Our first full day in Albany was a busy one. After a shopping trip to buy sleeping gear for the kids and warmer clothes for all of us, we braved sideways rain and icy winds to marvel at some of Albany's most famous natural wonders: The Gap (which made our bottoms clench as we looked down into the menacingly powerful waves crashing dozens of metres below us), the Natural Bridge (less frightening, but still pucker-worthy), and the Blowholes (which despite the stormy weather didn't impress us much with their blow power, but the walk back up all those stairs sure was invigorating!)
The weather fined up a bit for our tour at Albany's Historic Whaling Station, the last one of it's kind to cease operation in Australia. What's so interesting about this place is that in 1978 the place pretty much just shut its doors. And now, it's open almost exactly as it was nearly 40 years ago so that tourists can learn all about this gruesome industry that employed so many in this part of the world and continues to be a thriving industry still to this day in a handful of countries.
The boys loved climbing all around the whaling ship: trying out the bunks, steering the ship, and aiming the harpoon. Paul and Grumpy liked learning about the operations and mechanical stuff, and I just liked hearing how whale numbers have continued to increase in the decades since most nations of the world realised the impact they were having on these amazing creatures.
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