Shore thing ...Cheynes IV old whaling ship.Credit:Getty Images
Where sea giants once met a grisly end,Mal Chenu finds a host of new attractions.
AS A schoolboy in Perth in the mid-1970s,my year 7 class went to Albany to see the whaling station in action. Still etched in my mind is the sight of whales being hauled up out of the water to be butchered by men wielding razor-sharp hockey stick-like implements. I remember the smell and the sluicing blood. I remember the girl next to me vomiting on my shoe.
This is my first trip back since that disturbing visit and these days whale watching has replaced whale slaughter. Albany is whale-watching nirvana and from July to October you can see them frolicking in the bays and surrounding ocean and tours will take you out to"humpback highway"just offshore for a closer encounter.
The whaling station was decommissioned in 1978 and is now Whale World,a tourism award-winning interactive museum and education centre. You can still see the old processing plant and a whale-chasing ship along with a skeleton display,including the"lucky"last sperm whale taken.
Three movie theatres tell the stories of whales and whaling and further redemption is achieved with day and night Walk on the Wild Side tours,which emphasise the plight of rare,vulnerable and endangered local fauna.
You can get a nice feed at Whalers Galley Cafe and pick up a gift at the grammatically dubious Mobie's Souvenirs,which is all very nice but it will take more than fish and chips and a cetacean snow globe to shake my childhood trauma.
Albany - 400 kilometres south of Perth on WA's rugged south coast - is a very pretty town and the fresh ocean air is palpable. The high annual rainfall here - the area is sometimes called the rainbow coast - stands the Great Southern region apart from much of the rest of drought-stricken WA and enables the local farmers to produce some of the finest vegies (try the purple carrots),beef,cheese and wine in the country. Organic options abound,especially at the 471-stall farmers'market every Saturday.
Some say Albany is like a big English village - quiet,folksy,damp and cold with nice scones and tea.
While this attitude is reinforced by the architecture and the famous Pie and Pint counter lunch at the Earl of Spencer hotel,Albany is an intensely proud Aussie town boasting striking natural beauty,country hospitality (as long as you don't call it ALL-bany),excellent food and the superb Great Southern wines.