Albany WA, Old farm, Strawberry Hill, lizard

Albany WA April 22, 1025
Slow old day today, just couldn't be bothered rushing into town or visiting yet-another-museum.

Finally had to go to the shops, sometimes it just can't be helped. On the way back I finally remembered to take the fairly obscure turn-off into the Old Farm at Strawberry Hill. Its the remnants of the first farm in WA and its tucked in between all the bungalows and cottages but is worth a visit. The original farm as such was established in 1827 after places like Green Island failed to literally produce the goods. In 1833 the brand new Governor's Resident, Sir Richard Spencer, came to town from the old dart, bought the farm and built the first cottage. It is said that with his, and his family of wife and 10 kids, arrival, that they doubled the population of Albany!

How these people survived in basically a two room shack is anyones guess, but they did until they built the two story 'mansion' next door. Sadly, it is really difficult to see how any of the building might have been back then as they have all been altered a lot and there are indications that there were more building which have disappeared.

There is a big gap in the history from the 1830s, (Spencer died in 1839) but the property was bought in a derelict state in 1889 by the Bird family who restored it and lived in it until 1956. It again fell into decline, was bought by the government and ended up as the first building to belong to the brand-new National Trust.

Outside, the only other building that remains from the period is the Miners' cottage, so-called because a family called Miner came to work for the Birds in about 1870

Some snaps

Old farm, Strawberry Hill, Albany WA

Old farm, Strawberry Hill, Albany WA

Old farm, Strawberry Hill, Albany WA

Brian in Miner's cottage.  Old farm, Strawberry Hill, Albany WA

Brian in Miner's cottage.  Old farm, Strawberry Hill, Albany WA

Old farm, Strawberry Hill, Albany WA

Old farm, Strawberry Hill, Albany WA

Old farm, Strawberry Hill, Albany WA

After lunch, a sandwich at the van today, we went for a stroll along the boardwalk that connects Middleton Beach to Albany the town. On the way we came across this lizard (I think that its probably a King's Skink) having its lunch at what looked like a bit of doggie dunnit, but what do I know?

King's Skink. Ellen Cove WA

Albany WA, Kalgan River Cruise, Pelican, White Breasted Sea Eagle, Osprey

Albany WA April 21, 2015
An early start this morning to catch the Kalgan River Cruise. The Kalgan is the river that runs down into Albany, though Oyster Bay and out into King George Sound

We knew we were in for a treat the moment we set foot on the wharf. Right below us were two of these huge stingrays cruising about and our guide started telling us all about them, calling each by their pet name and explaining how one must be at least 40 years old as that was the last time anyone knows of when they used to cut their tails off for safety.

I took pictures of the pelican instead

Pelican. Emu Point. Albany WA

Our guide I must mention is a local and only about 27, but he's been doing this cruise since his father started it 15 years ago. He's been doing it on his own as a guide for 7 years, 7 days a week, 9 months a year. Our craft is flat bottomed and has a glass viewing section. As we followed the channel markers out from the marina, he explained that the theory is that we were following the ancient course of the Kalgan, before the area was flooded after the ice age. Certainly it is natural channel that leads all the way from the mouth back up into the river proper. Through the glass bottom you can see that we are in metre of water and as we cross over the river bed, it drops out of sight, perhaps 15 metres. Our first stop is on the opposite bank where we can clearly see the remains of the water-tanker called the Camel, which was brought here after a collision at sea, saved, and then lost as it burnt to the water line while they were celebrating their efforts to save it. Or so they say. The official story is vaguely the same, but hey, why spoil a good yarn with facts, eh?

Wreck of the Camel. Albany WA

We then crossed over to Green Island, so named because its bright green from the verdant grass, a consequence of it being nothing more than a big heap of pelican pooh. Speaking of pelicans, according to our authority, it is one of only 4 places in Australia where pelicans breed. The story was that when the convicts arrived, one man was put there to grow vegetables and thus the first veggie patch in WA was established. Not noticed by the settlers was that the pelicans left and didn't come back for 150 years. They are certainly there now and you can see many young being baby-sat by a few adult birds.

Pelican on Green island. Albany WA

Pelican on Green Island. Albany WA

Jack, as our guide is known, has all these wild birds that come to his boat for their allocation of 1 - 3 fish. There are pelicans, White breasted sea-eagles, osprey and eagles. Each has a name and knows exactly when to appear and how many fish they get. He maintains that this way, we get to see some wild life and the wild life stay wild as they have to spend the rest of the day doing what birds do - fishing.

One pelican in particular though is his pet. It was rescued by his father from tangled fishing lines and embedded hooks. They had to take it to the vet for repair and then they had to take it home for recovery. A pelican being a pelican, it needs water to sit on and a supply of fish to eat. SO they sat it in the bathtub for three weeks and it was his job to feed it after school. Jack soon noticed that it span around every time he gave it a fish and they soon developed a relationship: he would call 'dance', the bird would spin around on the water, and he would feed it a fish. That was 20 years ago and he and the bird still do this routine today. Imagine that, a dancing pelican.

