Great Southern

What an interesting and sizeable town Katanning is. By chance, we had recently watched ABC’s Back Roads episode on this ‘supertown.’ It lived up to expectations.

Katanning was primarily and still is an agricultural town. Frederick Henry Piesse was founder of the town and being an ambitious man went into politics and was even Deputy Premier of WA for a brief moment. The town, indeed area, has reminders of him from the statue in front of the railway station to his business name of buildings and to street and hamlet names.

In the 1970’s, Coco Malays settled in the area. The locals warmly welcomed them and the fresh life they brought into town. Over time, other migrants arrived seeking a better life, among them Caron, Thai, Vietnamese and Islanders. The town now claims over 50 different language group representatives. Each has made an impact in town with authentic cafes and restaurants celebrating the cuisine and catering for the local community.

There are several festivals and events held in Katanning throughout the year, to find out more visit the Katanning Hub website.

Albany is an historic town, one of the first European settlements in Western Australia. It lies on the inner King George Sound coast, a natural deep-water harbour. From the hills surrounding the harbour, the views are amazing.

A must-do is a visit to the National Anzac Centre within the Princess Royal Fortress on Mount Clarence. You can wander around the fortress and look out to sea, imagining the ANZAC soldiers last views of Australia as they set of for WWI and the shores of Gallipoli.

Inside the Anzac Centre you’ll be given a character to follow around and see how they personally fared during the war, alongside the wider history of the battles, skirmishes, politics and epidemics of that period. You’ll be hard pressed to come away dry eyed!

Higher up, near the summit of Mount Clarence, sits the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial. From the car park a long flight of steps through the bush and trees you pause to read quotes from those who served in Egypt, Palestine and Syria during WWI.

Albert Facey has been quoted here too – we keep following in his footsteps!!

There’s so much to do in and around Albany. It’s best to pop into the visitor centre for more information.

This time, we were in town only to meet up with a friend. We spent the morning shopping and a quick sight-seeing drive before lunch. Our friend recommended The Three Anchors Restaurant overlooking Middleton Beach Bay. It proved popular and noisy but with fish and chips that were indeed tasty.

The caravan parks in Albany are so expensive during school holidays. The free/cheap sites around could not promise us a site for our fixed date so, we opted to stay 50km north in Mount Barker for half the price.

Mount Barker is a small town geared towards the local agriculture and the tourism that goes with being close to the Porongorups and the Mount Barker Wineries.

We meandered the streets popping into various galleries and gift shops. The most impressive is Sobrane’s Gallery. She does amazing large-scale murals on buildings and silos as well more traditional canvas paintings. Most of her work is of Australia’s flora and fauna as far as we could tell, in bright bold colours. Beautiful!

Elsewhere through the town are murals painted by 'Walldogs' with local residents support that depict the history and geography of the area. Most informative and an easy morning walk.

I took the time to explore the Old Police Station Museum  enjoying the available information mid week. The museum is only open at weekends but you can walk around the buildings to see the outdoor displays at other times. 

The town’s Country Bakery is very popular and we had one of their tasty ancient grains loaf. The butcher, Plantagenet Meats was fantastic! We spent more than we should have but the quality and range enticed us. These and the Super IGA will fulfill any grocery shopping you require.

Just a stroll along the Albany Highway from the Mount Barker Caravan Park, we stopped to taste wines at the Plantagenet Cellar doors. A great location for campers and caravanners and excellent wines!!