The dirt road was decent up to the lookout point but any further into the national park was an entirely different prospect. The smart option is to have your 4x4 recovery gear and preferably a second vehicle. We had neither so Shelly BEach is was. What we could see from the lookout was the Torndirrup Peninsular to the East (see top photo). Over that way Harry, see? (photo below). Oddly, the National Park was
bathed in sunshine, but back toward Albany was still very much dominated
by cloud cover. All Harry could see was the Wind turbines on the peninsular and kept getting excited and pointing them out to us.
We stopped on the way back at a grove when the Bibbulmun Track crosses the road. It seems to criss-cross all over the South West.
It was here that Harry took a bit of a fall, loosing some bark of various body parts and was miserable.
We stopped at sheltered Coombes Beach (above) for a bit of a look with the clearing cloud and cuddles for little boys.
We then made tracks for the peninsular which was in bright sun by the time we arrived. The promise of checking out the wind turbines was enough to snap Harry out of his misery. We started with lunch outside Whale World (below). We did a bit of reconnaissance and decided that Harry was a bit young for it all and decided to put it off until another time.
We did a short stop at nearby Goode Beach which had the same silky white sandy beaches that most seem to have around the Albany area. The water was crystal clear.
With Harry back on track, it was off to Stoney Hill, the high point of the peninsular. It was a relatively short walk up and around the loop track to the summit.
Why would they call it Stoney Hill you say? No idea....
The view from the summit of Albany and everything to the horizon was brilliant. We could see the national park where we'd been that morning to the west, the Stirling Ranges to the north, and Two Peoples Bay Reserve to the East.
Unfortunately Natural Bridge was off limits due to maintenance works so we continued back toward Albany.
Then it was time to make good on our promise to Harry & go and have a look at the wind turbines. After taking a turn off with a fairly innocuous sign, we found to our surprise, a full tourist set up with pathways, lookouts, information boards and a kiosk. It all allows you to get up close and personal with these electrical giants.
I'm not completely sure about Harry's fascination with wind turbines, but he was ecstatic. What I hadn't counted on was their shear size and the speed of the blades at the tip.
Harry got to hug one but soon after also realized that he didn't like the fast, big and quite noisy blades quite so close to him and that admiring them from a distance was a much better option. He may well have been onto something because they're really intimidating.
The cliffs just near the wind farm are also a popular spot for paragliding.
The peninsular in the background of the photo below is Cape Howe where we'd been this morning.
So that was enough excitement for the day so we went back to our hotel at Middleton Beach. Harry and I spent the remainder of the afternoon at the beach while Kerri went for a walk and bought a few things from the supermarket.
We did have to make one run to the shopping strip in Albany's main street. Our bad parenting of the previous day meant that we needed to find Harry a spare bear. This is the one he picked out. Meet, Jenny. He was very happy to have a new friend to keep him company at night and when things get a bit much during the day.
