Vacation to the Southern tip of Western Australia

Hello
Well, what a week I have had. Last Sunday, I said
good by to my home in Leda and drove down to Busselton where I picked up my
Grand daughter and we then drove further south, through a little town called Nannup, then on to Pemberton, Northcliffe, Walpole and into Albany.
The weather looked ominus, and did not change from that, except to get worse, by being so very windy, rainy and even hailed at a point throughout the week.
Purpose of the visit was primarily to go out on a sailing Catamaran out on the Southern ocean, to watch the Humpback and Southern Right Whales as they did their annual migration to the warmer regions. I think they had the right idea, because it was ever so cold down there. But it was an awesome time, being on the sailboat, getting bounced about by the rough waves, salt water spraying up and soaking us to the bones. We spent all morning and came into shore almost two hours after we were scheduled to do so.
Rushdinah and I walked back to our hotel, cold, wet and in a race to see who could hit the nice hot shower first. I lost. So I did the washing and drying of all the soaked clothes and coats, and tried to dry off the squishy wet shoes.
That afternoon after we had both been warmed and dried off, we headed to the shops where we purchased more shoes and jeans (that is what Grandmas are for, isn't it?)
As if that was not enough punishment, we headed off the next morning by 9am, to the old Whaling Station, now a tourist venue called Whale World. We investigated the old Whaling Boat, the plant where they used to do the 'flensing' and rendering of the whale blubber, watched several movies provided, one of which was a 3D movie, got the history of the whale industry that closed down back in 1978, then had a lovely meal in the restaurant, bought some mementos and headed off to visit three places of interest along the coast back to town.
The first place we stopped into was the Blowholes, where the water shoots up between the rocks on the edge of the shoreline. The rocks down there at the edge of the water are just beaut, and they are so smooth, etched by millions of years of wind and water.
Following that, we headed off to the place called the Gap, which is like a square channel eroded by the force of the waves, allowing the water from the ocean to spray up some 20metres to the top of the rocks where there is a viewing platform. After we oohhed and aahhed at that, we went to see the Natural Bridge, which is another outstanding part of the rocks at the coast being eroded away by the wind and water, to form a bridge from one side to the other.
By this time, it was raining again, and did so intermittently throughout the day, even hailing at one stage, so we went back through town and out to the other side, to a place called Two People's Bay, where we went to a Bird Park, which included a Marron Farm and had other Farm animals there, that were very tame, and ate fruit from our hands. Dinah loved that, as she has a real affinity with animals. We stopped in and had a look at two beaches, which are popular in the summertime in Albany, then headed back to the Hotel as it was getting too dark and cold for any more sightseeing for the day. We frequented one of the Chinese Restaurants that evening for dinner, then watched a bit of TV before falling asleep exhausted.
Next day, we had to start heading back to Busselton, as Dinah had to go to work that evening. At 15, she has a little job in Red Dot Variety store, filling shelves etc and serving customers, and she had to start at 5pm that night, as it was Late Night Shopping on Thursdays.
So after having a catch up hot drink in a coffee shop with an old friend of mine.....Hi Jenny........,whom I had not seen in person for 18 years, we headed off for home, Dinah in charge of the road map. Navigation skills were not top notch, so we did a little loop, on a strange road, ended up on a gravel road, then back to where we started. So when we finally got going again, we drove through the Jarrah and Karri Forests, through Manjimup and then Nannup, back to Busselton, where I got her to work just in time.
Before coming home to Perth, I called in to see another couple of my friends from Busselton, driving home so that I could get here before mid afternoon.
Now it is back to work tomorrow.......no rest for the wicked.