Trip 54 – Happy Birthday Helen…

This trip was down to Albany due to an invite to Shari’s, Jules’ cousin, 50th birthday suprise party.

Philthy, Dougo, Phyllis or Phil, as he’s commonly known, aka Shari’s hubby, had arranged a repeat surprise birthday for her 50th, backing up on his surprise party held for her 40th.

As the party fell on the Australia Day long weekend, Jules and I opted to shoot down on the Saturday morning, hoping to miss the masses migrating south on the Friday before the long weekend. But we had to do some late route planning as the Albany Hwy was closed near Williams due to active bushfires all throughout that area. So, leaving home at 7am on Saturday morning, we had a great run down the Forest Hwy, reaching Bunbury in good time, then turning left and heading off through the Ferguson Valley, Boyup Brook and Mt Barker, arriving in Albany early afternoon. After a quick setup of the van and a shower, we were off to the party to be there before Shari’s arrival, by limo, no less, after her boozy lunch to get her out of the house for a couple of hours.

Now that you know that this trip was for Shari’s birthday, you might be asking why the title for this blog post is about Helen. Well, even if you’re not asking, here’s the reason..

Phil had arranged for a local band, family and friends of the family, to play on the back patio of their house, with us party goers hanging out in the backyard. He advised he’d also been practising for a couple of weeks and was planning to get up and sing the 1993 classic “Happy Birthday Helen” by the band Things of Stone and Wood, but transposing the lyrics “Helen” for “Shari”. The song went down a treat, Shari even had a tear in her eye, but let’s face it, Phil is NEVER going to be invited onto The Voice.

The band played banger after banger, the guests enjoyed a quiet bevy or three, and the night got louder and louder. In fact, when Jules and I opted to end the evening, we were standing out front of their house waiting for our taxi, when a couple of local blokes came down the road on tiny 50cc motorbikes. They explained that they’d come from the other side of the Albany Hwy, where the music was ‘loud and clear’! They were so impressed by the non-stop “dad” bangers they wanted to know where it was coming from and had ridden around the streets on their Mario Kart sized motorbikes looking for the house. We’re not sure what time the party finished up, but we expect there were quite a few sore heads on the Sunday morning.

Congratulating ourselves on Sunday morning for our modest drinking the night before, we decided to head North, via the backroads of course, to the Woodlands Distillery nestled at the base of the Porongurups. The Porongurups presented a stunning backdrop to our table as Jules sampled the gins and I the whiskeys.

As we were leaving the distillery we got talking to some incoming patrons who advised us of some cool art/sculpture work on the north side of the Porongurups. So, it was up and over to the North side, and then a little detective work later – as we had to decipher the instructions – we found ourselves at Twin Creeks Reserve and said sculpture. It was an interesting piece, though oddly located we thought, being born of a collaboration local indigenous and non-indigenouse artists.

Circling around the Porongurups, we headed back to Albany, stopping off at Middleton Beach for a looksee and what ended up being a beer and Squid and Chips at the pub at the end of the beach.

It was then off home, via the IGA, to grab something for tea – which ended up being a great pizza which we cooked in the ziggy – whilst watching the Scorchers win their 6th Big Bash title.

Monday morning dawned a bit windier and cooler, but after our free, caravan park cooked and provided Australia Day bacon-n-egg sanga, we took a drive east, visiting a bunch of beaches on the way through to Denmark.

Beaches visited included Mutton Bird, Cosy Corner, Lowlands and Anvil, but by far the highlight and most stunning was Shelly Beach down in the West Cape Howe National Park. We realised that we’d never actually been down into the West Cape Howe NP before and regretted not visiting sooner or more often as the beaches are stunning.

Following our beach exploration, which end at Anvil Beach, we looped back around into Denmark for a lovely lunch and glass of wine at the Denmark Hotel. As our lunch was so good and filling, we did a quick shop at the Denmark IGA for some baked beans and eggs, as it’ll be beans, with eggs on toast for dinner tonight – the food of champions.

We’re heading home tomorrow, being the Tuesday post Aussie Day Long Weekend, and we’re hoping the long weekend hordes will have re-migrated home already.

Another great, short little trip away in Goldy and Gwavin and we’re getting seriously excited about our next impending trip. Till then, stay tuned.