World Cruise 2013: Day 50 - Albany, Australia

World Cruise 2013

February 24, 2013

At 8 AM the sips arrived in Albany, Australia. Albany was founded in January 1827, as a military outpost of New South Wales as part of a plan to slow and stop French ambitions in the region. Albany is the oldest permanently settled town in Western Australia, predating Perth and Fremantle by two years. The main industries of Albany consist of tourism, fishing and agriculture, although before the 1950’s whaling was on of the major sources of income and employment for the population. The Whaling Station, which closed operations in 1978, has now been converted into a museum of whaling. The station was the last operation whaling station in the Southern Hemisphere and the English-speaking world at its time of closing.

I had an afternoon tour so I took the shuttle to the main part of town and I walked around town and took some pictures. I spent about two hours in town and returned to the ship.

At 12:30 PM, I left on a tour called “Whale World & Coastal Scenes”. We drove around the coast and drove thru The Princess Royal Fortress for views of the city. The views would have been great but it was a misting rain and we couldn’t see the city. We went to Torndirrup National Part to the Gap, which is a series of unique rock formations. We made it to the Whale World Museum where we had a guide talk to us about the whaling industry and how they process the meat and oil from the whales. We left the museum and we had some time so the driver took us into the hills for a view of the city and the bay because the rain was over and the sun was out. We got back to the ship at 4:25 PM and the ship left for Fremantle, Australia a half-hour later.

Below are some picture taken from the ship and my tour.