Albany and the Anzacs

King George Sound,

Sunday 14^th August

Another full day in Albany started with a drive out to Middleton Beach and Emu Point. Then a lovely scenic coastal drive to a lookout with views out to the main channel and the Southern Ocean.

List of ships in the convoy.

 Princess Royal Harbour looking out to sea.

A convoy of ships assembled in King George Sound in November 1914, from both Australia and New Zealand and sailed off via Columbo and the Suez Canal to training camps in Eygpt, the first Anzacs. 10,000 men from new Zealand in 10 transports joined together with 28 Australian troop carriers carrying 20,000 men and 7, 477 horses. Only at Albany were all the ships seen together.

Albany was chosen as the rendezvous because it was an important coal and watering port.

For thousands of these men, Albany was their last glimpse of Australia.
The Princess Royal Harbour would have to be one of the most beautiful harbours. John and I saw it on a perfect day.

 At the Princess Royal fortress, built in 1893 and now a tourist attraction, there is a plague facing the harbour on a hill looking out to sea, with the names of all the Anzac fleet. And perched high on Mt Clarence, there is a bronze statue of the light horsemen, which once stood in Port Said and now stands proudly honouring the Anzacs.

Anzac statue at Mt.Clarence.

The first Anzac Day Dawn service was held in Albany in 1918.

A fun attraction in town was Dog Rock, which looks like the head of a dog.

                                         Dog Rock

There is an old brig, the Amity, close to town, now in dry dock in a park. John looked at the old goal, then we drove around looking at the old homes around the town.

The brig Amity.

lovely old home.

Albany

Old whaling ship at whale world.

Albany is situated on King George Sound and until 1978 was the centre of Australia’s whaling industry. The whales were almost hunted to extinction and now the whaling station is a tourist attraction, full of historical significance. John and I spent some of the morning wandering around the exhibitions, including one of the whaling ships now in dry dock.

ship's harpoon

John on whaler

Tanks where the whale oil was stored before being loaded on ships.

a crewman's bunk on whaling ship

After a coffee in the café, situated right on the water, we set off to look at the various lookouts and attractions in the National Park. There are walking trails or just a few steps to some attractions, depending on one’s fitness. John walked down 82 steps to some blowholes, when he got there he didn’t see any blowholes doing what they do best, blowing!

Cafe overlooking the water

                                                   Looking at some of the whaling history

Salmon Ponds

Stony Hill  lookout.

Albany township is built on a hill, most buildings have views of the water. There are a lot of old stone buildings, a church right in the centre of town is open to the public to admire it’s wonderful features. Old fashioned lamps are lit all the way down the aisle, at the end is a lovely stained glass window. We went to the local Farmer’s Market and got some vegetables, apples and bread.

Albany Town Hall

St John's Church

Tomorrow we are going to the heritage area and the memorial to the soldiers from WW1 who sailed from Albany on ships to the battlegrounds. For some it was there last glimpse of their country, many thousands of them never returned.

Three black triplet lambs we came across.

Valley of the Giants

Thursday 11^th August

After leaving Pemberton, we travelled east to Walpole and called into the visitor centre to ask about the Tingle Tree Top walk and buy our tickets. We continued down the highway for 16klms after a drive through Walpole. The Tingle forest is 6 klms off the highway. I hadn’t heard of Tingle trees before, Karri trees are unique to Western Australia, they are well known.

                                                            The forest floor.

                                                       John on the tree walk.

The tree top walk was awesome. We were 40 metres off the ground amongst the tree tops, on a steel structure. It was very scenic looking down onto the floor of the forest. It was a perfect day for the walk, sunny and no wind.

The walk through tree.

Fun photo.

John walked to the Empire of the Giants, huge trees with trunks you can walk through.

We continued to Denmark for the night, the caravan park was on the rivermouth just out of town, we had a relaxing night there before heading to Albany.

Margaret River and Pemberton region

Cape Naturaliste walk.

Monday 8^th August.

