Day 101: Albany

It rained all night and was quite overcast when we woke up so we expected the worst today, despite a positive forecast. Fortunately, the forecast turned out to be right and by mid morning the sun was shining and it was quite warm outside.

At 10 am, we turned up at the Visitors Information Centre to get some advice on how to spend our time here. It was already obvious to us that Albany has grown hugely since we last visited almost 30 years ago. It is now a city with a population of around 40,000. We left with a map and full of ideas. We will not be short of things to do.

The plan is to do the Eastern side of Albany this morning and the Western side this afternoon. They are remarkably different. 

After a brief walk down the main street, we jumped in the car, and headed to the port area.

Looking down the main street towards the harbour

The Town Hall

We pulled into a carpark near the marina to discover there is a weekly market every Sunday at "The Boat shed". A great little market with good food, local artefacts and produce and even live music.

It is a great marina

Live music at the boat shed 

Just inside the front door was an Asian food stand with some very good looking curry puffs. We could not resist buying one each. They were the best curry puffs I have had in Australia.

Another local food stand had scones with jam and cream. Had we not already committed to the curry puffs we would have joined the queue lining up to get some. Instead we bought some farm fresh, free range eggs from the same stand.

Leaving with our modest purchases

This was an unscheduled visit as we were supposed to be driving on the Mt Clarence to see both the best lookout in Albany and also one of the best ANZAC Commemorations in Australia. Albany is known as the home of the ANZAC legend as it was the final departure point for Australian and NZ troops during WW1.

There is an enormous area within the Mt Clarence/Mt Adelaide area that is devoted to recognition of ANZACS. It includes the National ANZAC Centre at Mt Adelaide.

National ANZAC Centre, an interactive museum that honours those who served in WW1

Near the museum are a number of other old garrison buildings and a small cafe.

The best lookout in town, is at Mt Clarence, all part of this large ANZAC Memorial complex.

We drove to the lower carpark and took on a substantial climb up many stairs to reach The Desert Mounted Corps Memorial. 

Wildflowers in the carpark

Further up the hill is the Padre White Lookout, the site of Australia's First  Annual dawn service.  The views are stunning looking out over King George Sound, Princess Royal Harbour and Middleton Bay.

The lookout is named after Reverend Arthur Ernest White, who started the Dawn Service Tradition in Albany.

Padre White Lookout

Here are some of the views from the lookout.

Looking over the city

The port

There is even a mountain bike trail down Mt Clarence which starts at the lookout.

Driving back down the mountain there is another lookout, Apex Lookout, which gives great views over Middleton Beach and Albany Golf Links.

To complete our tour of this side of town we drive along the coast, through Middleton Beach to Emu Point. According to the information centre, Emu Point Beach is the most protected beach in Albany.

Emu point

On our way back to town we stopped at Middleton Beach for lunch. Middleton beach is clearly the most popular beach in Albany, has lovely crystal clear water, a protected swimming area and an extensive sandy beach with several beach volleyball courts.

We found a beachside tavern called 3 Anchors for a light lunch before heading back to the town centre.

This afternoon we are headed to the other side of Albany, Frenchman's Bay, where the old whaling station is located and where the rugged coastal landscape is in sharp contrast to this mornings beaches and Suburbia. Soon we enter the Torndirrup National Park which is where we will spend the afternoon.

A rough map of the Albany coastline

The drive is around 18 km out of town and we first arrive at the key tourist attraction here, The Gap and Natural Bridge. The viewing platform here is yet another very impressive piece of infrastructure that we have become used to in WA National Parks.

From the carpark you can see the cantilevered lookout hanging over the gap, a deep chasm cut into the coastline.

Looking down from the lookout into the gap

Another walk way takes you to another lookout to see the Natural Bridge. This is a massive structure and with all of the vertical fault lines, it is amazing it hasn't collapsed. It has sustained constant attack from the sea, which in a big swell would be something to see.

From here we drove further into the park and turned off to see the next highlight, the blowholes. This involved a long and at times quite steep walk down to sea level to where the blowholes are located. After some time, we could here the sound of the blowholes, but were disappointed on arrival, as the swell was insufficient to push anything but air through the crevices.

We did however see a lot of wildflowers.

The old whaling station is next on our list. We have been here before and it doesn't look like a lot has changed.

It is close to closing time so we don't bother to look inside and doubt much has changed.

Our final destination is Misery Beach, not far from the whaling station. Declared Australia's best beach in 2022, it got its name from the blood and whale remains that used to regularly wash up here. A large granite outcrop called Bald Head borders the Western end of the beach which has beautiful white sand and crystal clear water.

There were a few keen swimmers who had just come out of the water.

Bald Head

It is time to drive back to Albany after what has been a long day, with alot of ground covered by foot and in the car.