Albany

Brig Amity

Whale World

The Gap

Natural Bridge

Albany is quite a large sprawling town. We went for a walk up the main street and came back via the 'Patrick Taylor Cottage' built in 1832 which is the oldest dwelling still intact in WA. On the waterfront was the old gaol which was built in 1852 to cater for convicts arriving and a replica of the 'Brig Amity' which was a NSW supply ship that carried the first soldiers and convicts to Albany to form the first settlement in WA in 1826. We drove out to 'Whale World' located on Frenchman Bay which is on the site of the once operational Cheynes Beach Whaling Company. The company ceased slaughtering in November 1978 which marked the end of whaling in Australia - not that long ago! We had a walk around the Whalechaser boat and then did a guided tour which explained the process of capturing, flensing (stripping the blubber), the cutting up deck, and the processing factory. There was an amazing skeleton exhibit displaying a 22metre Pygmy Blue Whale. The station here mainly hunted sperm whales and thankfully even back then had the foresight to protect the humpbacks after they were nearly hunted to extinction. Driving back towards town we stopped at Torndirrup National Park for a look at the very windswept blow Holes, The Gap and Natural Bridge. It was very scenic coastline but I think we are all getting a little blase' towards sightseeing with our minds set on going home. We had fish and chips at the jetty for dinner.