Albany is at the very bottom of Western Australia.
We sailed overnight from Busselton to arrive in Albany this morning. Thankfully it isn't a tender port. There were free shuttle buses into town or it was a 15 minute walk from the port.
The cruise-ers descended on the town and it was quite busy. We wanted to get on the hop on hop off bus as a good way to get around the sights but the queues were very long. Instead we wandered around the town, looked at the market stalls that were set up in the park and had some lunch.
By that time the crowds had thinned and we got seats on the bus with no waiting for only $30 each for a 45 minute round trip.
We went to the first farm in the colony - Strawberry Hill farm. It was very peaceful and was set up to show what life was like in the early colony.
Sitting room with the back wall cut away to reveal the wall's construction.
Glad we don't have to use these anymore!
Albany is where the convoys of Australian and New Zealand troops left from to fight in World War I. There is a National Anzac Centre that's been built on the hilltop overlooking the Harbour where the convoys gathered and departed from. It was built to commemorate 100 years since the ANZACS left. You can look out the window and imagine how the ships would have looked.
It was very interesting and informative. You get a card with the name of a person from the war. When you put the card into special readers, information about the person and their role in the war is displayed. You follow their progress throughout the exhibition which makes it more personal.
They also had a small device where you could scan a symbol and hear audio recordings of diaries, letters and first hand accounts of war experiences.
We then drove to the top of Mount Clarence for another amazing view out over the Harbour.
The lighthorse sculpture shows how the wounded were protected by the horses.
A very interesting town which we enjoyed visiting.
