Picking back up in Albany, I did a lot of hiking while there, most notably the Baldhead Trail. This was definitely my favorite hike so far in Australia. It follows a ridgeline that goes out on a small peninsula in Torndirrup National Park. It has beautiful views of the surrounding bay and a nice spot to sit and have a snack at the end before turning around. This is also where I saw my first snake, slithering across the path, which was quite startling as I got much closer than is recommended before I saw it. I had picked a very warm day to hike it and upon finishing the hike I went straight to the closest beach and plunged gratefully into the cold water. This happened to be Misery Beach, which has recently gained popularity. It is pretty small but it won the official "Australia's Best Beach" award for 2022.
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| The Baldhead Trail finishes on the last peak seen here |
Later that evening I finally said hello to my neighbor at camp, a youngish fellow who had been there all week and was the only other person staying in a tent. I am not known to be the most brilliant conversationalist so I held true to my Mennonite instincts and asked if he wanted to play cards. He said he didn’t know any card games but graciously accepted the invitation and we played a few rounds. While playing we had a nice chat about the various Australian sports that I don't understand.
On Friday I left Albany and traveled a short distance over to Denmark. That area is very quiet and there are lots of beaches but many of them are best reached by 4WD. While my little, old car has been a real trooper I think it's safe to say it is just not built to tackle something like that. By this point in my trip I had given up on hiking and really just wanted to spend my remaining days laying on the beach. Unfortunately, the weather in Denmark was overcast and windy and not conducive for excessive beach bumming. I ended up spending a lot of time reading in my hammock, which worked out, but I made sure to check the weather before deciding where to go next.
As soon as my booking in Denmark was up I took off for sunnier skies and landed near Busselton all the way on the east coast. I stayed at a caravan park in a quiet neighborhood called Peppermint Grove and it was perfect. Most days I packed my lunch and walked to the beach, came back for dinner and then returned to the water for a sunset dunk before bed.
The entire trip I had also been trying to get a dive in but the weather on the south coast just wouldn't allow it and the shop in Busso couldn't get enough people to run a tour all week. Finally on Saturday, the day I was leaving, they had enough (apparently 3 people was enough) so I packed up and drove with great excitement to the dive shop. We carted all the gear partway out on the Busselton Jetty, geared up, and took one giant stride into the water. The weather was perfect and our guide said she had rarely seen it this calm, which meant visibility was very good. During the dive we traveled beneath the jetty most of the time, where there were lots of good hiding spots for fish and such. My favorite sightings were an octopus and the largest cuttlefish I have ever seen (it's also the only one I've seen, but I didn't know they could get that big so I was quite surprised). This dive was definitely the highlight of my trip and I can't wait to get into it more.