Albany:

Albany is a beautiful city with lots of old building lining the main street. It is on a huge bay called King George Sound and there are also two harbours one on each side of this sound. In other words there is water and bays everywhere.
Albany was the first place in WA that was settled. A military post was set up to claim this part of Australia as the French had been snooping around and Britain was afraid they may claim it for themselves. The newcomers arrived in a small boat called the Amity which was sent from Sydney. A life size replica of the boat stands on the foreshore.
Our Caravan Park was overlooking Princess Royal Harbour. As we arrived early, we went for a drive to view some of the spectacular coastline. We went out to the Natural Bridge and the Gap. The rocks are granite and both of these formations are true to their names. The Gap is a sheer drop down into the churning sea and the Natural Bridge forms a rock bridge over the white foaming sea. We were actually seeing it when it wasn’t very rough.
Next we went to the blowholes. It was quite walk down to the granite rocks where the sea rushes up a long hollow tube which makes a massive noise. There is no “hole” as such – just a long crack. I was sitting the other side of this and all of a sudden there was an almighty boom as the sea was forced along the tube. I jumped with fright not realising I was on the wrong side of this crack. Luckily it didn’t blow so I didn’t get wet.

We met some friends earlier on our trip who live in Albany so we looked them up and they invited us around for afternoon tea. Their house looked out over the water and we all had a good time catching up.

The next day I went to Whaleworld which was on an old whaling station which opened in 1952 and closed in 1978. A tour guide showed you around the Station and explained the process of catching the whales, bringing them back for cutting up and processing to produce whales oil which has thousands of uses. There were some rather gruesome
pictures of the whales being butchered. When they were harpooned they were pumped full of air and floated back to the whaling station where they were winched on shore, cut into small pieces and then put into boilers for about 4 hours and the oil was then pumped out into a waiting ship to be taken away. There was always blood in the sea and sharks caused a big problem while the whales were waiting to be processed. It was a very tough and dangerous work with men working long hours seven days a week. Apparently the stench was disgusting and you could never get it out of your clothes.

Excellent audio visuals, lots of huge machinery which still works, as well as the last whaling ship the Cheynes IV which you could explore, gave one a real insight of the life of a whaler as well as made you aware of the plight of the whale.


Other displays included the skeletons of some huge whales (the blue whale is up to 34 feet long), a photo gallery and a sealer's hut.

On the way out to Whale World we went to Salmon Beach which is where the salmon collect in the season. It was like a narrow pool on the beach.

There was another tiny little bay named after a fisherman had to shelter from a big storm. It was turquoise blue.

In the afternoon we went to the museum which was very well presented. Albany was the place where the first Anzacs set off for Gallipoli and was for many young soldiers their last view of Australia. It was also where the first Dawn service was held.
As Albany had such a good port it was in contention with Perth to be the capital of WA but because of the poorer soil here Perth grew more rapidly it won out.
A life size replica of the Amity, the boat which bought the military and convicts from Sydney to establish a colony here stands outside the museum. It is amazing how small it was and how crowded it would have been. In the sleeping and eating area you couldn’t even stand up.

The next day we went up to the highest point which overlooks the harbour. It was a beautiful and the view from here with all the bays, inlets and islands was magnificent. You really get idea of how much water surrounds this town.
There is a monument to the Anzacs here as this is where the friends and relatives went to watch their loved ones depart for the war and also where the first dawn service was held. A tree from Gallipoli has been planted on the site.

Our next lookout was at Mt Adelaide which was an old fort and looked out over King George Sound. This was such an interesting place we spent hours here. It has been restored beautifully and even the cannons had moving parts and you could move them up and down and sideways. Brian had lots of fun. It was a beautiful day, the sea was sparkling blue and the view was magnificent.
Each of the restored buildings (barracks, married quarters, Nissan huts etc) was full of lots of information about both wars. A picture of a 745 soldiers sitting on the steps of a pyramid in Egypt where they were training to go to Gallipoli and only 77 returned really hit home the devastating losses we suffered.
One section was devoted to the H.M.A.S Perth which served in Vietnam. It was scuttled off the shore of Albany. We met two men who were sailors on that ship and they gave us some very interesting info while reliving their time at sea.

From here we went along a beautiful coast drive to Middleton Beach which is the main beach with beautiful white sand. You can only drive a short way along here and the rest is a walking trail and reserve. It is so good that this has been set aside for everyone – no beach front properties or high-rises here!! In fact there are walking and bicycle paths all everywhere in Albany. Then on to Emu Point where there is a very narrow entrance to the other harbour which is quite shallow in some places but a great place for kids. Lots of people were enjoying the warm day with a picnic by the beach. We had lunch here and went for a walk to
look at the boats.
After a busy day we were glad to get back to our quiet caravan park.

As we headed out the next day we went to the wind farm and to see some of the rugged coastline near here. It was very hazy and overcast. You could hear the wind swishing through the blades.


After doing quite a lot of shopping we set off for the Stirling Ranges which are famous for there wildflowers.