Tuesday 3rd January, 2023

So, it was an interesting night. We weren’t accosted and told to move on, so we didn’t. We felt a bit exposed as there were no other vans staying the night.

We went for a walk down to the entertainment area on the harbour yesterday evening. There is a walkway from the street, but an extra set of stairs from our level. It was cloudy, somewhat windy with a very light drizzle at times, very Albany in fact.

Stephen picked up our dinner from the Chinese restaurant. We found it a bit disappointing from the point of view of being just one food, beef, rather than a beef and vegetable dish. However, the meat was very tender and it tasted delicious – beef in plum sauce and spring rolls, with steamed rice.

We felt tired and went to bed quite early. As we were on a sideways lean I suggested that we sleep upwards at the other end of the bed, which meant Stephen had to sleep on the inner side of the bed. That probably contributed to us to not sleeping well. That and the noise of goods trains, road trains, and an early morning visit from the street sweeping truck. After annoying us by going up and down the whole area it came perilously close to ramming us, just sweeping past at the last moment. Although it was still very early, not long after 5.00 a.m., we decided a cup of tea was needed to calm us down.

Stephen has had a headache today, slowing him down just a little. I went out for a flat white first thing, and we made use of the nearby toilets for normal toilet stuff and I was able to use their electricity to blow dry my hair.

After the usual filling up and letting out of watery stuff we headed out for Cosy Corner East. We arrive at around 10.00 a.m. and had a choice of a number of bays. We’ve chosen one on the side fence, well away from the entrance. We had to adjust for a slope, but at least we could do that, not like our ‘stealth’ camping in town.

After setting up, putting out our chairs and folding table, and rearranging stuff inside, we are very comfortable and look forward to a better night’s sleep. I have something easy planned for tea, just heating up really.

Now that we have to pay for camping I was hoping for simple swiping motion on a machine. It turns out we use a parking app and it had me so bamboozled that it wasn’t until late afternoon that I clicked on the option to log in using my Apple ID and we were in. We had the option to have a concessional rate of $10 per night and it included putting in our vehicle registration. Like my other parking app, you spin a wheel on the screen to choose length of stay.

I need to do some washing, but didn’t fancy spending time at a laundromat this morning. Instead I will do a little handwashing here at our campsite, and we’ve booked a caravan park at Emu Point for Friday night to get the washing done. We love Emu Point as a location for walks, etc. and we have stayed at the Rose Garden Caravan Park a number of times over the years. With our membership discount it is fairly inexpensive for Albany peak time and as it’s quite basic, no jumping pillow, etc. it feels like our kind of place.

Stephen has felt too unwell to go out for a walk and I must admit to feeling a bit lazy, so no walk for me either. The fact that we will have two full days here means I’m not worried about missing out.