that WA is graced with at the moment. 

Just before I arrived into Albany I befriended the Chinese lady next to me and she saved me a walk (and getting lost) by giving me a lift to my hostel. I arrived at the homely YHA Bayview Backpackers, which is just nestled outside of town, and was met by Lisa the current resident Irish artist whose putting murals on what seems like every wall of town. I was intending to explore a little but ended up talking to Lisa for most of the evening and my great exploration was visiting the local pizza joint for Cheap Tuesdays and the bottle shop for some vino. An excellent choice well made.

The next morning I decided to do some proper exploring, which really was me eating my way around the IGA (think Spar) which had a deli counter(!); triple cream brie, artichokes and freshly baked baguettes being one it’s many delights it offers. 

The rest of Albany is actually quite delightful, I found an incredible spice shop which offered it’s wares in brown bags with metal scoops, by weight. Most of the town takes a decidedly new age turn and the general population seems to be filled up with quite a few travellers who arrived and decided to stay for a while. And frankly, it’s not hard to see why. Albany has a cruisey laid back feel that anyone can easily get into the groove of. 

That evening was spent eating an impressively random dinner, made by Lisa; potatoes and peppers with a random assortment of spices/garlic from a jar. It was good and Lisa is undoubtedly the master of making something out of nothing. 

I also made a new friend out of the Japanese receptionist (Sally), talked to the awesomely French French woman and extensively questioned the guest from Estonia as to what Estonia is actually like. Definitely a travellers commune as the conversation was firmly fixed on new places to go and swapping travel tips. 

Thursday, time for another bus journey. This time only two hours across to Walpole, positively next door. I was looking forward to meeting my jolly host of Walpole Lodge, who I had spoken to on the phone. She kindly offered to pick me up, though on my arrival I realised the bus stop was in spitting distance and though the lift was futile, it was still greatly appreciated. 

I took a wander around the village, dropping by the local IGA (of course), and found my first discovery of true Australian culture. It was white vests-a-gogo and yutes as far as the eye can see (nearly). Everyone had thick accents and sounded like Alf from Home & Away. Awesome. I stocked up on some food supplies as cheap takeaways were in short supply - bread and cheese wins again. As well as a slice of passionfruit cheesecake from the local bakery, as a treat. 

Afterwards I walked one of the tracks down beside Walpole’s inlet system and enjoyed the gorgeous sunshine.

By the time I got back to the lodge, Gilly was ready to give me a lift to the Valley of the Giants tree top walk, a few kilometres down the road. There’s no public transport to the attraction and tourist information had informed me it would cost $50 to get a taxi(!), so Gilly offered to take me for a ridiculously minimal amount of petrol money and would read her book whilst I wandered about the trees. An ideal host, personified.

The tree top walk was good fun, and I took more pointless pictures of trees than I have ever done so in my life. 

The evening was a quiet one; free wifi and me had a date, with a cheese and bread accompaniment. 

Friday it was time to head to Manjimup. My most random stop off on my trip thus far; to catch up with my Dad’s Godmother who he’s never even met. The randomness paid off and I was met by the friendly (and tiny!) Alison at the bus stop, whisked off for some good old ham and cheese toasties before a quick climb of the Diamond Tree Lookout.

A truly superb tourist thing to show me, which involves plenty of breaking the non-existent health and safety rules. You climb up to 52 meters on a mere ladder, with no safety net. 

We also had a drive around Manjimup’s beautiful little mill houses (I want one!) and the surrounding area. It was all very pretty and quaint. Definitely a little rural gem, nestled in WA. 

On Saturday mornings Manjimup runs a farmers market, though it was absolutely minuscule - all of 4 stalls, it was another good local sightseeing experience. We had plenty of time to spare before my bus was due to leave, so we took a wander around one of the mill houses, as Alison is involved in the shoebox campaign which uses one of the houses as their HQ. Now I definitely, definitely want a little mill house! They’re like an adorable Australian bungalow cottage. 

We then walked around the local green area, which has a sort of museum built into the park, which was quite cool.

They even have a resident blacksmith who you can meet and watch make things a couple of times a week (though sadly not on Saturdays). To top us off we stopped by the busy local café, outside the bus stop, and I had my first Australian ginger beer (amusingly not Bundaburg). 

And yes, you’ve guessed it, I hopped on yet another bus to Bunbury, where I met a jolly chap who was in the air force and had been all over Africa, amongst other exciting places. So we talked pretty much all the way to Bunbury, until it was time for us to get the train and sit in separate seats. I arrived into Perth in the early evening and headed straight to my new adopted family in WA, over in Claremont. 

I enjoyed the free internet whilst the house was quiet, then Sophie and I, the masterchefs we are, made steak sandwiches which were absolutely divine. Kate returned home and we drank bloody marys, red wine and the odd vanilla vodka shot until 4am.

Lots of pictures enthused, here’s my favourite two of us ladies…

Just as well all I had to do the next morning was crawl out of bed and get on the train. Admittedly I did cheat and splurged on a taxi from their house to the station (a massive 10 minute walk, ha!) as I wasn’t feeling my best, to be honest. After a bottle of water and some greasy chips from the station cafe, I felt almost human again and trundled onto the train, sleeping most of the way.  

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