A week in Albany

Having a whale of a time

Discovered in 1791 and settled in 1826, Albany is WA's oldest settlement and is situated around magnificent harbours. It has many beautiful colonial buildings, but the building Ella was most interested in touring was "Best & Lest", as she had only one pair of shorts left! We have tried to find shorts in many other shops, but Ella's shorts specifications are rather precise: ie they have to be the same as the pair she has now! Her idea of a good pair of shorts is that they don't go up your bum and they don't show your knees - and Dave is keen to encourage this worldview until she is 35! Fortunately, the Albany Best & Less had 2 pairs left in her size so the endless "Best & Lest" spotting will finally cease! We could then get on with other things ...

The former whaling ship, Cheynes IV

WhaleWorld, situated in the once operational Cheynes Beach Whaling Company's station on the edge of King George Sound, seemed the ideal place to start our sightseeing. Albany has a whaling history of 178 years, and the Cheynes Station was only closed in 1978. It has been transformed into a fabulous interactive centre, explaining the history and process of whaling (in fairly gory detail!) with a whaling boat to explore as well. Some of the stories we heard there were incredible - how the waters of Misery Beach ran red with blood and roiled with large sharks trying to get a piece of whale before it was hoisted out of the water. Men were employed with rifles to shoot the sharks and other unluckier men had to swim out along the whale oil pipeline to check for leaks. No shark cages then! Just a couple of weeks ago two children were on the swimming pontoon and had to be rescued by boat from the white pointers circling them! Swimming went off the to do list in Albany at that point!

Goode Beach - The whale blood used to
make the water here red

Goode Beach was just as its name suggests, and we also had a look at Salmon Holes, a popular local fishing spot. We drove back to Emu Point and had fish and chips at The Squid Shack. Definitely up there as the best fish and chips we've had! Lachie found some fishermen on the nearby jetty and we were entertained as they caught fish and fed them live, whole and squirming, to the waiting pelicans.



Thursday was the low point of the journey by quite a margin. I was feeling unwell and the heavy rain confined us all to the caravan. The kids were like caged lions and Jackson and Marcus had a full on fight in the van on the way to the shopping centre to get supplies. We wanted to see the Brig Amity but after a miserable lunch in the van while it poured down, we drove home via two bookstores to get some new reading material for everyone. The rest of the day and evening was spent reading our new books and at least there were no more fights!

The top of The Gap - huge granite cliffs where the sea
rushes in, creating a roar and spray and an almighty
backwash which heaves into the air as it meets the
incoming waves entering the narrow chasm

It was still cold and wet the next morning but we decided to get our coats on and get on with it. We drove to Torndirrup National Park to visit some spectacular features sculpted by the Southern Ocean. The Blowholes were noisy, but not as spectacular as the ones further north. The Gap and Natural Bridge were a short stroll from each other. It was fascinating to learn that we were standing on the edge of Antarctica ... or at least where Antarctica used to join Australia. A good deal of time was soaked up climbing around on the rocks and enjoying the scenery, in between heavy showers of rain.

The giant turbines never stop in the Albany wind!

Everyone was keen to have a close look at the Albany Windfarm which dominates the skyline. The turbines have a 65m tower and three 35m long blades and are the largest to be installed in the southern hemisphere. Jackson was very interested in the engineering aspects but we were all impressed with the giant windmills on possibly the most spectacular piece of coastline around.

Hayward Peak Lookout

Tree-in-the-Rock

Saturday's improving forecast encouraged us to drive out to Porongurup National Park, where we climbed up to Hayward Peak lookout and enjoyed the view. It was a treat to be back in the cool and inviting Karri forest and at 9:30 no-one else was there, which is always an added bonus. Tree-in-the-Rock was a remarkable sight - a large karri growing out of a huge granite boulder. Pressed for time, we decided to forgo the other granite outlooks at Porongurup and drove another 40kms to the Stirling Ranges to attempt the much more difficult Bluff Knoll Walk. Bluff Knoll is a very imposing granite bluff overlooking the surrounding countryside ... and it looked fearsome as we had lunch in the carpark underneath! The 3kms of steep track was very hard going, particularly as Marcus and Ella were in the lead and impossible to keep up with. Some of the track was scary, with sheer cliffs on one side and a sheer drop on the other! After 2 hours of hard slog, we reached the summit. WOW! 360 degree panoramic views for many kilometres rewarded our efforts and we made a pact to climb more summits! The kids felt they were in a plane as we watched the clouds' shadows darkening the amber patchwork of wheat fields. Ella asked "Is this all of Australia?" and I could see her point!

View from the top of Bluff Knoll

Bluff Knoll from a distance

The knee-jarring descent was easier than the ascent. We were all knackered at the bottom, where we made the particularly stupid decision to drive the long way home through the Stirling Ranges and Red Gum Pass. Dave and I both agreed we would rather pass a red gum than do that 64km rough, unsealed drive again! The Blunderbuss rolled back into Albany at 7:35 p.m. and its occupants were fed and asleep by about 8:05.

To cope with our aching legs, we designated Sunday a rest day! The kids played in the playground until Ella and Lachie had huge blisters on their hands from the monkey bars as well as sore legs. Our new books were passed from reader to reader and thus sustained us all for a bit longer.

Monday morning started with Ella wanting to join The Secret Seven. "Every time they have a meeting, they get lemonade and organade" she told us excitedly ... and we wondered whose organs were used for that tasty drink! I heard some ladies chuckling in the next van and somehow knew that the boys were up to something ... they had been detailed to hang out the washing. The ladies happily filled me in: first they had made cubbies out of the sheets and all the pegs and they were presently engaged in trying to make a sheet spiral on the Hills Hoist. I didn't let them know how they had all enjoyed watching the front loader wash, lest they think them imbeciles! They haven't had much screen time lately ...

6 inch gun in the gun battery

We had a couple of things left that we wanted to do before leaving Albany, so the afternoon was spent very enjoyably at Princess Royal Fortress, which was opened in 1893 and was the first federal defence post of Australia. The gun batteries are still operational - well, the kids could operate them and shoot enemies minus the ammo! We explored the underground magazine and had mock battles using the naval guns on display. None of us would have liked to be in the naval gun turrets during a real firing though!

We rushed off to pick up Marcus's lost hat at Whaleworld (he was very smug: he'd written his name and phone number inside, while Jackson's hat is still in Darwin somewhere!) and then took Lachie fishing in the rain at Salmon Holes, as promised. Actually, we didn't promise the rain, that was just an added bonus! Jackson, Marcus and Ella dug holes and I challenged them to make something worth photographing from the cliffs above. You be the judge:

The proud sand-sculptors!

Lachie and I were chatting to a guy fishing there who also photographed the kids' efforts. He was telling me about his set-up for fishing (he'd caught 6 fish to our usual - none!) and when we all returned to the Blunderbuss, found that he'd left Lachie a float and tracer set up for him to try. One of the joys of travelling is the lovely people you meet, and we've met plenty.

Onwards to Esperance, via Hyden and Wave Rock in the next few days.

Stay tuned ...