22 July 2013 - Big4 Albany Gardens Holiday Resort, Albany, Western Australia

The Tour is over and our nights will return to normal. Although I do realise there are still another three Ashes cricket matches but I suspect Chris is losing interest after such a lack lustre performance by the Aussies.

The raising of the blinds revealed blue sky, an uncommon sight these days. We packed up lunch and headed off to the Torndirrup National Park, after a quick detour to Office Works to have a pile of printing done.

Whale World, which we never did return to, is surrounded by this National Park, so there was an element of déjà vu as we headed along the southern protective arm of the King George Sound. Before reaching the park, we detoured again up the Vancouver Peninsula hoping to drive to the end and look out across the Ataturk Entrance and back to the city. Unfortunately this is not possible because the old quarantine station on the hill end of the peninsula is fenced and gated off and run as a private accommodation and event centre in the same manner the Fairbridge Village just north of Pinjarra is. 

We turned back and pulled into Fisherman’s Bay and Mistaken Island Beach, both on the eastern shore of the peninsula and both with views out beyond the Sound to the Southern Ocean. Here the sea was calm and we were sheltered from the northerly wind. We were intrigued to note geraniums and gladioli growing wild in the scrub, and another flowering plant with the most delightful perfume, a little like night jasmine.

We travelled on a little further, almost to Whale World, where we had seen a Lookout sign. The views from there were little better than those we had just had, however signs advised that remnants of an old Norwegian whaling station lay below us on the shore. Chris decided it must have been those he saw when he was here over forty years ago.

Back over the ridge to the rugged south coast of the peninsula, we called into several of the tourist spots; Jimmy Newell’s Beach, which is a stunningly beautiful sheltered narrow harbour, far below the car park and lookout and not at all safely accessible by the public, and the Blowholes, accessible by a 1.6 kilometres walk down onto great granite slabs, peppered with a series of fissures in the granite which, on rougher days, force the large waves to spurt. Today the sea was quiet and yet the pounding and hissing of the waves in the rock crevasses below still caused me to jump in fright.

Everywhere about in the national park are signs warning of the danger of the rocky coast and wild seas, as numerous as those warning the dangers of crocodiles in north Queensland. Many lives have been lost here over the years; however I suspect those most at risk, the rock fishermen and errant children, never bother heeding the signs.

Natural Bridge

The third and most popular place for tourists is The Gap & Natural Bridge, carved from ancient granite by the forces of nature; water and wind alike. On arrival we sat in the landcruiser and ate our lunch already delayed because we got caught up chatting with fellow Queenslanders; “fellow” because we both share Queensland registration plates on our vehicles. Unlike us, they are travelling in their two wheel drive ute, set up with camping gear on the back under a canvas cover, all of which has turned out to be rather inadequate in these winter conditions. They obviously did not do their homework when planning their trip to south Western Australia, however we were too polite to state the obvious. We spent some time sharing comments about the routes shared over the past couple of weeks, and watched several separate pods of whales pass far out to sea, an absolute bonus and totally unexpected.

When we did emerge into the sunshine to explore the rocky features for ourselves, we were delighted to find they were as awesome as the brochures promised. They, rightfully, are the draw card for the tourists, and I suspect, the reason that the Torndirrup National Park is one of the most visited national parks in Western Australia.

Our last stop in the park was the Wind Farm, reached by heading back toward town and then turning up past the Regional Prison, which looks as if it is a high security affair. We parked and walked up through the peppermint gums and a great variety of other coastal scrub, including more geraniums, to the information shelter and the three lookout points. We took in the short Wind Farm walk which takes in a short portion of the Bibbulman Trail along the coastal boardwalk section. We stood high on the cliffs above the sea, watching the swifts and white-cheeked honey eaters flit about the scrub, the seagulls swoop below us, and again saw more whales, although this time they were even further away.

These wind turbines are in no way the first we have visited and learned about, however are probably those we have been closest to. Both Chris and I have been rather dismissive about the pathetic people who complain about the noise of nearby turbines, or how they make them ill. Today as we stood so close and were subjected to the ceaseless whish-whish of the massive blades, we decided that there was probably merit in the complaints after all, and we decided we did not ever want to live in the vicinity of a wind farm.

The wind farm here at Albany is owned and managed by Verve Energy who have several outfits around the country including those we called into east of Geraldton. There are eighteen turbines which supply Albany with 80% of its energy needs. The site is exceptional in that there are only seven days per year when the wind is not strong enough to turbine the turbines.

Albany's Wind Farm

The wind farm was constructed in two stages, the first opened in 2001, the second, ten years later. The towers are sixty five metres tall, with a 50 tonne generator on top driven by three 35 metre blades, longer than the wind span of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Winds as low as 7 kph will turn the blades, however when the wind reaches 120 kph, the turbines are shut down to prevent damage. At top speed the blades are revolving at 290 kph.

An older sign which reports there are only twelve turbines, advises the project cost at $44 million. Obviously it cost a whole lot more by the time all eighteen were up. I was horrified to learn that the wind farm was designed to operate for only twenty years; I call that short term planning. Perhaps they are thinking of wave energy taking over in the future?

Time was ticking away and we decided it was too late to continue west and on to the West Cape Howe National Park, so we headed back to Albany and drove up Mt Adelaide to take in the views. Here we found the gates of the Princess Royal Fortress, the remnants of the fort from yester year, now an outdoor museum which invites an entry fee.

It was Captain George Vancouver who discovered one of the world’s finest natural harbours in 1791 and named it the Princess Royal Harbour and the King George III Sound. During the 19^th century there were fears that the port could be lost to an enemy naval squadron, fears I read of from time to time as we travel and which seem so irrational, however I guess you had to be there at the time to understand. Anyway, the first federal act, before Federation, was that all the Australian states agreed to proportionally pay for the construction of a fort with the Imperial British Government supplying all the guns. The fort was opened in 1893 as the first federal defence of Australia, and is today called the Princess Royal Fortress. From 1893 through to 1956, the guns of King George Sound maintained their role as a deterrent, until the fortress along with other coastal defences was decommissioned.

The gate keeper was a friendly portly chap, perhaps a Rotarian dressed up in military uniform, who allowed us to drive to the top of the hill to see the view without paying. We promised him we would be back on Wednesday afternoon, to pay and explore the complex. That is the plan but with all our plans, they can change.

Above the War memorial, above King George Sound

The road to Mt Clarence is close-by and this we next took, knowing access was limited. Mount Clarence, is home to Albany’s war memorial where a special dawn service is held every ANZAC  day. This is special because of Albany being the kick off spot for most of the soldiers who headed off to the theatre of war in 1914, already alluded to a day or so ago.  The centennial of that occasion will be celebrated next year in November and in the meantime work is being undertaken at the memorial to get it up to scratch for the occasion. As a result the path to the summit is closed off to the public and instead we had to take the long scenic route around the granite rocks and up the steeper side to an excellent lookout from where we enjoyed 360 degrees all around the city. We decided that the work at the memorial must be massive or the health & safety precautions over the top; we peered through the high fencing from the back end of the work area and decided it was a bit of both.

As another excellent day came to an end, we picked up a rotisserie chook from one of the major supermarkets and settled in for a sport free evening.