Adventures in Albany - Day 19

Depressing version:

I woke up too early for my taste, so that I can catch the sunrise. I kept making trips back and forth from my room to the car, forgetting small stuff like my jacket and glasses. By the time I was on the road, it was already quite bright, and I missed the first light.

When I got to my chosen lookout point, I could see the sun rising, but the sun was rising from the mountains, and not the sea as I thought it would be like. The weather was also cruel, being so cold and cloudy. I guess I should have gone to another location for me to catch the sun rising from the sea. But I was too late to go anywhere else.

Towards the end of sunrise, the rainclouds were already covering most of the morning sky. It even started drizzling as I drove back to my room. It didn’t look at all enticing weather.

I got on board the catamaran sail boat hoping that the weather will improve. We all sat down and listened to what the captain had to say. He gave a lengthy speech about random stuff, and after the other ships had set sail, we set off. Being set off late and trudging along at a slow pace, I could see the other boat in the distance. What irritated me was that there was a whale next to that boat and not ours. By the time we got close enough, the whale was moving away.

We decided to move to the deeper waters to find other whales. Though the captain had a good feeling that we might find whales at a certain spot, some guy on the boat thought he saw a whale behind us. So we turned around, away from the calmer waters to the deeper side. It was 30mins before we found anything. We tried to follow it, but it was moving away as expected. By then, it was already time to go back and so we did.

Oh yeah, my camera battery ran out 1 hour into the tour, before we saw any whales. I really wished that my camera battery lasted longer, and that I had more control over the functions of the camera, like focus and zoom. I also wished that I had more memory in the camera so that I can take endless shots without any worry.

Because of the chase that we did, we arrived back late, and I was too tired to go anywhere else fancy. So I went to the Amity Ship museum to see what was there. I had to pay $4 for the entry, and I learnt NOTHING from that. I didn’t get any good shots either. I listened to a relatively boring commentary about the origins of Albany and explored a claustrophobic ship. I got bored easily.

I ended up going back and taking a nap. By sunset, the clouds did not want to clear, so I decided not to go to the ANZAC memorials. The evening was partly wasted in the end.

Happier version:

I managed to catch the beautiful sunrise today. Despite it rising from the mountains instead of the sea, it was still beautiful. The sky turned from black, to blue, to red, to orange and back to sky blue. That’s half the spectrum of the rainbow, and that’s even before the sun was up. When the sun finally appeared, the sun rays pierced the darkness of the clouds and the land. It was really a sight to see.

I got back into the car when the drizzle started, and headed back to my room. I quickly downloaded the pictures I just took so that I can have an empty memory card for the whale watching tour. I had time to kill, so I went to upload them to facebook.

I don’t know whether I chose the right boat to be on, but I was sort of glad that I choose the catamaran. The skipper was a cheery person, who gave interesting stories and facts about his adventures. He gave facts about the surroundings and the wildlife that appeared throughout the journey. I liked the way he treated the whales not as exhibits but as living creatures with feelings and fears. I really admire him for that.

After spending time with our first encounter with the whale, we went to search for other whales. We managed to find one after an hour of searching. The whale actually jumped out of the water. It was really a sight that I wanted to witness for myself, but I never thought that I would actually see one. It was really a majestic sight, even though it was for a split second, and I would remember it forever. After following it around for a while, the skipper decided that we were bothering them more than anything, so we headed back, hoping to catch another whale or two.

Although we didn’t at least I managed to see whales in the wild. I was happy.

I went on to visit the other attraction in Albany town centre, the Amity Ship Museum. The ship itself was a disappointment, but the museum next door was much more exciting for me. I found out once more that I like natural history rather than human history. I don’t know why, but I find animal skeletons intriguing. It is not that I want to see lots of it, I just feel that these little things that makes me think about how much similarities we have with animals. I felt part of nature once again today, and that I am happy being on this Earth.