GateWAy Blog

Dennis Wellington, City of Albany Mayor, urges all eligible ratepayers and residents to lodge their postal ballot in the extraordinary election for the Fredrickstown Ward by Friday, 24 February.

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Heavy breathing of mammals’ amorous energy….. You can see the whales from shore – but hearing them is different, especially if they are wooshing past your feet as they chase, in hope, a girlfriend!

Whale of a time

On Albany Whale Tours ‘Sail-A-Way’, our guests’ feet are pretty close to the whales as they rush past our boat.  Yesterday, some didn’t rush – just mooched closeby us, making friends….but today!!!

Nine Humpbacks by Bald Head – and they were excited!  Accepting our stationary presence, they swooped, splashed and accelerated with amazing power as they played ‘teenage tag’ at water’s surface within metres of us, for an hour.  Albany……what an amazing wilderness!

Today’s guests loved it (see Visitor’s Feedback and Comments on website www.albanywhaletours.com.au) and, of course, some are using our gift of a free return within the next fortnight.  Good for Albany!  Good for us!

The Albany GateWAy web portal provides free and paid advertising for business and community users resident in the Great Southern.

For the past 10 years Albany Gateway has provided residents, communities, organizations and businesses of the Great Southern an online web portal to communicate within the region as well as on the world wide web with great success.

If you advertise on the internet, it is necessary however to be able to recognize an internet SCAM.
You will find all the information you need to recognize a scam on the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s website www.scamwatch.gov.au
The SCAM email is identified by five key indicators:

1. The “buyer” is always in a remote location, overseas or offshore
2. The “buyer” has no phone access only internet access.
3. The “buyer” can only make payment through PayPal.
4. The “buyer” is offering more money for the vehicle than what’s been advertised without ever having viewed the vehicle.
5. The “buyer” is purchasing the vehicle for someone else

Conversation with the CEO - May 11

Hello,

I am the Manager for Economic Development at the City of Albany and have lived and worked here for a little over 10 years.  During that time, like most others, I have observed lots of change ranging from new retail shops, supermarket developments, the redevelopment of the Waterfront, a new wind farm, changes at the Port, timber processing at Down Road, and new housing estates popping up around the city.

For the next month, I am working on a project to review the City of Albany’s Strategic Plan for the ten year period 2011 to 2021.   With leadership from our new Chief Executive Officer, Faileen James, I am working as part of a dedicated team of people from our community development section (Tammy Flett; Amanda Porritt; and Rachael Oswald) to gather community views on issues and opportunities for Albany.  We are seeking your views on:

·         What projects and initiatives do you think should be pursued in the short (1-2 yrs), medium (2-5 yrs)and long terms (5-10yrs)?
·         What resources (people, money and physical assets) do you think should be applied to projects and services?

In thinking about your answers to the above, please remember that the Council has finite resources that are in high demand across a range of projects.  So you need to be SMART with your responses:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Timely (short, medium, long term)

Please jot down your thoughts below thinking about the following themes as a guide:

•             Lifestyle and Environment
•             Sustainability and Development
•             Albany’s Role as a Regional Hub
•             Community Focussed Organisation
•             Organisational Performance

OR even better, complete the official survey online at www.albany.wa.gov.au by 5pm on Thursday 9 June 2011.

Regards,

Jon Berry
Project Team Leader
City of Albany

Find out what to do over the Easter Long Weekend in our Region.

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I would like to confirm that the time for the public meeting is Thursday 12th May 2011 @ 12.00noon to 1.00pm. This will be held at the Vancouver Arts Centre.

Thank you all for all the interest that has been shown. I look forward to seeing you all there.

Don Titterton

Valiant Drycleaners

66 Frederick St Albany WA

08 9841 3354

Posted by Richard Sanderson.

Albany requires equity with other regional cities of Geraldton and Kalgoorlie.  We require a Skywest flight once per week Perth-Albany-Melbourne and return.

- Skywest Airlines currently offers a weekly service from Geraldton – Kalgoorlie – Melbourne

- Skywest also runs a weekly (once a week) service between Perth- Kalgoorlie-and Melbourne.

