A whale of a day
Trip Start
Nov 18, 2009
1
192
235
Trip End
Jul 08, 2010
Where I stayed
Albany, Western Australia, Australia
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Happy 50th Birthday to Jane, Byron's mum. We hope that you have an enjoyable day and with Byron, Jason, Todd, Cody, Paul and Clare to do all the work and cleaning, you should feel really spoilt by the end of the day! Enjoy the family meal.
OUR BLOG
Up and sun shining. Outside with the tent while we had breakfast, so it could finish drying. Had brekkie in the covered area near the pool, rather nice.
Our intention was to visit some of the sights near Albany, so we took the coast road and stopped at a very special lookout point. We had stopped there last night to see the lights and today wanted to see it in daylight. Fantastic views across all the bays, coves and islands.
Our first visit was to an area called The Gap and The Bridge. These two sights were towards the end of a peninsula of granite rocks that looked just like bricks laid on top of each other. We were at the top of a cliff looking down into a chasm or gap where the crystal clear pale blue sea was pounding in and smashing into the rocks sending plumes of water 30 metres into the air. As we were about 60 metres up there was no chance of getting wet. Although there were viewing platforms, there were also no chains or anything else to prevent you from walking on the rocks towards the edge of the rocks. There were however a few notices saying please be very careful, especially in wet weather, parents to keep children under control and finally "Deaths have happened on these rocks". We explored and sat near the edge but well away from any danger.
We also walked out to get better views of The Bridge which is a rock feature where the sea has washed away huge chunks of rock to leave a natural bridge of rocks.
Later we had a mile walk to see the Blowholes. In reality we sat near the Blowholes and listened to them as the sea pushed air up through narrow holes in the rocks. We were sitting about 15 metres above the waterline and the sea has to be quite rough to actually blow water out. However a lovely walk in the sun and lots of plants and views to pass the time.
We then went to The Whale Museum. This was the last working Whale station in Australia and only closed down in 1978. It was a fascinating combination of free tour with a young but good guide: great exhibits: good use of audio presentations during the tour and four videos. Very well thought out and at the end you had a good idea about how whales were caught, equipment and boats used, how they were cut up and cooked, what the oil and other residues were used for and something about the lives of the people in Albany associated with the Whaling Industry. We enjoyed this few hours so much we forgot to eat our packed lunch and it was 4pm when we left.
We went to Goode Beach to eat our lunch and then came another beach which we decided not to visit….it was called Misery Beach for some reason.
On the way back we went up to the top of one of the mountains to look at the views. At the very top was a First World War Remembrance garden and statues. On the way in to the gardens there were trees in rows and every one of them had an individual soldier’s plaque at the base. We went to the top and great views were everywhere.
Back to campsite. Helen in Jacuzzi. Tony sorting photos. Later opened our bottle of red wine but only drunk half. We had cheese and biscuits to finish off a fab day.
Comments
Thanks Guys, I have only just sat down to read your blogs and up to this day....I had a wonderful evening...dinner was great. Also had a fantastic weekend will write more in an email.
Your trip sounding fanstastic - can't wait till we do ours