Australia's Southern Charm

By Mark Craemer - When my sister moved from Chicago to Sydney in 1983, I figured it would be an excellent place for me to visit some day. I did and it was.

Moss Bay Island beach provides a secluded place for family frolicking. (Photo by Mark Craemer)

Eight years ago Diane moved clear across the continent to the tiny town of Albany in the southwestern corner of Western Australia. So last January my wife and I flew to Australia’s Great Southern and discovered the allure of this remote corner of the world.

Flying into Perth, the state’s capital with a population of just over one million, we found out why this is considered one of the world’s most isolated cities. The Outback run on the Indian-Pacific train crosses the desolate Nullarbor Plain taking nearly three days, and few tend to drive because there is so little human habitation between New South Wales and the western shore.

After a day of jet-lag recovery in this overgrown country town, we met up with my sister and two nieces and I drove us nearly five hours south to Albany. As it was nearing dusk, Diane warned me to be on the lookout for kangaroo, even though we had a “roo bar” attached to the bumper. “If you see one,” she said, “you should stop right away because there’s no telling which direction they’ll hop.” I was primarily concerned with simply staying on the “wrong” side of the road while battling the blinding headlights from menacing road trains barreling toward us.

Western Australia covers nearly a million square miles or one-third of the entire continent, yet contains only ten percent of the people. Think of three-and-a-half Texas-sized states with a total population less than Houston. Leaving the nearly four million Sydneysiders for about 28,000 Albany residents, Diane’s family of six found just the kind of peace and tranquility they were looking for.

On our first full day in Albany we joined in the local’s celebration of Australia Day (January 26), complete with sausage sizzle and entertainment at a local park called The Forts. Later that afternoon, we visited Middleton Beach with its clean white sand and turquoise-colored warm water. According to my 11-year-old niece, Jessica, this is only her fourth favorite beach. We later discovered her top three: Ocean Beach, Mutton Bird Island and Two People’s Bay—each distinctly attractive in its own way and sharing a lack of other people.

A ship headed into Perth at sunset on the Indian Ocean. (Photo by Mark Craemer)

Founded on Christmas Day in 1826 when the British laid claim to the western half of what was then declared New Holland, Albany is the oldest settlement in Western Australia and nestled between the Southern Ocean and the dramatic Sterling Range to the northeast. A busy whaling station once included French, American and Australian whalers, and at its peak killed some 850 whales annually. Back then, whale meat and oil were common for human consumption, and the oil was used in everything from making soap to illuminating lamps. This coastal location overlooking King George Sound made snaring sperm whales and southern right whales easy pickings. In fact, Albany’s economy was dominated by the whaling industry for 178 years until it came to an abrupt halt in the late-1970s not because of political or environmental pressure, but strictly for economic reasons. Today, over the course of a year, hundreds of humpback, southern right and rare blue whales are spotted from shore but left untouched.

Like much of the southwest, the Great Southern is gaining a reputation for its thriving wine industry. Diane and her Australian-born, wine-loving husband Tony were all too happy to help us sample the local fare. Although not as well known as Margaret River, the towns of Albany, Denmark, Mt. Barker and Frankland River receive worldwide acclaim for their Riesling, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and Shiraz. My wife and I hired a car for a couple of days and drove through the Margaret River region to imagine what Sonoma and Napa Valley might have been like forty years ago. (My brother-in-law likes to say that Australia is either twenty years behind the United States or two weeks ahead. I never did find convincing signs of the latter.) We visited the larger Lindemin and Vaus Felix wineries, but it is the smaller ones like Cullen Vineyards that make this region a hotbed for tourists and wine connoisseurs alike.

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