Both Albany and neighbouring Denmark (50-odd kilometres to the west) feature picturesque bay after halcyonic headland after idyllic, white-sand beach, with one magnificent vista after another. We’d hardly driven into town before I’d resolved to come back here one day for a longer stay.

How completely different this coast was from the countryside we’d travelled through for four hours to get here, following the route through country towns Kulin, Lake Grace, Dumbleyung (watch out for the Dumbleyung Dunny!) and Katanning to the Chester Pass Road.

 

Golden wheatfields, dotted with bales of hay after a bumper harvest this year, stretch as far as the eye can see. Now and then you pass an eerie-looking dry, white-salt-crusted inland lake that would be full of water in the wetter winter months.

Albany

The Dog Rock Motel is located in Middleton Road, just a couple of minutes’ walk from Albany town centre: its Woolworths, BWS bottle shop, Burger King, Mexican, a couple of Indians and more. A welcome free upgrade to a spacious “superior” room meant good value for our $130 a night. Fellow TripAdvisors might cavil at the blandness or neutrality of the décor; but what we want most from a motel is a convenient location, a comfortable bed, a strong, hot shower and plenty of space for our stuff.

Having offloaded said stuff, thereby emptying the boot of the Z4, it was time to take down the roof and head off romantically into the sunset to start exploring Albany. (It’s nice when a plan comes together! For the record, when its roof is up, the Z4’s boot has room for a biggish roll-on cabin bag, a couple of soft bags – one for Roy’s clothes, another for shoes – and two smallish cooler-bags for drinks and snacks.)

A five-minute drive takes you to lovely Middleton Beach’s white sands, gentle waves and Albany Surf Lifesaver club; then around the coast to the old port and what’s probably the oldest part of town town. Not far from two mountains of wheat in the process of loading – how much of it blows away, I wonder? – the Astor passenger ship was tied up alongside. She’s an old ship, says Roy, but was completely refurbished in 2010 – something to consider for a future cruise around these waters? Yes, please!

While I wandered off to take a couple of photographs of the picturesque old buildings, plus the contemporary ship-shaped entertainment centre on the forefront, reached via a sky-bridge, Roy ordered the coffee at Dylans* on the Terrace.

*Like most other English-speaking countries in the world – and that includes the UK – apostrophic abuse is widespread in Australia. (I’ve started a photo collection that I plan to share, one day.)

 

The Gap and The Bridge

 From the old port town, you head to Torndirrup National Park, passing Flinders Bay on your left. The white substance bordering the spongy, kelpy shoreline turned out to be foam – not salt, as we’d first thought.

At Torndirrup Park, you’ll find two impressive geological formations, The Gap and The Bridge. Some people pay the required $12 to park here, and, as Roy observed bitterly, a lot of others don’t bother. (My fault: I’d nagged him into paying.)

I thought they’d done a great job of making the site safely accessible via paths and viewing platforms, plus providing some good explanatory signage.

Albany Heritage Park

Albany isn’t only geographically gifted, it’s also historically significant, and Albany Heritage Park is another must for visitors.

The Anzac movement was born in this town, and the park’s state-of-the-art National Anzac Centre , overlooking King George Sound, has been voted the country’s best museum. You have to wonder how the average family can afford entry, though, at almost $25 for an adult.

But it costs you nothing to explore the Princess Royal Fortress and its memorial garden, or to stroll up the evocative Convoy Walk to Convoy Lookout at the summit of Mount Adelaide, where a board indicates the exact positions of two World War II convoys that left from Albany in 1914 to join the war effort.

Roy loved reading the details of all those troopships and their escorts – including British India, White Star and dozens more – on the information boards along the slope.

Albany Food and Wine: Reviews

You can’t comfortably see or do everything in a couple of days – even in a one-echidna town like Hyden we didn’t get to the Magic Lake because Roy Had Had Enough. And so, with just two days in Albany and Denmark, I was fairly resigned to not eating any oysters from Oyster Harbour in Albany (or, indeed, emu from its neighbour, Emu Point). But we got lucky – two nights in a row!

Hybla

On the first day, finding ourselves on Middleton Beach as evening fell, we naturally gravitated to the attractive Hybla (11 Flinders Parade; hybla.com.au), all glass, wood, open views and marginally over-breezy service. Both my falling-off-the-bone BBQ pork ribs ($36.90) with coleslaw and chunky fries, and Roy’s “Melt” bangers and mash ($27.50), made from a local wagyu-style beef bred to have healthier fat with a higher oleic acid content and lower melting point, were good and tasty.

Lime 303, Dog Rock Motel

On the second night, about to cross the road for some arbitrary Mexican or whatever, we remembered that our motel was said to have a restaurant. What a pleasant surprise it turned out to be!

Accessed through an unprepossessing entrance that’s tucked away behind Dog Rock Motel’s main building (303 Middleton Road), it’s surprising that anyone even finds Lime 303. Yet, the place has been going for ten years, said chef Greg Pepall, and has won a string of local and regional awards. (Hauled out of his kitchen to receive our accolades, the humble chef explained that all the owner initially wanted was a place to serve breakfast to the motel guests!

The menu starts by listing the suppliers of its fresh seasonal ingredients, all from the Great Southern Region of Western Australia. They include: micro-greens from Eden Gate Estate, lemons and limes from Jenny in Torbay, olive oil from the Geneovese Olive Oil Company, fish and squid from the Soumelidis family, along with several others. Highlights were our shared charcuterie plate ($26) to start, and Roy’s confit duck leg ($37) with multigrain risotto, baby carrots, melon and duck breast prosciutto.

What’s more, this hidden treasure has an interesting list of local wines; the owner is said to be something of a connoisseur.