Thursday January 11, 2024. East Bay Campground to Albany

We said goodbye to East Bay Campground yesterday morning. Packing up, including the very dirty outdoor mat took some time, but we weren’t in a hurry and it was quite satisfying to have everything packed away at the end. Before heading away from the area we took a drive down to the campground at Betty’s Beach.

The drive was beautiful with spectacular views. At the campground we got a lot of stares, probably because there was a sign up the hill to say the campground was full, but as we just wanted to see it, turn around, and leave, we ignored them.

Betty’s Beach has ‘shacks’ built long ago by families who fish in the bay. Some of them look quite good, little summer cottages for the families. They are illegal and when the owners die the shacks will be demolished. They can’t kick them out, but only wait for the end.

We still prefer East Bay Campground. It can get very busy and people do illegal things like camp on the beach, but a ranger does visit and check licence plates to make sure you don’t stay too long. I expect he had a gentle word to anyone thinking of camping in the day use parking area, but at night it will be filled with campers.

Another vital stop, but in Albany itself, was to check out a bakery that offers sourdough bread. It is quite lovely and we had lunch there, enjoying sweet and savoury treats and hot drinks. The seating is less comfortable than that offered next door, but the food and atmosphere make up for it.

The bakery is close to Woolworths and we did a bit of shopping as well before setting off for Little Grove Golflinks to book our camping for a couple of nights. There was only one other camper last night so we had a choice of spots. The owners prefer us to be away from the main parking area used by golfers.

The only downside was the toilet, after flushing a large frog jumped into the bowl. I think someone had forgotten to close the lid after using it. I’ve reported the situation to the office and the owner promised to fish it out sometime today. In the meantime this morning I used the male toilet and a little girl followed me in, not realising it was the men’s. I had to explain what had happened to her grandfather.

After booking in we headed out to the Bald Head trail. Stephen did a walk of about two hours there and back, but it is hard going as it is fairly steep, so may have done about 2kms. I walked up about 200kms and sat down to wait for him. I had already stayed behind to have a rest (the driver does get tired), so only had to wait about 20mins.

And then back to camp where we had leftovers mixed with food from the supermarket to make a satisfactory evening meal, followed by fruit and chocolate.

This morning we are taking it easy as we have a film booked for 1.30 p.m. at the public library. It’s called ‘A Royal Wedding’ from 1951 starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell.

Then we will start our journey northwards into the heatwave. It’s been unusually cool here, even for Albany, so it’s going to be quite a shock.