Knowing all the local birds so well, he has to be careful to make sure one doesn't get ideas bigger than his belly, in one case a pelican named Bruce will pester and follow him all the way up the river, stopping him from feeding the other eagles and hawks, but he is strict. If Bruce won't go away, no one gets fed.

Osprey. Albany WA

White Breasted Eagle. Albany WA

White breasted sea-eagle. Albany WA

Pelicam. Albany WA

Juvenile white breasted sea-eagle feeding on his fish. Albany WA

Aways up the river we pass the speed boat club and sanctioned speedboat area, and then Honeymoon Island. Honeymoon Island was originally named Elbow Island but came to be called Honeymoon after a young couple spent their honeymoon there. The legend has it that they were there a week. During that time they planted two Norfolk Pines which grew to be big fine trees and a baby tree was self sown between them. The man went to war and didn't return. His tree withered and died. Her tree was eventually struck by lightning and she died shortly after, as did the tree. A few years back, he was telling the yarn when an old lady piped-up and claimed that she was the daughter and that third tree was her. She came on his cruise every Christmas for a few years, and then one day he noticed the tree dying. The tree and the daughter were both dead within the week.

Around the corner we got all excited at the prospect of seeing the Giant Kingfisher. We all got a laugh at the actual bird that we found

Giant Kingfisher. Albany WA

Further up the river we blow, finally reaching a land that has a bus waiting to take us to Montgomery winery, about 1km up a dirt road. Wine is tasted and bought and we are taken back to the boat where a hot cuppa and a piece of hot damper await us.

Montgomery Winer. Albany WA

The return time is filled with yarns, homespun philosophy and his recital of some poetry that he and his father have written.

Soon enough, we re back at the dock and thanking Captain Jack for a most enjoyable 4 hours on the water.

If you come to Albany, don't miss this.

Albany WA, War memorial, Salmon, Salmon Holes Beach, St Johns Church, National ANZAC Centre, Dawn Service, WWI

Albany WA April 20, 2015
We awoke to another day of full on sunshine - that's two in a row... I went for an early long walk on the beach, and still only got halfway along toward Emu Point.

We started our day at the Anzac Memorial, high on Mt Adelaide overlooking the harbour. To give you some background, This is the very harbour from which the 1st and 2nd convoys of Australian and New Zealand troops left for Gallipoli in 1914. Some 40,000 troops had been assembled on a whole pile of ships, and they complete with a bevy of warships, all gathered here in the harbour, right below this very point. High up here was also where the garrison and guns were housed in the Princess Royal Fortress, built in 1893, as part of the coastal defences for Australia.

Princess Royal Fortress. 1983. Albany WA

Time moves on and now the whole place has been turned into a really nice park with museum pieces all around the place.

The National ANZAC Centre was opened on November 1, 2014 and so is relatively brand-new. It is not huge, but it is brilliantly set out and has lots of interaction for the visitor. It's just about WWI and so the content is quite focussed and quite detailed.

National ANZAC Centre. Albany WA

When you go in, you are given a card with a picture of a soldier on it and a code on the back. You are also given a talking-pen thing.

But first, as you step through the first door, there is a full wall sized film running of a continuous stream of soldiers marching up the street and past you (actual footage) and it is reflected in a mirror on the other side of the hallway. All the while there is a solemn march beat of boots crunching along in time with the marchers. Its pretty powerful right from the start.

As you walk around, you swipe the pen on special markers and listen to the commentary. When you come across special posts, you place your card down on them and a big screen comes up showing all the actual documents for that person, and so you follow their progress through the war and ultimately discover their fate. This is interspersed with stunning and quite personal displayed of individuals and each ones involvement, along with a visual and audio commentary of the process and detail of the war as it played out in the various theatres. One room has full sized windows overlooking the harbour, and the walls have panoramic photos of the assembled convoys: you look at the photos and you look at the harbour. You just can't help but immediately relate the two and once again, that personal touch is there: these were real men and it really happened, right here. The picture I took was of this wire-frame horse and soldier

National ANZAC Centre. Albany WA

In another gallery, with the same stunning view, the centre piece is a narrow, full length glass table. Under the glass are the names of every individual, one above the other. The list slowly moves forward toward the window and the visual link is made that they are going, one by one, from here, out to their waiting ships in the harbour, and to war.

Judy wondering about her grandfather and his departure to war
National ANZAC Centre. Albany WA

I think they have achieved the objective of making it personal, and in doing so, making the history at least believable to the future generations. Lets hope they take some notice. Lest we forget indeed

Both our soldiers, one Australian and one Turkish, Ottoman as they called them, survived, although badly wounded several times.

The Garrison Cafe outside had these very relevant etched windows

Garrison Cafe. Albany WA

Outside,  we walked uphill toward the viewing platform. We stopped to snap some old chimneys but got this shot of a black lizard instead.

