May 18 ... York

We decided to take Maurn out of the city for her last day in WA so she could see some of the countryside. York is less than 100kms from Perth in the Avon Valley and it is a lovely little historic town. We knew it had lots of  very old buildings and the Town Hall was one of these. It was fully restored, including its extensive pressed tin ceilings; but it was very unfortunate we chose to go to York on a Wednesday when many of the "tourist" places were closed!

Morgan outside the Motor Museum

The Settler's Shops

An historic York Hotel

The York Town Hall

 Basically the success of York was due to it being a convict depot in the 1800's. These cheap workers allowed the surrounding area to be opened up, and much of that history is still visible today, particularly the wealth of the early settlers.
Our first stop was the Tourist Information Centre and from there we did a bit of a drive-through of the town. It is only small but there was an excellent cafe at which we had lunch and then we went for a walk to check out what was open.

Lunch in York

We found some really trendy little boutiques, all closed!, and a traditional lolly shop, at which Maurn finally got her nougat. We tried to visit The Mill, an old flour mill which is now a gallery and conglomerate of tourist shops, but it was closed. However,The Sock Factory was open, after which, and some pairs of socks later, we drove up to the town lookout. It was a great view but the country is definitely reflecting the drought of the past few months.

 York WA

Leaving York we drove back to Perth and took a small detour to introduce Morgan to The Honey House in the Swan Valley. This time we all enjoyed some fantastic honey ice-cream, and we bought even more honey products. From here we slowly headed home, with Perth's peak hour traffic, and enjoyed a left-overs tea to finish off another good day.

Yummy Honey Ice Cream