Day 8 - Perth to Albany

Perth, Western Asutralia to Albany, Western Australia - 680 kms 7:30 hours.

The quick route is to go back the way I came, directly eastwards. But I am trying to take a different route in each direction and hug the coast where possible. A quick 8 hour drive becomes two 8 hour drives over two days. So I will be going along the coast to Albany and stop there for the night. Then I will continue to Esperance. There is no accomodation available there and I have already stayed at Norseman. So I will overshoot north to Kalgoorlie which I had bypassed on the way to Perth.

Hugging the coast means taking Forrest Highway going south rather than South Western Highway. The Mandurah train line runs along this road. In the video above, you can see the track and a train pass by. Built in 2007, this line connects Perth and Mandurah.

Around Karridale, the route turns sharply right eastwards. So far on the southward direction, I came across small towns. Now it is going through National Forests, an endless vista of trees on either side of the road.

Along the way I came across a traffic warnng sign. About quokkas. It seemed to me like a humblebrag - Watch out for Quokkas (Yes, we have Quokkas!!). A Quokka is a small marsupial animal. It has been decimated across the state. So much that the remaining population is confined to a few islands - Rottnest Island being the most prominent. However, there are some small populations on the mainland. Near this sign is the Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve with a population of about a few hundred. The odds of seeing a quokka here is about the same as finding one driving a ute in the opposite direction.

Most of the drive was gently twisting roads through the forest. With all the hype about the Nullarbor, this place is more sparse when it comes to petrol pumps. I was starting to run out of fuel without coming across one. After a while, I was alarmed enough to try and find a service station off the main road. I tracked one down in Pemburton, just a few kms off the main road. I went there to fill up. I did stock up on fluids though I stayed away from the usual deep fried stuff.

Soon I hit a strangely straight piece of road, about 10 kms of it. I then joined the South Western Highway - the road I would have taken if I was looking for a more direct route.

Some of the roads I passed through seemed less travelled than the Nullarbor. The road was covered in leaf litter. There was an occasional thunk of a fat twig on the road. On most well travelled roads, this litter would be scattered by a few trucks.

With so few stopovers, I reached Albany by 7:30 PM. After checking into my hotel, I still had plenty of time for dinner. I chose a quirky one on the coast - the Liberté. I settled down for a leisurely meal with a schooner or two. The mains was a steak tartare with a raw quail egg. I finished off with dessert and an amaretto.

Knowing I will be over the limit, I had walked to the place. And now I had a leisurely 1km walk back. After a few housekeeping tasks on my laptop, I turned in for the night.