Albany is known for a couple of natural phenomenon which showcase the power of nature at its best. Our first visit was to the gap which is probably my favourite site of this area, it is basically a channel carved by the waves forming a spectacular sheer drop of almost 25 metres. The waves come crashing with such force that aparently on a windy day people standing on the viewing platform get wet and that is 37 metres above the water! We spent ages just watching the waves come crashing in, the colour of the water is as spectacular as it was at Esperance. Just around from the gap is the Natural bridge is what looks like a giant granite bridge. It was caused by the gradual wearing away of the rock by the Great Southern Ocean, apparently you used to be able to walk over it but you now have to just stand at the side and watch the waves coming in under the bridge, there is what looks like a massive crack over the top which I assume at some point will collapse. After watching the waves here for some time we went to the third natural site, the blow holes, we have never been particularly successful with blowholes and yet again we didn’t actually see the spray come crashing up through the gap but sitting near the gap you could actually hear the crash of the waves but more spectacularly you could feel the draft caused by the waves coming in, it was strong enough to actually blow your t-shirt up! Well worth the walk to visit the site. After this we drove down to the sea and the site of the old whaling station but we didn’t go in. All of this had taken the whole morning so we drove back to the hotel to drop the car off before going on a walk round Albany. George Vancouver claimed New Holland (which later became known as Western Australia) as a British possession in 1791, after this there were several French expeditions to the area which meant the British Government ordered a settlement to be founded in the area and on 9th November 1826 the Brig Amity sailed from Sydney who were ordered to form a settlement. The Brig reached the harbour on Christmas day 1826, the settlement comprised 23 convicts (mostly tradesmen), 18 rank and file soldiers, a sergeant, a captain, a surgeon, a storekeeper and the commander. They had supplies for six months which would give the settlers time to develop agriculture. Albany became a busy port as settlement of Western Australia continued from the 1830s onwards, the early settlers were effectively put into community groups of about 20, each family unit was given 160 acres of land and they had to clear it of all the scrub, trees, snakes, aboriginals etc before they could start farming it. The plan was that all of the community worked together and they then started farming their own 160 acres, apparently there are still some families farming the land allocated in this way. Down at the waterfront there is a replica of the Brig Amity which was built in 1976, as well as the Albany Convict Gaol which was converted into a civilian gaol in 1972, it is now leased to the local Historical Society, we didn’t go in as it only has displays of how the gaol would look and it doesn’t form part of the UNESCO convict sites. We walked past the Court house which was built from the local granite in the ‘dry stone’ style – no cement, this building also housed the Albany Police station until 1970, then walked up one side of the street and back down the other, the main street has a number of hotels and shop fronts from the period when Albany was a thriving town, it declined as Fremantle grew. Having done all this we then walked round to the waterfront to look at a tall ship that is currently in harbour then had a drink in the bar that overlooks the harbour before heading back to the hotel for a relax and get ready for moving on to our last stop of this holiday, I can’t believe that in a few days we are going to be back in the UK.
