Travel Blog: Smooth Sailing to Albany

The seas were, FINALLY, on our side between Adelaide and Albany. Although there was usually some movement and a few whitecaps, it wasn't enough to keep the usual events from taking place.

Our Odyssey Art at Sea classes took place regularly. The knitting group met in the mornings, but the number of people attending depended on how much the ship was moving on any day. The art classes took place in the afternoons and this segment the project was designing and colouring silk scarves using different methods of dye application. The display for all of these projects is still to come in Busselton.

The chef's team usually creates one big lunchtime buffet near the end of each cruise, and this one was the Viennese Buffet. We usually would walk around, take a few photos, and go eat at the Trident Grill or the Marketplace buffet. But after taking a look at the offerings, Monica decided we would have to take part in the big buffet this time. As many of the culinary and hotel management officers are Austrian, they chose all of the best things from the region. Here are some photos of the display and our lunch plates:

A very small selection of buffet items - Devilled Egg, Shrimp,
sausage, German meatloaf and roasted veggies...

...weisswurst with sauerkraut and roast potatoes, goulasch and
the Mom favourite knackwurst sausage, one more time.

The dessert selection included Marble Cake, Cream Puffs,
'Rote Gruetze' fruit pudding with vanilla sauce, and, in the
back, Larry's favourite Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

That same evening, we had our first reservation at Prego, the Italian restaurant. We did hold back a bit at lunch, knowing what the meals there are like, and we had been doing our best whenever the weather allowed us to walk our laps around the Promenade Deck. So far we'd been able to maintain our goal of 10 miles, or 34 laps around per week. Dinner at Prego was delicious, as usual.

Caprese Salad

Osso Buco, braised veal shank, served with light creamy
polenta

Rack of Lamb with root vegetables

Dessert - Larry's gelato and Monica's Tiramisu

The town of Albany is very interesting. Also discovered in the very early 1800s when captains Flinders for the British and Baudin for the French were sailing around planting their flags everywhere, it is in one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Obviously Flinders got here first, as it is called King George Sound, and the bay where the town is located is Princess Royal Harbour.

We were booked on a tour to the Whaling Station museum and Torndirrup National Park for the afternoon.

A replica of the Brig Amity that brought the first settlers to
Albany. Unlike Sydney, much of South and West Australia was
settled by 'freemen' who chose to come here, rather than convicts.

Since its establishment, much of Albany's commerce was based on the whaling trade. Both within the Sound and in the nearby Southern Ocean they hunted Sperm Whales and Humpback Whales, using the oil for candles, oil lamps, equipment lubrication, and even cosmetics. The bones, skin and cartilage was reduced to a meal used in cattle feed and as fertilizer. The last owners of this whaling station operated it from the 1950s until 1978. Not only was the cost of sending the ships out greater than the revenue from the whales, the Humpback Whales were on the endangered species list and whale hunting was no longer socially acceptable over much of the world. Now the Humpback and Sperm Whale populations worldwide have grown significantly and they are, for the most part, free to swim all the oceans.

There is also a large display of whale skeletons at the museum

The whaling ship Cheynes IV, one of the last ships
used before the company closed

Along with the big ships, people would go whaling from
shore, using these small boats, a manual harpoon and
lots of manpower on the oars

The views on the beach from the station.

There had not been whales here for a very long time, but now there
are some Sperm Whales coming back into the Sound

Our next stop was at Torndirrup National Park, in an area known as 'The Gap'. It shows off the ruggedness of the coastline on the west side of Australia as well as the power of the waves crashing on the shore. Even when we sailed out that evening, it was easy to see the water spraying high up against the rocky islands from quite a distance away.

The Natural Bridge

Yes, Monica was here. And it was windy enough that she needed
the strap on her Tilley hat or it would blow away

Our final stop for the tour was the top of one of the hills behind Albany, known as Mount Clarence. This spot is known not only for the spectacular views over the Sound, but it is also the home of the Memorial to the Desert Mounted forces of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, or ANZAC, which was originally established to help fight in World War I. This particular unit rode across part of the North African desert to fight the Turkish army at Gallipoli, where they took massive casualties. There are ANZAC memorials all over Australia and New Zealand, but this particular one is here in this relatively small town because it was the very last view of Australia for those who did not return. There is a particularly poignant ceremony each ANZAC Day, April 25, where a memorial wreath is placed in the water to remember all those who sailed away and did not return.

Views over a small part of King George Sound

As we sailed out toward Busselton it seemed that we'd be in for some choppy seas again, but the captain assured us that the wind would be following us once we were turned in the right direction and he was right.

The pilot boat leaving us

Sunset was quite beautiful that evening, and as the captain had predicted, it was even nice enough to be outside of Palm Court to take photos.

We didn't have any particular plans for dinner, so we thought we'd go back to Silk if we could get in. One of the nice things about the changes Crystal has made on Serenity with open seating dining is that there is no structure - you aren't expected in a particular place at a set time unless you've made a reservation there, and most of the time you can get a table without one. This time we even have some photos of our meal: