Albany Travel & Hostels Guide

Itchy Feet Team | May 31, 2009 | Comments 0

Albany Gap

Albany is a port city on south coast of Western Australia, 400 km south of Perth, the state capital. It is situated on Princess Royal Harbour, a natural
inlet of the Southern Ocean. Unlike nearly all of Western Australia, Albany is cool and wet, with a Mediterranean climate with an average summer temperature of only 22.4°C.

Get in

By car

The direct route on the Albany Highway from Perth is around 4 hours drive, on single carriageway road with 110km/hr speed limit. There are overtaking lanes every 5-10km or so. There is not much in the way of tourist attractions on this road, and the more scenic routes add significant additional kilometres and time to the trip. Most (all?) car hire in Perth has kilometre limits per day, beyond which excess kilometre charges apply.

By bus

Transwa
offers daily services to Albany. Coaches arrive and depart from the tourism information centre, which also makes bookings and sells tickets. Passenger trains no longer run to Albany.

By air

Albany Airport is 10km North of Albany on Albany Hwy. There are daily flights from Perth with Skywest. Tel: +61-8-9841-9208.

Get around

By foot

Central Albany, including the historical precinct, shopping area, and port are within walking distance of each other. However, the Middleton beach area is a few kilometres away from this area.

By bicycle

There is a practical cycleway network connecting the areas of Albany, and several bicycle hire places in town. In particular the historical area, hopping precinct, Middleton Beach and Emu Point are all linked by a waterfront off-road cycleway.

By car

To get to Whaleworld and the surrounding national parks and other features, you will need have a car, or take a bus tour.

See

Old Forts Lighthouse Albany

Albany Convict Gaol – corner of Stirling Terrace &
Parade Street. Tel: +61-8-9841-5403. Restored complex of men’s cell blocks and some warders’ quarters, built in 1852 for Imperial convicts shipped to WA as artisans and skilled labourers. This is also the town’s main museum with extensive historic presentations of the local area including maps, photographs, interesting Aboriginal artifacts, and relics from the penal colony days. Open daily from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. Special night tours are also available on Fridays and Saturdays.

Residency Museum – near Stirling Terrace. Originally built as a store in the 1850s but converted into the Government Residency from 1873-1953. Open from 10 am to 5 pm from Monday to Saturday and from 2 pm to 5 pm on Sundays. See the jaws of a white pointer shark and the huge rotating lens from the old Eclipse Lighthouse.

Albany Public Library and Information Service – York Street. Tel: +61-9841-9390. Also offers internet access.

Albany Tourist Information Centre – at the Old Railway Station on Proudlove Parade. Tel: +61-8-9841-1088.

Albany Town Hall Theatre – York Street. Tel:+61-8-9841-1661. Plays, concerts, musicals of all kinds, located in one of Western Australia’s oldest buildings.

Albany Wind Farm
12km south-west of the city centre. Worth a visit even if you are not into windmills. Twelve 1800kW wind turbines supply a large percentage of Albany’s electrical requirements. The Wind Farm is open every day of the year. There is a large car-parking area, extensive network of boardwalks with views over the southern ocean. There is artwork and information panels containing profound statements as you admire the view. The Bibbulmum Track passes through the area, and there is a staircase down the cliff to the ocean. Entry is free.

Brig Amity Replica – located in the Albany Historical Precinct, off Princess Royal Drive. Tel: +61-8-9841-5403. Replica of the Brig Amity (built in 1975) which brought Albany’s first settlers from Sydney in 1826. Open daily. There is an honour box to pay entry fee onto the ship.

Old Post Office Building, Stirling Terrace. Historic former customs and bond store, with the middle level being a sorting area and post office. The spiral staircase in the tower is magnificent,and the building now houses restaurants, a weaver and a museum.

Patrick Taylor Cottage Museum, 39 Duke Street, Tel:+61-8-9841-6174. Wattle and daub home, built circa 1832, the oldest surviving dwelling in Western Australia. Open daily.

The Princess Royal Fortress, Forts Road (off Marine Drive), Tel: +61-8-9841 9333, The Princess Royal Battery currently functions as a tourist destination and provides an insight into the site and Australian military history generally. Apart from the many exhibits and displays, the site incorporates a small shop and tearooms for visitors; a function centre; and a covered area with barbecues and tables.

