Day 45 – February 19, 2015

Well today we were in Albany, Australia. It is not pronounced as the city in New York state, but with a funny ‘a’. This small town is located in Western Australia. It is the oldest continuous settlement in Western Australia, and until the construction of Freemantle Port in 1897, was the only deep water port in Western Australia. Albany is different than the rest of Western Australia as it has a Mediterranean climate with an average of 942 millimeters of rainfall per year and an average summer temperature of only 72. It was very pleasant today, and probably about 70 degrees.

We walked into town from the ship, about 20 minutes. We saw the Brig Amity, which is a replica of the ship that Major Edmund Lockyear used when he came here with his crew, convicts and stock. We then saw the Old Gaol (jail) from the same time period. In town there were many of the old buildings that had been repurposed.

One of the things that I have not mentioned is the Aborigines people. When the British came here, the Aborigines inhabited Australia. They were treated almost as badly as we treated the Indians, but not quite. Today they are well respected and even have their own flag. It is black on the top to represent their color, red on the bottom to represent the soil and a big yellow circle in the middle to represent the sun. They also have some fantastic art work. We have had an Aborigine on the ship since we got to Sydney talking and teaching about their culture and their art and music. They play an instrument called the Didgeridoo.  We had a concert one night and it was interesting. It is a long wooden cylinder that they play by passing air through it.

There are two more ports to go in Australia. The next one is Freemantle (Perth) where we are going to an animal park, so hopefully will have some great pictures. The other is a small town that we are only at for ½ day called Geraldton; then off to Bali and Indonesia.

The pictures include the entertainment center (Sydney Opera House want to be), Brig Amity (ship and gun), Albany Gaol (jail), war memorial (tall monument), Town Hall (looks like a church), bridge over the highway (very long), beaches and town.