Blogs from Albany, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

It was warm overnight, still warm this morning and continuing to warm up as we were getting ready to head down into town to see some of the sights closer to ‘home’. Since it was warm, and we were going to be in town rather than bush walking the gals put on their summer dresses. Our first stop was at the Visitor Information Centre to make sure they didn’t have anything else to add to our list for today! We were also after a map like our Esperance to Albany map that would take us from Walpole to the west coast. Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything like that in the series, but we did pick up the Dunsborough and Busselton street maps. It was very warm but howling a gale as we walked down to the ... read more

Moving on from Denmark towards Albany on the Bibbulmun Track entails getting either around or across Wilson Inlet first. Unlike each of the other inlets encountered along the Southern Ocean coastline, this crossing can be done neither by wading nor by paddling - unless you have your own canoe or kayak. And so it was that I found myself forking out sixty dollars to the manager of the Blue Wren hostel in Denmark, to drive me all the way around the inlet and drop me off at a boat ramp on the northern shore of the Nullaki Peninsula - about six kilometres from Denmark as the crow flies, but a 45-minute drive by more conventional means. Once there, the final 80km of the Bibbulmun Track stretched out in a generally easterly direction towards Albany, running roughly ... read more

Day 1... Albany to Mutton Bird via Sandpatch 24.6km Albany to Sandpatch 12.5 km Sandpatch to Mutton Bird 12.1km After a good nights sleep (that's how the sentence should start, but it was actually not a great nights sleep- too much going on in my head- like waking up, last minute nerves, etc) we descended the creaky carpeted wooden stairs of the Albany Foreshore Guesthouse in Albany for breaky. The guesthouse was good, it was quiet, quirky, spacious and somewhere with a sense of history and bonus points for being next to a coffee shop and directly across the road from the Southern Terminus Bibb Track trail head. Very convenient. Rate for 2 in Room 1 (large room with ensuite) including cooked breakfast was advertised at $140 but we were offered a direct booking discount of ... read more

Friday 14th Dec: A nie hot sunny day to explore what Albany has to offer. Three things to note: 1) Whaling...We seem to have encountered a nmber of whaling places recently and indeed whales but in some ways this topped the lot... A vist to the last whaling station opened and closed in Australia. All fully preserved with a "whate chaser" ship. This was possibly one of the grizzlest exhibitions I have even seen (and I'm including the Killing fields in Cambodia etc) all with colour photos and film of what whaling was all about... Here's the wierd thing. The station was opened in 1952 (my lifetime) and closed only in 1974. The film footage had all these strapping Ozzy lads dressed just like I did in 1974... Could have been me slicing up the poor ... read more

I first did the walk out to Bald Head from Goode Beach Albany twenty years ago and since then have found myself repeating the experience biannually. The walk never ceases to fascinate me and it has become a yardstick to my own physical health. If I can still make it out to the headland then all is not lost. More often than not I walk alone as this gives me the option of stopping to sketch whenever I please. It is however rare that I find myself totally alone on the walk and it is always interesting to write my thought into the rather tatty journal that lies secreted in a plastic container under the pile or stones at the furthest point on the headland. The comments of others is often amusing while I snack on ... read more