ALBANY

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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 beasts! Detailed desctiptions of how they were cut up and cooked... Ugh! Be careful with these pictures!

I had n idea that whale oil was used in some many products back then... There was a market then but the Australian Govt banned all hunting of whales in 1974. Quite right too.

2). Thrills - Just take a look at the cantilevered platform out over the raging ocean... It's called the GAP, was build by the State Government as a tourist attraction and it great! 36 metres stright down...

3). A final bit of WW1 memorabilia. Albany was where the two massive fleets of ANZAC troups departed from on their way to Galipoli... It therefore holds particular significance for all in these parts. So when I learned about an art installation that highlights the region's sense of place and identity I though I'd better take a look. Field of Light: Avenue of Honours pays homage to the ANZACs with 16,000 shingi spheres... . Clearey viewed later in the day I went at dusk along with many other and found the whole experiece quite moving. Photos don't really do it justice but it was the effort of driving up to the top of Mount Clarence, overlooking the city, to see this one.

Overall a good day. Tomorrow it's a huge 5 or 6 hour drive back to Perth to be ready for the piece de resistence of this part of my trip: The train from Perth to Sydney - The so called "Indian Pacific". More of that later but I'm not sure when that will be as there is no wifi on the train apparently...

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Photos

The skelton of a "Pygmy" Blue Whale
An actual Blue Whale can be 35 mteres long

Whale chase boat
Interesting to clamber of this

A Large saw!
Used for cutting the whales heads up... I did warn you.

The same saw in use!!
Horrific!

The Gap
This gives you the ideas of what it's all about

Steve at the Gap
This cantilevered platform was less bouncy than the tree walk yesterday

At the Gap
The view stright down... 36 meters

Field of light
At dusk

Comments

[Cathy]

Wow again!
All pounds fabulous. Looking forward to seeing you again in about 3 days x