Albany, WA

As we pulled into the sheltered port town of Albany (pronounced owlbany), we encountered granite formations and hills for the first time. It was a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the low 70’s. Albany was settled in 1827. Interestingly, all towns now have dual names: European and Aboriginal.
Climate: 45 for lows in winter and high 80s in summer.
We hopped on our tour which took us first to Torndirrup National Park with its rock formations being pounded by the surf of the Southern Ocean. The surf carved out a natural bridge in one area and a blowhole where the water sometimes engulfs sightseers on a platform 100s of feet above the sea. Just last week an unsuspecting fisherman was swept out to sea by a King Wave of 3-5 x the normal height, and presumed dead.
Next stop, a whaling station that closed in 1978 due to a dwindling market for whale oil. Spotter planes would go out and radio the coordinates of the whales. Only the captain manned the harpoon launcher on the whaling vessels because if they caught the wrong type whale they were fined as much as $2,000. Once the ship brought the whale back to the processing facility, the flensers took over in just t-shirts, shorts and boots as the slop and smell were worse than in an abattoir.
Our tour ended in an animal preserve filled with kangaroos, wombats. birds and reptiles.Read more