Things to Do in Albany
The historical and coastal city of Albany is a popular tourist destination in Western Australia and rightly so. Not only is there plenty to see, there are also numerous things to do in Albany.
There are many old, historic buildings in Albany and the historical significance of this town can be seen in these 19th century colonial buildings. St John the Evangelist Anglican Church, built in 1848 was the first Anglican church consecrated in Western Australia and is the epitome of an English country church. A number of old buildings stand near the western end of Stirling Terrace. The Residency Museum, originally part of the convict hiring depot built in the 1850s, details the history of the town and its surrounding area. The convict hiring depot itself and the Old Gaol now house the collection of the Albany Historical Society. Nearby, a full-scale replica of the brig Amity, the ship that carried Albany’s founding party from Sydney in 1826.
History of a different sort can be found at Frenchman’s Bay on the opposite side of King George Sound, on the site of Australia’s last whaling station at Cheynes Beach, 21 km from Albany. Now converted to the Whale World Museum, this is the world’s largest whaling museum. Here, tour guides take visitors around the remains of the Cheyne Beach whaling station and explain the process of extracting whale oil.
Other Albany attractions include the rocky formations created by the natural forces of the sea at Torndirrup National Park, located south of Albany off Frenchman Bay Road. The two popular attractions are the often windswept and elemental Natural Bridge and The Gap. Nearby the Blowholes put on a show when the surf’s up, worth the 80-step stairway up and down.
Other Albany tourist attractions include whale watching from July to October, when incredible breaching displays of migrating whales can sometimes be seen from the coast of Albany.
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