New Year's Eve

Saturday morning in Albany is for visiting the Farmer's Market. We almost missed it as Grace directed us to a very subdued and small craft market in the main York Street near the town hall where we bought 3 huge zucchinis for $1 each. One is a yellow zucchini, something different to try. Fortunately Ruby drove back to the accommodation and instead drove to where she thought the markets were. We felt the bustle of the market as we turned into the street. It was a small but busy market, and was so lovely as everyone queued up. When it was our turn, the stall holders took time to explain the produce to us, and there was no rush. A very pleasant experience indeed. We bought eggs, tatsoi, pakchoi, English spinach, blueberries and cherries, bread and almond croissant. On the way back to the accommodation, we passed a Buddhist monk and nun. We remembered that once a week, Venerable Mudu from the Albany branch of Buddhist Society of Western Australia does a pindapat, when monks walk through the streets with their alms bowl, accepting the generosity of the public made through offerings of food. We quickly parked, stood on the pavement and offered some cherries to the them in exchange for a blessing and a Christmas card. A very privileged experience indeed.

Lunch was at Chanya Thai near the TransWA bus station with Mimi who just moved from Perth to Albany just over a year ago, Warrick and Kai who moved from camping at Bremer Bay to Albany. Chanya Thai is small family run restaurant with homely food. Our friend Mimi chefs for the owners at another establishment, 6 degrees Pub, so she knows the kitchen staff. We feasted so heartily that Grace and I needed a walk after lunch. We walked along the path outside our accommodation, Lilydale Cottage, towards Middleton Beach. Plan was to walk 20 minutes and then turn back. The whole walk took us just on the hour. We went a bit off track up Mt Clarence looking for orchids, and saw more Slipper orchids. In keeping with serendipitous encounters of the day, we met one of the fellow walkers from yesterday's hike at Bald Head, a lovely young lady who broke her wrist in 3 different places whilst rock climbing (ouch!) and still came along this rock climbing holiday as she'd booked it before her accident. She was looking for her friends who were climbing on the cliffs along that path. She did Bald Head hike yesterday as the climbing spot yesterday was too difficult for her to access with a wrist in cast.
Another quiet evening in Lilydale Cottage eating through our large stash of food from Perth, and spinach from the market.Read more