January 2nd, 2023 Monday

We did very little for the rest of the day at Lake Nunijup. A walk in the evening, then a Facetime call with Matt were the highlights.

This morning I woke up at around 4.30 a.m. and noticed some red light on a van nearby. It was the pre dawn light and I couldn’t resist getting out of the van to take some photos. It was chilly, but I didn’t really notice. I took a few clips of video as well, which have the wonderful sounds of the birds.

Unfortunately the colour in the photos and videos was really off. I’m not sure why but the iphone often does this as well. I’ve managed to adjust the colours in the photos above to be closer to what I actually saw.

When we woke up later we had a leisurely time, gradually packing up everything and leaving the lake at about 11.30 a.m. Our trip down to Mt Barker was succesful on most counts, getting water, emptying the toilet cassette and doing some shopping at the IGA. We even managed to snare a fly swat. Its been on our shopping list for a while, but shops don’t have them in stock or we forget. The only failure was at the famous bakery, it was just too busy so we had rolls and bananas ‘at home’ before setting off for Albany.

It was about 3.30 p.m. by the time we arrived. Our arrival was not guaranteed as I swear that a lot of the drivers on Albany Highway had a death wish and wanted to take us with them. However, we are safely here now.

We are parked up near the bus station and IGA, hoping we can get away with staying here overnight. Tomorrow we will try to get a camping spot at Cosy Corner, but it seemed too late in the day for our luck to be in. Plus I wanted a flat white and we were just in time for the cafe next door to the IGA to still be serving coffees. We used our new keep cups, a present from Matt, and the girl in the cafe asked me which was which when I asked for a flat white and a moccha, so she knew that they were for particular people. Stephen’s has music notation on it and mine has leaves.

Stephen has been wandering around and checked to see if our nearby Chinese restaurant was open tonight. It is, so we will be able to have takeaway. Even if we get moved on we’ve been able to take advantage of the cafe and restaurant.