A decent start to November

Saturday the 1st - The day before I had suggested to Steve if Jack was up for it she could drive us over to see the Natural Bridge, the Gap and everything else that is too far away from Albany to walk to. (We had been round at Steve's dad's place for a few beers and darts, good times...didnt feel like Halloween though) Anyways, Jack was up for it so we headed over there just before lunch. It's a bit mental since I've been here, in Albany, for so long and never seen these sights before. Anyway the trip there was pretty funny, Jack was torturing us with her country and western cd's haha.
The area surrounding the Natural Bridge/The Gap was really beautiful to look at by itself, let alone with with the Bridge and the Gap added on. And there was an amazing looking beach a bit farther off that you only seemed to be able to get at by walking along the otherwise rocky coastline. We sat and admired the view for a bit then headed to "Whale World" for some munch...fuck going actually going in; $20 entry = fuck that shit. The menu was shitty though so we just grabbed some ice cream and started towards Albany. We passed the wind farm on the way back though, and since it said it was a tourist attraction I had to go :P We went to a cliff on the coast first though, which was right beside the windfarm anyway. It was so peaceful there, and i love how the oceans are so blue over here. Then we went and stood underneath one of the turbines, they're ridiculously big...that sounds pretty stupid but you dont fully appreciate how big they are until you're right beside them. We jumped back in the car and headed to the "city centre" for some lunch, taking a look at one of the biggest houses i've ever seen on the way. Headed to a place called "Cossie's" (I think) ...it was an alright place. Then we headed up York Street and up to the Plaza, having a general look for clothes for Steve to wear to a wedding haha. We met Jack's mum and sister in the plaza too. Seems like a really cool family, they all seem to share a similar sense of humour :P Back at Steve's we decided to get a chinese for dinner so we drove back into town to "The Hong Kong Restaurant" (I think) ...wasnt the best, no Magic Wok but the guy who owns it was cool haha. Watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" with our munch. Awesome day, best i've had in a while. Good times :D

Tues 4th - I've been wanting to climb Mount Clarence for aaages but either the weather has been shit or i've slept in or i have something on. But I finally decided to do it today. I looked up how far it was on google earth and it was about 45 minutes to the start of the road leading up to the summit. I didn't exactly have anything on so i went for it. Of course the weather had to be a shit and changed from hot, sunny and windy to cold, rainy and windy in about 15 minutes. I made to the start of the road though...it was lined for hundreds of metre's with trees planted in memory of all the soldiers lost in the wars Australia has fought in. Pretty intense, but a really cool idea i think. They have the same thing in Perth's King Park. After that though it was just a curving road up to the Memorial, dedicated to both Australian and NZ soldiers. Turns out the very first soldiers from both countries to go and fight in WW1 set sail from Albany. Behind the memorial there was another path up to the summit so I headed up. It was so so windy. I was pretty much getting pushed about by the wind haha. It had a cool sort of map at the top-most point; it was circular and you could line yourself up with the lines on the map that showed you what you were looking at and how far away it was. On the way back down i took a different route and ended up going down the rocky part that you can see from the back of Steve's house...and from most of Albany actually. This way took me out near the top of York Street, which would have saved me about 20-25 minutes...ah well, at least i saw a bit more of the place.