Vancouver Arts Centre, Vancouver Street, Tel:
+61-8-9841-9260. Housed in the former Albany Cottage Hospital, a
heritage-listed building built in 1887, the VAC is a focal point for all forms of the arts in the Albany area.

Whale World, Tel: +61-8-9844-4021,.Situated on the site of the old Cheynes Beach Whaling Station, closed in 1978. Includes ‘Whalers Galley Café-Restaurant,’ whale-orientated museum with 20 different exhibits including ‘Giants of the Sea’ whale skeleton display, 3D whale movies, souvenir shop and visits to the ‘Cheynes IV’ an actual former whaling ship, tied up next to the museum.

Do

Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre, Barker Road, Tel:
+61-8-9841-2788. Gymnasium for fitness activities, swimming including swimming lessons), aquarobics, basketball, netball, volleyball, indoor soccer, tennis, indoor hockey, badminton, rollerblading, climbing wall, crèche for minding children, activities for seniors, plus Jamma’s Café. Open daily.

Albany Historic Town Trails – Two walks which visit 39 places of significant historical interest within a 2 km radius of central business district. One starts from the Gaol and the other from Stirling Terrace. Free maps area available from the tourist information centre.

Albany Whale Tours, 41 Shelley Beach Road, Tel: 61-8-9845-1068. Whale watching and habour cruises.

Bibbulmun Track. Long distance walking path running from Kalamunda, east of Perth, to Albany, a distance of 963 km. (The name comes from the Bibbulmun, or Noongar people.) There is also a parallel bicycle trail, called the Munda Biddi Trail, for part of the distance.

Desert Mounted Corps War Memorial – originally located
at Port Said in Egypt, unveiled by Prime Minister ‘Billy’ Hughes in 1932. Shipped back to Australia in 1959. Good views from this point.

Mount Clarence Trails – from the War Memorial at the end of Apex Drive around the edges of Mount Clarence. Views of the harbour and the town.

Quaranup Point Possession Trail – 1.6 km walk from Albany’s old Quarantine Station to Point Possession where George Vancouver claimed the whole of Western Australia for Great Britain. It is located on the far side of Princess Royal Harbour on the way out toTorndirrup National Park.

Hostel Accommodation

Albany Backpackers

Cnr Stirling Tce & Spencer St, Albany, Western Australia, Australia

We are a cosy medium sized 2-storey hostel. The building has been extensively renovated through-out and is covered in Backpacker invoked art (murals & paintings). Lonely Planet stated ‘…we probably have the best atmosphere of any hostel in Western Australia.

Albany Discovery Inn

9 Middleton Beach Road, Albany, Western Australia, Australia

We are an ‘Old Guest House’ built in the 1920′s We are on Albany’s beautiful Middleton Beach (100)mtres. As you sit in our outside gazebo you can hear the ocean and if this is in the evening you see the stars above.

Get out

Stirling Range National Park
- about 80 km north of Albany. Rugged peaks rising abruptly to more
than 1000m (3281 ft) above sea level, with stark cliff faces, magnificent views and rare plants ranging from tiny orchids and heathland to flowering gums. Most peaks have paths leading from the
parking areas to the top. This is the only place in Western Australia to have any snowfall.

The Rainbow Coast – stretches from the hamlet of Walpole
in the west to Bremer Bay in the east, and from Albany in the south to
the towns of Kojonup and Katanning in the north. Approaching Walpole is the tree top walk, where you can walk amongst the large red tingle eucalyptus trees.

Torndirrup National Park – along Frenchman Bay Road,
less than a twenty minute drive out of town. Dramatic and beautiful
coastline, known for ‘the Gap,’ ‘the Natural Bridge,’ ‘the Blowholes’
and ‘Peak Head.’ Panoramic views from the Stoney Hill Heritage Trail. Visit Elephant Rocks and Green Pool for safe swimming, amongst spectacular coastal scenery. Toilets and change facilities are located at some points in the park, but not all. Check the maps, and plan accordingly.

References/Attribution: This page text can be shared under the Creative Commons license 3.0. A link back to www.itchy-feet.com.au is required by this licence. This article is a derivative work produced partly or soley from related works on wikitravel and or wikipedia. Find original author credits at the source article on Albany.

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