Today, this blog shifts back to its original intent: a holiday journal. We are on holiday, a few days in Albany then driving home -- via 4wd tracks. Civilised, though... no camping.
The Mundaring to Albany ("Mundal") track is newly defined, various 4wd tracks linked, where necessary, by ordinary roads. The Mundal Track runs -- no surprise -- from Mundaring to Albany.
We will travel the track in reverse, starting from Albany. There are track notes in the form, "TR" at a given latitude/longitude. No worries with the lat/long, all waypoints are in the GPS. Deb -- as navigator -- will need to translate TR for north-to-south travel to whatever it is when driving south to north. Lucky Deb is a good navigator.
We set off on Friday but the fun really starts on Thursday:
I start loading the truck (ie our 4wd Prado). Just a few odds and ends, either straight into the truck or onto the family room floor, waiting to be loaded. Two days till we leave, on Saturday.
Deb goes to the hairdresser. Just as she's returning home, I'm taking the cat to have an ultrasound. Yes, we're going on holiday and the cat is sick. I spend an hour with the cat at the vet hospital. Deb, meanwhile, is off having lunch with a friend.
Later in the afternoon the vet phones. The cat has no internally visible problems. An earlier urine sample shows no infection. So it's an unpronounceable name for inflammation of the bladder. Daily medication is required. Deb phones Tim, who will be looking after the cat while we are away.
In the evening we have a bit of time to think about what we will need to take with us.
Friday, we look after our grandson. We drop him at home an hour earlier than usual, this gives us time to pack. Deb starts packing clothes, I spend ten minutes and have my own clothes packed. My more important role is to pack the electronics...
GPS for in-car navigation: good maps but battery good for only ten minutes, only good when plugged into car power. GPS for geocaching, multi-day batteries but no proper map. Oh, and a wrist-watch GPS in case we walk any long distances. We have no intention to walk anywhere at all. (Okay, *I* have no intention to walk.)
Tablet for this blog, for emails, for Deb to watch videos -- when I don't need the tablet. Mobile hot-spot for the tablet. Various plugs and wires for recharging. Deb's camera, recharge then pack. My camera, with spare batteries. I shave, then pack the shaver with its recharger. Phew.
There's a bit of food to be packed. Not much, we intend to eat in towns. Except for lunches, which will be between towns. Either sandwiches bought at the start of each day, or pot noodles... there is a small gas cooker in the truck. And I fill up the large "fitted" water tank, just in case.
Deb watches some television, I play World of Warcraft... then, an early night.
Saturday: no great rush to leave, we are just driving down the highway to Albany. Deb finishes her packing. I load everything into the truck. Breakfast... cat medication squeezed over the cat's food, she seems to accept it... we leave at about 8:30.
Our plan is to drive to Albany, stay there for three nights. We'll spend one day on the track, 4wd-ing, then back to Albany. A "free" day in Albany. Then get back on the 4wd track... with accommodation booked at two towns that the track crosses. Once I told Deb that we could stay in comfortable accommodation she would not allow me to pack a tent. So... no emergency back-up, we must reach those towns. No worries... I hope.
First stop on the drive is to refuel, 100 litres of diesel. Then we follow the highway.
We stop at Bannister for morning coffee and a berry crumble, very nice. The Bannister roadhouse has an excellent selection of bakery items.
We stop for a light lunch at the Black Cockatoo cafe in Kojonup. We like to stop regularly, to stretch our legs. My legs, really, since I'm the driver.
The bakery just off the highway at Mt Barker has a mouth-watering selection of bakery items... pity we are not after food :-( They are also playing a video of the food being made -- in-house, by hand. Mmmm... All we buy is coffee and tea to take away. It is so hot that it is at drinking temperature when we reach Albany. Just as well, due to a mis-communication Deb's coffee is black. She adds milk once we have reached our accommodation.
Our accommodation is a small cottage within a kilometre of town centre. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen, dining, lounge, verandah. Perhaps a hundred years old, cleaned and painted but no major refurbishments. We park the truck in a carport next to the house -- sheltered from the occasional drizzling rain -- find the key & let ourselves in.
It's beautiful... not flash but, well, beautiful. I like older cosy rather than modern sterile. It sleeps five or six but the living areas would be crowded with more than just us two. Specially since Deb & I each claim an entire two-person couch. The verandah is above a road, regular traffic but not too bad, from inside we can hear but not see the traffic. The advertised "sea view" is there... but not extensive.
And so we are in Albany. Resting, reading, writing. We need to go to the shops to buy milk, Deb has decided that we will buy a frozen pizza to heat-and-eat at home.
Time to go out and find a shop...
==== Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Real people don't make very good politicians." … Ginger Meggs
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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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Good spot Albany
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