Albury, Australia is one half of a two-part town. Spanning the Murray River is Albury-Wodonga. This mouthful of a town name is made up of Albury, in the state of New South Wales and Wodonga, in the state of Victoria. The divider is the Mighty Murray, a muddy-looking river that has been part of the Australian Outback Culture for 200 years.
What to Bring
This is a sleepy country town, and is perfect for those who are looking for a taste of 'true' Australia, without venturing into the dangerous desert of the Big Red Center. Shorts and flip-flops (these are called thongs in Australia, an important linguistic tip!) are standard attire, as the mercury can soar to 45 degrees C in summer – around 113 F.
Entertainment
This is a place of paddle steamers, houseboats, horse racing, beer and barbecue, so leave the tuxedo at home and take off your watch. If you do happen to have a week to spend in this part of Australia, renting a houseboat for a week (economical when divided among a group) is a great way to tour the region. These are pretty easy to drive and putting up and down thee river, interspersed with dock-side visits to the small towns that line the Murray is one of the most relaxing vacations around. Although the Murray looks dirty, it is perfectly safe to swim in. The muddy look of the water is partly due to the nature of Australian waterways (mud-bottomed) and partly due to the naturally occurring tannins that leach from the ghostly 'drowned' trees into the river. Although the water tastes like dirt, ingesting it won't produce anything more than a bad-taste face – no nasty bacteria or pollution here.
Festivals
Albury is where the famous Australian poem The Man From Snowy River was penned, and the yearly Man from Snowy River Bush Festival is a chance to step back in time to the outlaw days of early white-settled Australia. This year the festival will run from the 8th to the 11th of April and is a long weekend of food, wine, bush poetry, music, horse-riding, rodeo, and motorsports. Wear a hat, long sleeves and sunblock – it is far too easy to end up in hospital with heat exhaustion, sunstroke, or second-degree burns from the savage Australian sun.
Things to See and Do
Albury offers gentle pursuits: Museums (especially the Albury Railway station, which is both a working public transport hub and an historic attraction; a must for all steam engine enthusiasts), golfing, hiking, farmers markets, off-roading and all things water-based are the main highlights. Lake Hume holds more than 6 times the amount of water as Sydney Harbor and this fresh-water lake is much cleaner and clearer than the Murray River. The edges of the lake become beaches in the summertime, with inbuilt barbecues operating free of charge. A note: Australia is one of the driest countries on the planet and fire-storms are always a danger. Don't light fires, and be extremely careful to extinguish matches and cigarette butts carefully. Fire-storms can reach speeds of up to 250km an hour (155 mph), wiping out entire towns as well as all of the scrubland and animal life in between.
Hotels
Accommodation in Albury is varied, but tends towards the lower end of style and budget. If you are not sleeping on your rented houseboat, a hotel or motel will provide clean and quiet accommodation for around AU$60 per room per night. An alternative is to stay in one of the Bed & Breakfasts that are ubiquitous in Australia. Depending on the online specials and time of year (Christmas & New Years are very expensive as they coincide with the Australian summer holidays) these can be had for around AU$100 per couple per night.
Use the Hotelsio Rate Finder on the left to find cheap hotels in Albury, Australia.
(Photo:©iStockPhoto.com/fotofritz16)