Lizard. Albany WA

We explored the old fort, very similar to others see have visited around the country, but were sidetracked by the view from the topmost viewing platform. We sat for at least 45 minutes watching the Pilot and two tug-boats escort a huge cargo ship out of the harbour, and then bring another one, that had been swinging-at-picks, into her berth. As you can see the red and green channel markers don't leave a lot of room for error.

Cargo ship being piloted into port. Albany WA

After a light lunch in town we wandered into St Johns Church, built in 1849 to have a look at the site at which the first ever ANZAC dawn service was held, in 1930. You can see that the ties to the ANZAC legend runs deep in this town

St Johns Church. Albany WA

St Johns Church. Albany WA

Original gas candle-sticks. St Johns Church. Albany WA

Many years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and Judy and I were but youngsters, we came here on a  visit from Perth. One of the things we both remember is going to a disused whaling station and poking around. We think that this is now called Discovery Bay, a preserved, one-time fully  operational whaling station. We took ourselves out there and went happily into the reception / shop area ready to go and look-see. But no! These little scamps wanted $30 - yes THIRTY, dollars per head - yes each, to go in. That's sixty bucks. Time for a reality check - we could eat out for that, we could stay 2 nights in a van park for that - no way - no how, so we left, but not before using the loos.

As a consolation prize, we took a detour to Salmon Holes Beach, reputed to be a place where the Australian Salmon come to breed and feed. OMG, we were treated to the sight no less than 5 giant stingrays rounding up the salmon, who you can see clearly in the waves, and on the hooks of the fisher-persons.

Stingray on Salmon Holes Beach. Albany WA

Rock fisherman. Salmon Holes Beach. Albany WA

Stingray on Salmon Holes Beach. Albany WA

Stingray herding salmon on Salmon Holes Beach. Albany WA

Look again carefully at those same fisher persons on the rocks. This is Monday. Just two days ago, on Saturday, two fishos were swept off those very rocks - at this time they have retrieved one body. This southern ocean is renown for being able to produce a huge wave without notice, and have massive seas -on Saturday they had 7 metre swells. So, lets all go down and fish from the rocks... I think not.

Enough fun for 1 day. Retire to van and drink cider and eat tater crisps before having homemade pizza for dinner.

To put Albany into perspective, while we were having dinner, the TV was going on about Bonaparte and Waterloo and how he was defeated in 1815 and we all think this happened soooo long ago, ancient history almost. Albany, this little town way down here in Terra Australis, thousands of miles from any civilisation, was, and I quote from the web...

On the 9th of November 1826, Major Edmund Lockyer, together with a contingent of convicts, soldiers, a surgeon and storekeeper, left Sydney aboard the 'Amity' bound for King George III Sound. The Amity arrived on Christmas Day 1826. Lockyer selected the site of what is now known as Albany for the crown and thus formed the first Western Australian settlement. Major Lockyer named his new town 'Frederickstown', after King George III's second son, His Royal Highness Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany - 'The Grand Old Duke Of York'. Albany was settled some three years before the Swan River colony, later to be known as Perth.

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Albany WA, Mt Clarence, Desert Mounted Corp, Emu Point

Albany 19 April 2015

An interesting run down to Albany from Hyden through the back country. On our map, they started of as thin brown lines and became thin red lines for some 360km. At first the country was flat, vast expanses of dry looking wheat fields interspersed with heaps of salt lakes, the biggest one of which is Lake Grace, which boasts a tiny town with a large railway siding. The only thing open on a Sunday morning was the servo, where we took some time out to have a coffee and muffin. After Lake Grace the country started to get greener and greener. Way off in the distance we could see the outline of the Stirling Ranges. We figured out that they must be up to 50km away. They kept getting closer and the big flat plains gave way to rolling hills leading up into and across the ranges, which boast their own national park and there were camp grounds and hiking trails all over the place.

Stirling Ranges WA

Stirling Ranges WA

Pressing on we finally came into Albany and followed the GPS to our van park, which is right on the beach at Middleton which is about 3 km out of town itself.

The obligatory tour of Albany proved that we could remember almost nothing about the place despite having been here only just 40 years ago. Judy remembers houses with very large rocks in the front yards, but nothing else rings any bells. All the way across to WA we have been hearing about the ANZAC Memorial here at Albany, and while we didn't go in this afternoon, we drove up to the top of Mt Adelaide and Mt Clarence, which is the Anzac precinct. They seem to have recreated an entire fort type area and on top of Mt Clarence is a massive memorial to the Desert Mounted Corp. 

Desert Mounted Corp memorial
Mt Clarence, Albany WA

We checked out the marina at Emu Point, which is at the end of the beach and has a delightful grassed area and bay type beach for the kiddies. It also has a rather nice cafe right on the point. Say no more.

Emu Point. Albany WA

Gull and Judy keeping a beady eye on each other
Emu Point, Albany WA

Cafe. Emu Point, Albany WA

Finally, we had a go at the spa in the van park, which was a nice way to ease the road-weary body. 

Middleton Beach from top of Mt Clarence. That's our van park between the tree-tops
Albany WA