We started on our real Australian journey on Saturday morning, May 5th. Our first destination is the coastal town of Albany. It is a seaside town that caters mostly to tourists from Western Australia. Some of its popular tourist attractions are whale watching (from June to October), a wind-farm and some "blow-holes." It was late in the afternoon when we arrived. We stopped at the Albany Visitors Information Center where they helped us with finding a room at a Best Western Motel and other tourist information. These Visitors Information Center are located in almost every town and city. They provide tourists information and help with finding accommodation. We booked a 3-room apartment at the Best Western Albany Motel for A$200 a night.
It comes with a kitchenette so we saved some money by buying some cooked food from an IGA grocery store. IGA stores were common in Phoenix in the 80s' but I think they were put out of business by the big grocery chains. It was raining so we spent the evening in the room catching up on emails and watching TV.
In the morning we visited the wind farm where we had a good view of the southern-most point of western Australia. We also visited the blow-holes and other beaches. At around noon we started our 5-hour drive to Esperance.
We took Southern Highway 1 to Esperance. It's about 500 km and at the speed limit of 110 km/hr, we expected to take about 5 hours. It's a 2-lane highway with no shoulders. There was not a lot of traffic but we saw several kangaroo carcasses on the side of the road. Apparently, they were hit at night, which I understand is a common problem is Australia. This is one reason why we are not driving at night. Hitting a kangaroo will probably be the end of our trip.
Again, I am surprised by how expensive things are in Australia. At a roadside gas station, gas is about A$1.70 a liter. That is about US$7.50 a gallon! Americans have no reason to complain about US$5 a gallon. Now you know why everyone is looking for alternative energy sources.
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