Around Albany

When we were on holiday in WA four years ago, one of our favourite towns was Albany, so when we came back to the state, we decided to stay there for a while. Why ? Well, I find that a lot of WA towns have a sort of temporary feel, Ringwood without the rubbish perhaps, whereas Albany is literally dripping with history - too much perhaps, when you consider that whaling finished here in 1978 ! It has a wonderful setting on the sea, nestled between two mountains, Mt Clarence and Mt Melville, wonderful harbours, and a nice stock of colonial buildings. Unfortunately whilst full time work is available, temporary work is not, but we decided to lob in Albany for a while anyway, and use it as a base to explore the picturesque South West. Incidentally, although on average the Western Australian economy is doing better than the rest of Australia, it is operating a two track system, with mining going gangbusters, but the remaining sectors doing less well than the Australian average. I am amused by West Australian politicians of all varieties, who have been net importers of federal funding for 97 years, but have miraculously discovered, just recently, the principle of retaining all tax revenues in the states in which they were generated.

Anyway, we have taken a small house with spectacular views of the harbour, and are wisely using our time to wander. We have come across some local inhabitants, rather scary snakes, attractive lizards, and more emus than I have seen anywhere else on our travels.

This part of WA has some of the most spectacular forests in Australia. For me the most impressive tree is the Karri, although slightly shorter than the mountain ash, it boasts some impressive statistics - growing up to 88 metres tall, weighting up to 120 tonnes, a tree can produce 250,000 flowers, only one fifth of which will mature into gum nuts, only one quarter of which will germinate, and only one thousandth of which will grow into mature trees. A large Karri will drink 170 litres of water a day, and produce one kilo of honey per year.

Our vegetarianism experiment is moving into its third month, and seems to be going well.

We have also scaled some rather impressive peaks, and while I doubt that we are quite ready to tackle the south col and the Hilary step, we are feeling rather pleased with ourselves.