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.