A chill day in Albany today under a surprisingly partly cloudy day. We are staying on the outskirts of town, in an area known as Emu Point. It is a lovely, if somewhat quiet cove. After a real American breakfast (eggs and sausages), we set out about town, which is quite rich in history; the brig Amity is housed here. I’d love to tell you about it, but in truth, we did not visit it, opting instead to go up to the hill that houses the wind farm, where there are magnificent views of the coastline and Eric could take his daily hike.
The weather here is really a bit of a shock after the oppressing heat of the central to northern part of the state, even along the shore. With today’s cloud cover and the strong wind, at times it was quite a bit chilly; and we are at the height of their summer. But then again, the southerly wind does come from Antarctica, and there is nothing to stop it but the flatness of the ocean.
While we were driving to the wind farm, several wind surfers were practicing their sport several yards out to sea. We were driving at 80 km. per hour along the road, but they, powered only by the wind, were traveling much faster than we were.
The best part of the afternoon we spent it at the ANZAC museum. ANZAC stands for Australia/New Zealand Army Corps, and the museum highlights their battles in WWI. The reason the museum is housed here is because Albany served as the departure point for the ships carrying the troops and thousands of horses to the shores of Turkey and Egypt to fight the Germans and the Ottomans. It’s a very sad story, but thousands of ANZAC troops died during that war in the trenches of Gallipoli. Uniquely, you are assigned a card with the image of a soldier when you enter the museum. Behind the card is a magnetic strip that, as you progress along the way, activates video machines that let you live the war as if you were that soldier, sharing his experiences, from recruitment to sailing off, to life in the trenches, and ultimately, you learn of his fate. You read the letters he sent home, passages he wrote in his journal, and more. Each patron is given a different person, and at the end you keep the card as a souvenir. My soldier was Captain Charles Bean, the Army reporter. He was wounded but survived, and ultimately, he died of natural causes in 1968.
From the top of the hill that houses the museum, the views of King George’s Sound are breathtaking.
In the more rural areas of Western Australia, you see myriads of old trucks rusting on people’s property. There is one just a few yards from our campground, and when I took a second look, I decided it was worth a picture. That is my bit of Aussie humor I share with you tonight. Until tomorrow, God Bless.
Comments