Thurs Oct 2013 - The Brig Amity at Albany

We said goodbye to Ron & Lynn, our kind neighbours who lent us an extension cord to reach the electrical box.

We headed into town to see a replica of the first Government ship to arrive in Albany and set up a colony. It's a brig called the "Amity". We were able to go aboard and were given a phone that told us about everything as we went around.

It was such a small ship and was so crowded with a crew of sailors plus 19 soldiers and 39 convicts on board - and no sanitation whatsoever! We enjoyed looking round and finding out what they ate and what they took with them to start a new colony.

How to deal with maggots in your biscuits

Mel at the Officers mess

Rodger about to test out the Captain's bunk!

Rodger enjoyed pretending to steer the ship, the block and tackle mechanism was working perfectly, but we both thought that it was a very hard life in those days - it took them over 6 weeks to sail from Sydney to Albany.

After we came ashore, we set off for Esperance, as it's nearly 600kms. We already have our accommodation booked as Ron & Lynn had been there and told us that there's a camping ground in Esperance in the same group as the one in Albany and so it also has the $20 special. When we heard this, Rodger rang them and booked us in for 3 nights.

Most of the road went through wheat fields, lined with wild flowers, though there was a section in the middle that was heathland. The last part was all roadworks, but eventually we arrived in town at 4.30pm and, after calling into the Visitor's Centre, we went on a quick beach crawl, as this is a surfing place. It was too late to surf tonight and it was all blown out, but it looks hopeful for early tomorrow. 

We also went up to the lookout to orientate ourselves with the layout of the town and coast and saw there were many islands off shore.

Wed 30 Oct 2013 – Whaleworld at Albany

As this caravan park has a special on, $20 with power, we decided to stay another night because there's a lot to see in Albany.

Our first visit was to the old whaling station, which now tells the story of whaling in this area. We arrived just before the guided tour at 12.00pm and it was very good, explaining the process of catching, flensing and processing whales. This was the last whaling station in Australia and it didn't close until 1978.

The huge oil storage tanks have been converted into movie theatres, where you can learn more about whales, dolphins and sharks. 

There is also an old whaling ship, called a "Chaser", that we went aboard and looked around and lots of old photos.

Captain's state room

relaxing in the Captain's bunk

We enjoyed it all so much that the time flew past and we suddenly realised we were the only people left and it was 4.30pm! We revived ourselves with a coffee and a hot chocolate in the cafe.

We saw some examples of scrimshaw work by two artists – beautiful etchings on sperm whale teeth.

The whaling station is out on an arm of the harbour and about 45min drive from Albany. This was good, as the whaling station used to absolutely stink! Also on this arm are a couple of natural attractions, a rock bridge, blowholes and a gap in the rocks where the waves come crashing up. 

Rodger on the Natural Bridge

Luckily these don't close at 5.00pm, so we were able to see them on the way back to the camping ground - it's good we decided to stay another night!

We went to the camp kitchen to make dinner and, learning from last night, covered ourselves in mozzie repellent first and went over there boldly. While I was cooking, I killed at least 30 mozzies and Rodger as many, but when we sat down to eat, they just wouldn't leave us alone so eventually we couldn't stand it anymore and, admitting defeat, we retreated to our van, behind our fly screen. No wonder it's only $20 a night!