Last weekend, Melissa and I packed the kids in to the car and took a trip down south. The great south-west of Australia.
We drove directly to Margaret River along the new extended Kwinana Freeway (Perth -> Bunbury freeway). It was fast. In fact it probably knocked 45mins or so off the trip time. Impressive.
We stopped at my favourite winery, Woody Nook. Had lunch, picked up a pile of wine, and continued on to Albany, via Manjimup.
The trip to Margaret River seemed a quick one, no stops along the way, it was great. After lunch, we stopped at the famous Margaret River Chocolate Factory
Pushing on to Albany, through the Karri Valley (insanely old and tall tree's) we stopped outside Manjimup so Melissa could feed Spencer who'd decided it was tucker time. We arrived in Albany around 5:30pm, after leaving home that morning at 8:20AM, lots of driving! We stayed in a cozy little chalet at Emu Beach Chalets. Close to the beach but just set back enough to be protected from the incredible wind!
The weather was a lovely 25'ish C in Albany, a light drizzle on Saturday, otherwise very nice. A huge cruise ship was in town (Queen Victoria) with something like 2000 passengers walking around the Albany town centre.
| Tonnage: |
90,000 gross tons |
| Length: |
964.5 ft (294 m) |
| Beam: |
106 ft (32.3 m) waterline, 120 ft (36.6 m) extreme (bridge wings) |
| Height: |
205 ft (62.5 m) keel to funnel |
| Draft: |
26.2 ft (8.0 m) |
| Decks: |
16 total, 12 passenger |
| Installed power: |
63.4 MW Sulzer ZA40 diesel plant |
| Propulsion: |
Two 16.7 MW Azipods
|
| Speed: |
23.7 kn (43.9 km/h; 27.3 mph) maximum,
service at 18 kn (33.3 km/h; 20.7 mph)[2]
|
| Capacity: |
2,014 passengers |
| Crew: |
900 officers and crew |
On Saturday, we all jumped in the car and headed to town to grab some coffee. I found a place on York Street called "York Street Cafe" and ordered a latte, it was enjoyable. We jumped back in the car and headed to
Denmark for lunch, a 55 min trip back west.
We drove around town, parked, and decided to try the Denmark bakery for lunch. WOW. Awesome pies! Whilst eating our pies we noticed the signage in the window, boasting 11 win's at last year's Perth Royal Show, not only for pies but for freshly baked breads. Awesome!
Returning to Albany after lunch, we treked around town for a while with the kiddums in the pram, and eventually headed back to the Chalet for the evening, packed up, and headed home on Sunday morning.
The goal was to put some kilometres on the car, but ultimately we had a nice trip out, and even have plans to travel more often. Perhaps a camper will be in our future? Maybe when the kids are a bit older!
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