I propose a Skywest Perth-Albany-Melbourne flight for a trial period of 6 months to estimate demand to and from the Eastern states.

Albany’s population is approx 35,000 which is equitable with Kalgoorlie’s population of 36,852 (estimate 2010)

With Denmark’s population of approx 7,000 and Mt Barker 6,000 approx there are strong grounds to suggest an equitable service (with Geraldton and Kalgoorlie residents) to the eastern states for Great Southern residents.  Also, it would foreseeably boost Tourism in this region.

GWN Will be at the new Jetty at the Albany Peace Park at  9 am Tuesday 31st August, 2010
Please come and voice your concerns about the neglect of this Whale who has been stuck on a sand bar since Friday 20th  that is
10 days to long!

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded.   You may have seen this message recently when you logged onto www.albanygateway.com.au

As frustrating and annoying as this is, it also clearly demonstrates the increase in the number of visitors to the site in the last few months.  The photo competition has been hugely popular and of course uses up bandwidth.  What is really impressive is that our statistics show that people are staying on the site for an average of 6 ½ minutes per visit using the business directory, classified ads, calendar, blog and more.

So far in June (as at 11.45 on the 28th, so not far to go now) the site has received an average of 110,277 hits every day, and the best day was 161,755 hits on Monday the 21st June.   Compare this to the May average which was 107,336 hits per day, with the best day at 150,219 hits.  The most popular days to visit the site have been Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Our statistics are updated at the beginning of each month, to keep an eye on our statistics, click on this link

Let’s debunk some myths about Albany here, and be clear how these myths started in the first place.

The weather in Albany, according to people who don’t know who live in Perth and who perpetuate the myth by telling everyone else what they think they know, is that it is always cold and raining in Albany. The strange thing about that is, on average Perth gets more anual rainfall than Albany does.

It is Wednesday 16^th June. Outside is a clear blue sky and both Princess Royal Harbour are silky smooth, with no wind. It isn’t hot, but it isn’t cold enough to put a jacket on either. Looking around the town, half the people I see are walking about in T shirts or at most, light jumpers. I am ‘working’ at a cafe table, with a latte and a bun.

And for most of the winter this is what Albany will be like. We will get colder days sometimes, and very wet days as well because it IS the middle of winter, but we don’t get many, and when the front passes over we’re back to clear blue days and cold nights.

I have had three phone calls this week with people in Perth presuming that Albany must be perishingly cold and pouring with rain. The myth is so well entrenched they just laughed when I said the sun was shining. So where does this myth come from?

It stems from the summer holidays we have here, when Perth folk come down in bucket loads to escape the blistering heat in Perth and find themselves in a cooler climate. One of the problems with this time of year, too, is that that for some reason our seasons are slight askew, so it is common for people to get cold and wet here during what are traditionally regarded as summer months.

So, when they return to Perth to warm up and dry out, they go with the belief that if the weather is that cold and wet in summer, it must be appalling during winter.

This is NOT true.

Albany people know the best time of year here is February – end of June, with a break for some rain at Easter when visitors come from Perth again. I don’t know why, it just happens that way, and helps perpetuate the myth.

Let me describe Albany to you right now. The sky is cobalt blue, there is no wind, the harbour and King George Sound are flat and reflect the extraordinary colour of the sky.

Café’s are full of people sitting OUTSIDE and people are happy, chatty and chuffed with their lot. Whales are swimming about in the Sound and we can go and see them now, either via a charter boat or by whale watching off our stunning coastline, a short walk away. There are dolphins flipping about, seals in abundance and whole flocks of pelicans showing off.

I am sitting outside wearing a jumper and jeans. I am warm, comfortable and there is no wind. It might rain for a while tomorrow, but not for long, because it is common to have four seasons in one day in Albany, certainly in one week, and we like it that way. We rarely get so hot we cant breath and rarely get so cold it’s unpleasant.

I will be posting photo’s of Albany – RIGHT NOW on a regular basis to give you a taste of what it’s like to be here, to live here, to relax, live and visit this extraordinary environment.

Sun, whales, dolphins, cafés, views, hills, six National Parks and one Natural Reserve, a lifestyle second to none and close to our wildflower season. And the weather – it’s a beautiful day, thank you for asking!