John and I made our way to Margaret River, detouring off to see Cape Naturaliste and Yallingup, via the coastal road. The paddocks have lots of wild white arum lilies everywhere, a lovely sight. They have guided tours at Cape Naturaliste lighthouse, however we decided to go on the coastal walk, hoping to see whales; but had no luck. It was scenic along the track, looking out to sea it was wild and windy.

Coastal walk

This was on the board at the lookout.

White lillies were everywhere.

Mossy rock

We got to Margaret River by lunchtime, the country side was so green, a rich grazing area. We passed lots of wineries, booked into the caravan park and went out to a chocolate factory and the Howling Wolves winery. Made purchases at both of course!

This cafe was in Witchcliffe.

Margaret River.

Tuesday 9^th August

Augusta was our next town to discover, it is the gateway to Cape Leeuwin and the most south westerly place on the Australian mainland. It's here that the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. Augusta lies on the Bloodwood River, a pretty town we passed through it on our drive to Cape Leeuwin. We stopped at an old historic water wheel, right at the ocean. The area is beautiful and wild, John went into the lighthouse grounds and walked around the lightkeepers cottages. We saw a noisy flock of black cockatoos on the way down to the lighthouse. The Cape Leeuwin lighthouse is a large imposing structure.

Cape Leeuwin lighthouse

Syd at the most south westerly point in Australia

 

The beach at Cape Leewin with the historic water wheel in the background.

We made our way to Pemberton along the Bussell Highway, through lovely green country side.

Pemberton is a timber town with a large mill. It has pretty old timber cottages built in the 1920’s. We are booked into the caravan park for two nights, we want to go on the railway tram tomorrow. The tram goes on a scenic trip through the forest, over several trestle bridges and plenty of photo opportunities.

Pemberton Hotel

Ring necked parrot.

Wednesday 10^th August

Our first stop today was the large Gloucester Tree, there’s even a steel ladder built around and up through the tree with a large platform at the top. Enough to keep the most fit climber happy. John and I took photos. John climbed a small section.

The Gloucester Tree

The little tram meanders through the Karri forest slowly and through some pretty scenery. They stop at the Cascade Falls for a photo opportunity, the whole trip took nearly two hours return. The sun came out which added a nice touch.

Pemberton Tramway.

Cascade Falls

On the tram

Part of the track.

Wooden cottages in Pemberton

Later we drove to the Beedelup Falls and took a walk to the lookout. John went a bit further to the sway bridge. The country side is brilliant green grazing land with sheep and cattle. Emus graze along side the cattle.  I spotted one tiny black lamb walking with its mother, he was the only black lamb that I could see in the flock.

Another night in Pemberton, then tomorrow east towards Albany, with a stop at the Tree Top walk.

Return to Fremantle and Busselton Jetty.

Fremantle markets.

Saturday morning was cool and sunny; we packed up and headed south to Fremantle. We noticed the markets and the goal yesterday, so thought it would be good to have a closer look at both.  John had a quick look at the markets then went to the goal. He didn’t do the tour but took a few photos and got a couple of souvenirs. I wandered around the markets, buying some fruit and vegetables and a take away coffee.

The heritage buildings are so nice, we spent another hour driving around and taking more photos.

Fremantle goal.

                                

Heritage area.

We arrived in Busselton  early afternoon, John called into the visitor centre; we booked onto the caravan park and had a quiet afternoon.

Train ride

John after the walk out on the Jetty.

Busselton Jetty

Sunday 7^th August.

John has wanted to walk the Busselton Jetty since the beginning of the trip.  Busselton Jetty spans 1.8 klms across Geographe Bay.  It’s the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere. The shallow waters of the bay restricted ship movement, the long jetty was required to transport the wool and cut timber to the ships. At the end is an Underwater observatory, it was a pity it wasn’t open for us to experience it. I rode the little train out and back, John did the walk both ways.

We enjoyed a coffee at the local café overlooking the bay, looked at the art and crafts, which are housed in the old courthouse and jail. We enjoyed looking through the various rooms and the jail cells.

We had a quiet afternoon back at the park, tomorrow we are off to Margaret River.