We have certainly been lucky with the weather, as we noticed that we have dodged wet weather that has surrounded our location. This morning we walked to town for a stroll around and tried to buy brown paper – none in town – a reminder that even simple things are hard to obtain in these regional towns.
Funny things I have seen - The sign in the shop in town
“Shopping with your husband is like hunting with the game warden” luckily for me it doesn’t apply :)
After reviewing camping in other towns nearby, we have decided to stay here and do day drives. We plan to visit York. There is a movie and concert for The War Bride on next weekend in Toodyay which we would like to see. Not sure how they meld a movie and concert together, but will let you know.
We have booked our air fares from Adelaide to Gold Coast in March and are looking forward to coming home for a week.
Things we have done.
We have walked to town a few times and browsed the shops and done the guided heritage walks and met the locals. They are friendly and want to know where we are from and what we are doing.
We are on first name terms with quite a few of the permanent residents in the park.
We saw several Rufus Whistlers on our walk into town. The bird has a white bib and is a caramel colour down the front. They have a really musical call. There are quite a few birds along the river edge. We saw a yellow billed spoonbill. It was the first time seeing one of these. Most spoonbill you see have the black beak – Royal Spoonbills.
Out in flower in town at the moment are the red flowering gums and in full flower are the jacaranda trees. They flower later over here. They would be finished flowering on the east coast by now. Jacaranda are a very popular tree around here. They also have lots of roses. Everyone is growing roses and they are beautiful.
We visited the gaol – which goes by the original town name of Newcastle Gaol. It has a oak shingle roof. American Oak brought out for the restoration.
Another hot exercise yard. If you were locked up in a dark and dingy cell, when they let you out for exercise, it was into a very hot courtyard without any shade with glass shards embedded in the top of the wall. The Gaol is also a museum with many early artefacts and stories. There is a story of three local sons who were killed in WW2 in the Sandakan Prison Camp death march. The three joined together and died together leaving two other sons in the family.
After our walking tour, we picked up our supplies and headed back to the mini train station as it was operating. As we were doing the commuter run – i.e. drop us off near the caravan park, they wouldn’t charge us. We had a lovely chat with all the volunteers. Michael our engine driver and his companion Benny (famous about town dog) are residents of the park. Michael was a engine driver on the big trains before retirement.
This is Benny’s caboose. He rides every trip. He has the No.1 dog registration in town and is the rail mascot as well as town mascot. Everyone knows him. When we first spotted Michael and Benny they reminded us of the story book of Scuppers the sea dog and the sea captain. Michael has a large house in town but prefers to live in the park, I think it’s because there’s always something happening and people talking to him – better than mooching around a big old house by yourself.
Monday – we drove over past Northam to York – What another delightful little town, just like Toodyay.
There is more water in the river at York than at Toodyay. BUT, there are warning signs for WA that there is Amoebic Meningitis in the fresh water courses and not to swim if the water is warm and to take precautions. The amoeba enter through your nostrils and it is life threatening. Apparently it is rare for it to happen but deadly if you do not seek medical attention if you discover symptoms after swimming.
It’s really annoying that you can’t enjoy swimming in fresh water over here without worrying about that.
There were many heritage buildings all around town. It’s a unhurried lifestyle. Everyone has plenty of time to talk to you. We went to the lolly shop and the owner offered up information on the free camping in town. It’s that friendly kindness which you really appreciate.
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This is inside the lolly shop. What did we buy…. the NZ raspberry boiled lollies which we first found on a trip over there. They are the nicest flavour, picking up a true raspberry flavour and some Ginger Creams from Scotland. They are a bit melt in your mouth, rather thought they would be hard and last a lot longer. Hey, if you don’t try them you never know.
Tuesday – It’s housekeeping day, washing to be one and general tidy up. Finishing our Christmas & birthday parcel to be mailed back home.
The Pepper Trees.
We first saw this very large tree outside the museum south of Cape Burney. The guide told us that it had come from South America and was a pepper tree and had been planted soon after the house was built somewhere around the mid 1800’s but that particular one was male and there had never been any fruit on it. We saw these trees growing in Toodyay with the red pepper berries on them and tried one. What a lovely pepper flavour. I must grow one of these…. how wrong I was…. They are a bit of a pest tree, growing from any type of cutting or suckering. They do need a male and female in order to fruit. They are from South America but also known as the California Pepper Tree. Technically they are not a true pepper but have the taste of pepper. These red berries are the ones they use in the Black, Red, Green pepper mixes.
So, I won’t be growing one at home, but if I lived here, I would be gathering the berries every season to cook with that’s for sure. Image is from Google images. Dinner tonight was pork with a red pepper berry wine sauce.
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