Headed out from Esperance to Albany, a short 5 hour drive. Sadly there is not a lot to see on the trip so I basically did it one hit with a very brief stop for refreshments. Albany is the oldest settled town on Western Australia, even two years older than Perth. Also it is about as far as you can get away from Muswellbrook without leaving the country. I'll leave you all to ponder that. I was last here in 1992 and thought it was fabulous. Its called the rainbow coast because it gets so much rain and wherever you turn it is awash with rainbows in the mist. It certainly has grown however, with grain silos ruining the vista of the waterfront and the main street at least doubling in length. It took me a while to get my bearings. There is however one significant landmark and once I had found it everything fell into place.
You can see where it gets its name from.....wooof!
A friend of mine used to be a DJ on the local radio station and unbeknownst to me he had called up his father and organised me a couple of nights free accommodation (always greatly appreciated). Fortunately we had met a few times before and he was a great host and stimulating company (an ex mining engineer who specialised in explosives, you could say some of his yarns were dynamite - groan). I don't know how he does it, at 75 years of age he has three girlfriends and leads a busier life than a lot of people my age. So its a big thank you to both Paul for his hospitality and Daryl for his travel planning.
The coast is full of beautiful scenery but sadly the weather was a bit sour so I didn't get to see it in its full glory. Paul and one of his girlfriends took me on a big tour around the coast and to all the local points of interest. We had a delightful lunch at a real local's fish and chip place with the freshest and sweetest fish, all very nice. Sadly since my last visit they had pulled down the Esplanade Hotel at Middleton Beach. It also had an excellent museum beside it called The Extravaganza Gallery. This was quite a unique place as everything in it was for sale, from the local wine to a DeLorean car. Sadly the owner was killed in a freak helicopter crash and his business was sold up. The new owners demolished both the hotel and the museum then went broke before anything new could be built. Now all that's left is an empty site. What a waste.
I then headed to Whale World which is the site of Australia's last whaling station. They closed it in November 1978 and by December 1978 they had re opened as a living museum. It was sad to see the way the whales were treated but also uplifting to see the changes of heart some of the former employees and how they are now active conservationists.
All the grizzly equipment was still on display along with some massive whale skeletons and some great white shark jaws. Apparently the great whites used to try and steal the catch where the whalers brought it ashore. They had to put someone in a boat with a rifle to shoot the sharks so their day's labour wouldn't be stolen.
Albany also has a massive war memorial, Anzac Day is very big here because this is the port that sent many Australian servicemen off to war, in particular those who ended up in the Dardanelles and in Egypt.
They snuck a whisky distillery in on me that I'd never heard of. The Great Southern Distilling Company bottles a tipple known as Limeburner's Whisky. I hate to say it but I was not that impressed. To start with it is only 3 years old, they did no blends and each cask was bottled and numbered differently so no two batches are the same. Then there were the variations, aged in old bourbon barrels, aged in old pinot barrels, old riesling barrels, old sherry barrels, old port barrels and on and on it went. They had won a silver medal for their cask strength whisky (about 68% alcohol), you could tipsy from just reading the label. They even had a peated whisky which is a favourite style of mine. Sadly I didn't rate it. To top it all off the prices were extortionate. $250.00 for a 3 year old scotch, you have to be kidding. I kept my money and they kept their whisky, it only seemed fair.
Tomorrow I will drive through the Margaret River and walk among the giants, forgoing any visits to the wineries, and will hopefully indulge in my passion for caves. That way if this rain keeps up at least I will be dry underground.
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| Dog Rock |
A friend of mine used to be a DJ on the local radio station and unbeknownst to me he had called up his father and organised me a couple of nights free accommodation (always greatly appreciated). Fortunately we had met a few times before and he was a great host and stimulating company (an ex mining engineer who specialised in explosives, you could say some of his yarns were dynamite - groan). I don't know how he does it, at 75 years of age he has three girlfriends and leads a busier life than a lot of people my age. So its a big thank you to both Paul for his hospitality and Daryl for his travel planning.
The coast is full of beautiful scenery but sadly the weather was a bit sour so I didn't get to see it in its full glory. Paul and one of his girlfriends took me on a big tour around the coast and to all the local points of interest. We had a delightful lunch at a real local's fish and chip place with the freshest and sweetest fish, all very nice. Sadly since my last visit they had pulled down the Esplanade Hotel at Middleton Beach. It also had an excellent museum beside it called The Extravaganza Gallery. This was quite a unique place as everything in it was for sale, from the local wine to a DeLorean car. Sadly the owner was killed in a freak helicopter crash and his business was sold up. The new owners demolished both the hotel and the museum then went broke before anything new could be built. Now all that's left is an empty site. What a waste.
I then headed to Whale World which is the site of Australia's last whaling station. They closed it in November 1978 and by December 1978 they had re opened as a living museum. It was sad to see the way the whales were treated but also uplifting to see the changes of heart some of the former employees and how they are now active conservationists.
All the grizzly equipment was still on display along with some massive whale skeletons and some great white shark jaws. Apparently the great whites used to try and steal the catch where the whalers brought it ashore. They had to put someone in a boat with a rifle to shoot the sharks so their day's labour wouldn't be stolen.
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| Cheynes IV - The Last Whale Chaser |
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| Sperm Whale |
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| Pygmy Blue Whale - Only 22 metres long - 37 metres is the size of the Blue Whale |
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| This Would Dent The Vectra |
They snuck a whisky distillery in on me that I'd never heard of. The Great Southern Distilling Company bottles a tipple known as Limeburner's Whisky. I hate to say it but I was not that impressed. To start with it is only 3 years old, they did no blends and each cask was bottled and numbered differently so no two batches are the same. Then there were the variations, aged in old bourbon barrels, aged in old pinot barrels, old riesling barrels, old sherry barrels, old port barrels and on and on it went. They had won a silver medal for their cask strength whisky (about 68% alcohol), you could tipsy from just reading the label. They even had a peated whisky which is a favourite style of mine. Sadly I didn't rate it. To top it all off the prices were extortionate. $250.00 for a 3 year old scotch, you have to be kidding. I kept my money and they kept their whisky, it only seemed fair.
Tomorrow I will drive through the Margaret River and walk among the giants, forgoing any visits to the wineries, and will hopefully indulge in my passion for caves. That way if this rain keeps up at least I will be dry underground.
I loved Albany, I think that is one country town I could happily live in. Lovely swimming spot nearby called green patch or something like that.
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