What to do in Albany?
Albany will hold a special place in our hearts. We spent Christmas Day, and seen the New Year in here. We did so much exploring, you will definitely want to spend at least a week here.
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WHAT TO DO IN ALBANY
Upon entering Albany we were put off, it was Christmas time, it was crazy busy and Albany isn’t a small country town. Our first impression wasn’t great and I jumped the gun into thinking I wasn’t going to like it here. Boy was I wrong! Albany was a secret surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed. The town has some serious history and funnily enough a lot of that history comes down to the Brig Amity Ship. So upon entering Albany, Miss Amity was famous!
THE BRIG AMITY REPLICA
How proud was Miss Amity to walk aboard the replica Brig Amity! It was really interesting too. There are two choices, you can either walk on the top deck for free or you can pay a small fee and go down below. We paid the small fee and were given headphones, where you can listen to the information at each station. A big tick from all of us.
FRENCHMANS BAY TOURIST DRIVE- the beaches
What to do in Albany?
Frenchman Bay Tourist Drive- the beaches
Well this is a must on the list. The coastal drive has loads of destinations off of the main drag. We chose to do the drive on a sunny hot day and explore all the beaches first and they did not disappoint. We have nearly traveled up the entire Western Australian coast and Albany had one of the most beautiful beaches yet! Which one you ask? Misery Beach was a clear winner (the photo above). The water was crystal blue, the water was calm and the sand was squeaking under our toes. Not only was the beach perfect but there was beautiful boulder rocks for scenery. Simply sensational. BUT if you go on a cloudy, windy day the beach is completely different. The water turns dark, the waves crash in and somehow the wind finds it way to whip the sand up against your legs. So choose your days wisely. Other beaches to visit are Frenchman’s Bay, Cable Beach,
FRENCHMAN'S BAY TOURIST DRIVE- the scenic drive
Frenchman Bay Tourist Drive-
Apart from the beaches there are also a lot of other coastal attractions to look at. The Gap and The Natural Bridge are very nice to go see. The force of the water crashing in between the rocks, all happens underneath the bridge your standing on. From there you can take a walk to the blowholes BUT check the tide and weather as there are certain times where it blows and the walk is about 1km.
There are plenty of signs along this road and I would recommend packing a picnic, loading your camera with plenty of storage space and allowing the day to explore. These places ask for an honesty payment system, where you buy a day pass to the national parks. I didn’t see anyone checking tickets.
ALBANY SKATE & BMX PARK
If you have been following along our travels you will know we love a good skate park. Our kids are scooter mad! We spent nearly everyday here for at least an hour. The skate park was very good and even had a live webcam that you could log onto and watch the other skaters if you weren’t there. This is located at the PCYC, which was also the same place we volunteered for the community Christmas luncheon. LIVE CAM HERE
AQUATIC CENTRE
Albany has the craziest weather! One day it is hot and sunny and then the next day you wake up and it’s blowing a gale and raining. So there were some days where we took cover inside at the aquatic center. Entry fees were as low as $4.20 a child. There was a 100 metre tube slide which the kids had a ball on. It kept them busy for hours and they slept well those nights.
ALBANY LIBRARY
While we were in Albany it was the Christmas school holidays. The library put on free daily activities. It was great for those wintery summer days. The kids did art and craft activities, they had group book reading, professional drawing workshops and even a movie night on the grass. I booked online and just turned up at the appropriate times. This went really well with our road schooling. The kids met different children and really enjoyed the activities put on by the library. Click here to find out some events
WINDFARM
Did you know that Albany is home to one of the largest wind farms in Australia and produces 80% of Albany’s electricity needs with clean, renewable energy! How cool is that! It is free to visit the farm, there are information panels that the kids can read to educate themselves and let’s not forget us adults too! The wind farm is located 200 metres off Frenchman Bay drive.
MIDDLETON BEACH
We are beach lovers and while I love a flat beach, the kids love riding the waves in. Mr Jordan is trying to learn to surf, he has been practicing on a boogie board to stand up. Middleton Beach always has some decent waves that the kids can jump into or on. After we were done at the beach we headed to the showers for a warm shower, yes this beach has warm showers for after.
Along the foreshore is a cool playground for after the beach, it’s a big ship situated right out the front of the Three Anchors Pub. We highly recommend the Three Anchors Cafe, we had fish and chips for dinner and it was delicious and very reasonable. 5 stars from Fearless and Free Range.
CASTLE ROCK
Put your hiking shoes on and get your camera ready. This granite skywalk is a 360 degree view all of 570 metres above sea level. It is a long tough walk up to the skywalk so if you have small children they might not be able to make the distance. It will take a minimum of an hour to get there and an hour or more to get back depending on your fitness level. I did not take the children to this as they would not have made it.
CHAINSAW SCULPTURES
This was on our list of things to do and we completely forgot. Before we arrived in Albany we were encouraged to go here by another traveling family. It is a gold coin donation upon entry. Lovely to go for a walk and to show the kids what is possible if you have a passion.
NATIONAL ANZAC CENTRE
This award winning National Anzac Centre is one of Australia’s most important cultural pilgrimages. The centre looks over the actual harbour where 41,000 men and women departed Australia for the great war. Prepare to remember, learn and explore.
