WHEATBELT COUNTRY

4^th May, 2012

Our stay at Lake Yealering over the Easter week was nice and quiet.  

Lake Yealering Campground

We had a group of three caravans with retirees join us in the campground over the four days and a family group came for a couple of nights.  On Easter Saturday, along with our fellow caravanners, we had dinner at the local pub which featured in the mini-series ‘Waltz Through the Hills” and on Sunday Wok spent the afternoon trying out his lawn bowling prowess at the nearby club.  Way back at Esperance we had unknowingly picked up a guest who had made a home for itself in our passenger door mirror.  Every now and then we would get a glimpse of this elusive creature but one morning over Easter it climbed out onto the windscreen.

Our univited guest - Mr/Ms Spider

We’re not sure what sort of spider it was but Wok deftly moved it off Mitzi (much to Robyn’s great relief) and into the bush so it could take up residence somewhere else.  One day we took a drive to the township of Wickepin (60 kms south of York) where we had a look at the homestead of Albert Facey.

Albert Facey's homestead

The homestead was built in 1924 and has a lot of wonderful old furnishings and knick-knacks.  Albert Facey is the author of the Australian best selling autobiography ‘A Fortunate Life’ and is an excellent story about the hardships faced by the settlers in the early 1900’s.  His experiences both on the land and in the First World War make compelling reading.  On the Wednesday after Easter we packed up and headed for the town of York where we had arranged to do a house sit for a month.  We met up with Martin and Kay at their cottage in York

Devon Cottage - York (our house sit)

and parked our van in their backyard near the patio.

Our van in the backyard of our house sit in York

After getting the rundown on the house Martin and Kay left for Perth airport to catch their flight overseas and for the next four weeks (Puddles and Jake) will be keeping us company.

Puddles and Jake

This is dry country around here and most places do not have lawns.  As you can see from the photo Puddles and Jake have white coats.  We have discovered that white furry coats, red dirt and thorny burrs do not go well together but we are having lots of fun looking after the puppies.  York is Western Australia’s oldest inland town, first settled in 1831 on the banks of the Avon River and has Colonial and Victorian architecture.  Normally it is a very quiet town with a few tourists wandering along the main street and mingling with the locals.  On the Sunday after Anzac Day a charity motor bike ride rolled into town and the main street was closed off for the event.  We went down to have a look and were amazed to find the street jam packed with people and 850 motor bikes on display.

Motor bikes in the main street of York

Every make and model of motor bike was on show and black leather was in abundance.

Outside York Town Hall

One of the more colourfully named emporiums in town is called the Dog’s Bollocks and even it had succumbed to providing kerbside parking for motor bikes.

The Dog's Bollocks Emporium in York

In one of the side streets a ramp and jump had been set up for motor bike jumps.

Motor Bike jumpers flying high above the trees

We watched as these fearless riders soared into the air and performed miraculous aerobatics before plunging back to earth.  It was both horrifying and incredible to watch.  Outside the Automobile Museum a couple of vehicles had been rolled out for display.

Italian police car ...?

The little three wheeled Italian police car was really cute and the paint job on this gold sports car was drawing a bit of attention

Lovely paint job on this gold sports car

but we really liked the side mirrors.

Skeleton hands hold the side mirrors

The strains of a bagpipe drifted on the wind and a large crowd had gathered to hear the ‘Bad Piper’ play.

The 'Bad Piper' in action

We listened to him belt out a mean bagpipe to some modern tunes before calling it a day.  By the next day the main street was back to its normal quiet self.  Thirty five kms to the north of York is the town of Northam.  It also has some historic buildings and claims to have the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in Australia.

Wok takes a rest on Northam Suspension Bridge

Northam is situated on the Avon River and boasts a unique colony of white swans, descendants of birds brought from England at the turn of the Century.  A pair of white swans were recently acquired from Melbourne to help boost the breeding pairs and five cygnets were hatched out this season.

Mum or Dad swan with one of the babies

According to the lady at the Information Centre some black swans had recently settled on this stretch of the river and the white and black swans were being monitored to see if they will get along together.  

Black swans at Northam

She didn’t seem to know what would happen if they didn’t get along together …?

Being based in York has allowed us to do some day trips in the surrounding countryside.  Wheatbelt Country covers a large area and besides vast paddocks of wheat, barley, lupins and canola is also grown.  Of course sheep, cattle, alpaca and the odd emu farm can also be seen as one drives along.  Salinity is a big problem and we thought this salt lake was interesting with a pinkish lake on one side of the road and a white lake on the other.

Salt lakes - pink on the left, white on the right

The salt had built up on the fence posts and dead tree trunks creating quite an unusual effect.

Salt build up on the fence posts

On one of our day trips we visited Kokerbin Rock – the third largest stand alone monolith in Australia.  Of course Ayers Rock (Uluru) is Number One.

Kokerbin Rock

On one side of the rock is a beautifully made well that is over 100 years old and very very deep.

Old Well and Kokerbin Rock

The tracks around the base of the rock are a little neglected and it was difficult to get a really good close up look at the formations.

Rock formations at Kokerbin Rock

After battling with the flies we finally admitted defeat and beat a hasty retreat to the safety of Mitzi.  We may need to invest in a stronger bug repellent as these flies seemed to be enjoying the one we had sprayed ourselves with.  We cut across some back roads from Kokerbin Rock and found some sheep had strayed from their paddock onto the road

Sheep on the run

but accidentally herded them back through the farm gate as we passed by.  At Mount Stirling Nature Reserve we stopped beside an old ruined church with one lonely grave.

Grave and ruined church at Mt Stirling Nature Reserve

The name Lizzie Doig died 1907 was etched in the gravestone.  We wondered who she might be and how she came to be buried here?   There was no-one around to ask and no plaque or information board to help us.  She will probably remain a mystery to us.  Further along the road we came upon the remains of the Number 2 Rabbit Proof Fence.  

Remnants of the Rabbit Proof Fence

This fence was erected in 1904 to help combat the advance of the rabbit scourge and rigorously patrolled for years.  Three difference fences were erected before the authorities gave up the unequal struggle to keep the rabbits at bay.  At Cunderdin we came upon Ettamogah Pub.  

Ettamogah Pub at Cunderdin

That now makes three Ettamogah Pubs we know about – one in New South Wales, one in Queensland and now one in West Australia.  This one at Cunderdin doesn’t seem to have all the bits and pieces around it that the other two have.  At Meckering we stopped to take a photo of a piece of railway line that was damaged in the 1968 earthquake that obliterated most of the town.

Earthquake twisted railway lines at Meckering

The earthquake measured 6.9 on the Richter Scale and the town was the epicentre.  Amazingly no lives were lost and the townspeople rebuilt.  Hard to imagine the force that twisted those railway lines out of shape.

We now have a week left to go on our house sit but it will be anything but dull.  Tomorrow we pick our nephew Wayne up from Perth airport and on Tuesday our son Trent flies in.  Looks like a hectic week of sightseeing coming up.  Should be lots of fun ……