There is a loneliness and romance along this coastal fringe. I may be thousands of miles from here, but a part of my heart will forever lie among the granite boulders along the southern ocean of Australia.

The ocean is deep, stretching out to the horizon in brilliant blue. The sand is squeaky white and towering granite boulders are strewn along the beaches and dunes like an abandoned game of marbles. Narrow dirt tracks lined with low coastal shrubs and peppermint trees lead you down to private beaches, without another soul in sight.

The ocean here is fierce.

As a teenager growing up in Albany (along the south coast of Western Australia), the ocean matched my coming of age turmoil, emotion and energy. I spent the first 18 years of my life, diving into the clarity of the ocean, camping in the dunes and exploring this rugged, remote beauty. I lived and breathed the deep blue sea, swimming until my skin looked like a shriveled prune and returning home covered in sticky salt, smelling like dune plants.

Albany is a wild woolly place, with a long wet winter and gale forces winds. In between the antarctic breeze, there are days the sun sparkles and the ocean is vivid and wonderful.

This is the place I want to show you

There is well over a hundred beaches around Albany, but the one I want to show you is a place called Waychinicup. This inlet provides a safe haven from the powerful relentless raging ocean swell that pounds the coastline with intense displays of white fury.

With its unusual granite rock formations and sheltered swimming, this was the place of family picnics and group camping. The coastal heath around Waychinicup is one of the most diverse in the State. I have spent countless hours and days here; rock hopping, snorkeling, watching the scuttling crabs and finding sea urchins and star fish in the tidal rock pools. I have climbed the harsh scratchy bush to reach the giant tooth like granite boulders that jut out of the hills. At night, the moon illuminates the granite and we walk up the creek to dark inky pools lying amongst cathedral rock formations of epic proportions.

This place has always been special to my family and it is now the resting place of my grandparents. I was not able to be there for the spreading of their ashes a few weeks ago. But my heart was. I could not think of a more perfect resting place for my dear grandparents. It has added new meaning to this place and tied it even tighter to my soul.

Until next time

xx Isabella