We went to Albany (Western Australia) last weekend, as an early birthday treat for me. We stayed in a lovely fully furnished apartment near Middleton Beach, and ate well at Rustlers Steakhouse (both nights!), Hybla Tavern, and then Plantagenet Winery in Mount Barker on the way home.
I spent a couple of hours at the very sobering National Anzac Centre, on Mount Clarence overlooking the harbour where more than 40,000 troops and 13,000 horses sailed from to fight for Britain in World War One. Many of those men died at Gallipoli, with more dying in the Somme, and still others coming home ruined for life, either mentally or physically or both. Only one horse came back to Australia… It’s well worth a visit but allow yourself several hours to do it justice.
After the museum, I needed to reconnect with nature, so walked to the viewing area at the top of the hill near the Anzac Centre. Hidden in amongst the bushes are gun emplacements from earlier times (likely World War Two, when the Japanese came well down the Australian coast), which was a surprise. And of course, the King Skinks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egernia_kingii). I’d seen them before so knew what to look for when I heard rustling in the leafy undergrowth! They’re big sods!! Speaking of lizards, we saw a couple of big guys (looked like bungarras or monitor lizards, but probably weren’t) on the drive home — we swerved to miss one on the side of the road.
Some photos from the weekend:
Spot the gun!
King Skink
From the National Anzac Centre
The names scroll by slowly under the water
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 
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