From The Wide Blue Yonder

Last week we went on our scenic flight over Albany and Torbay, what a great Christmas gift mum and dad, thank you! x

It's amazing how different things look from a different perspective.  This is an area of tree farms near the airport, look how densely planted they are.  And that long skinny blue/green bit behind the green trees is a newly planted blue gum plantation.  I never thought blue gums looked particularly blue, but they sure do from up here!

We headed up to Torbay, the area where we live.  I found it quite hard to pinpoint landmarks over farmland, I thought it would be easier, but I found if I took my eye off something for even a second, I lost where I was again.  There was no mistaking the beautiful Cosy Corner however, with the two tiny islands, Migo and Richards, just off shore.  The professional fisherman moor their boats tucked in between Migo Island and the shore, it gives good protection from storms.  Well, except for the boat that broke its mooring in a storm 2 years ago and was smashed to bits on Cosy Corner beach!  Bits of it are still being exposed now and then with big tides.  I will say that somewhere in this photo is our secret fishing spot, Thumper Rock, but that's all I'm saying.  :-)

 See that little house in that little clearing?  That's us!!

 Here's a side view of our place.  I am surprised how green it looks although patchy, it is greening up nicely now though, more so than in this photo.  You can see our house lower left and a hint of our big green house water tank to the right of it.  Top left is the shed and its little water tank behind it.  That very green bit between the shed and house is where the citrus trees are growing.  In the centre of the clearing is my fenced garden, vegie beds, chooks, and the orchard, you can see the orderly rows of the fruit trees, and the white nets covering the last couple of trees that have a bit of fruit on them - apples.

 We then left Torbay and headed down the coast back towards Albany.  Gosh the coastline is beautiful around here.  This part of the coastline is in Torndirrup National Park, and this part of it is where you find The Gap.  It looks so darn insignificant from the air.  It's actually closed to the public at the moment, for about six months, as there is a new viewing platform being built that will over the The Gap a bit, thrill and chills for the public later I think!

 A bit further on into Torndirrup National Park we find the Salmon Holes, a beautiful beach that is quite a climb down a long path to get to.  It is a very good fishing area, but so many people are tempted to move from fishing the beach to fishing on that big, black, flat, slippery rock, and so many people get washed into the water and some lose their lives.  Best to fish from the beach hey.

 Along the Frenchman Bay peninsula we find the old Whaling Station, which is now a museum.  Apparently behind that is a nature reserve/open air zoo with native animals to be seen on the walks.  We haven't been to see that yet, must go one day.  Isn't this part of the coastline majestic, just lovely.  If you look to the left of the Whaling Station, just at the left hand edge of the photograph, you can see a teeny tiny island.  Apparently that is where the HMAS Perth was scuttled some years ago, to create a shipwreck for scuba diving. The top of the mast of the ship sticks out of water up to six metres, just near that tiny island apparently.

 We swung around over King George Sound heading back to town.  The is Middleton Beach, with Lake Seppings to the right, and Mount Clarence bottom left.  The scenic drive around Mount Clarence looking out over the sound is just lovely, and there is a terrific boardwalk from Middleton Beach around the hill too.

 Now we are behind Middleton Beach looking out over King George Sound.  Emu Point is off the the left and beyond that is Oyster Harbour.

 This is Albany Port with the town behind it.  There were piles of assorted different colours of stuff in neat rows.  Mineral?  Woodchips? Grain?  Not sure.  Two container ships are in port. 

 This is the centre of Albany, York Street being the main street, with the green Anzac Peace Park at the bottom and the triangular Albany Entertainment Centre to the right of that.  I was rather dismayed to see how grey and boring the town looked from above.   I think York Street is quite pretty on foot, but boy does it look drab from up here!

 After a fascinating 45 minutes we were back at the airport.  Here is Steve in front of the plane we were in, isn't it little!  It was a surprisingly smooth ride for something so small.  And Julie our pilot did a great job, taking off and landing smoothly and providing interesting commentary as she flew us around.

 And here am I, doing a flappy arm exit from my pose by the plane, as Julie the pilot started pushing the plane into the hanger without realising I was there, and I saw concussion from being clobbered by the wing looming.  :-)
It was a very nice way to spend a morning.