Life on the farm, we have a break at York

With the Easter weekend fast approaching, we took up a kind offer to share the weekend with some friends at their family property near York.  The best part was that the boys had a friend too - and it wasn't before the three of them were inseparable.  We were extremely lucky to be able to have a beautiful campsite on the only bit of green grass on the property - the front lawn - which had been carefully manicured by the resident kangaroos and alpacas.

With any farm, there are always jobs to do - and the boys soon embraced the new lifestyle.  Of course the best part was riding in the back of the trailer on a special 'first class' board constructed especially for their comfort! 

Riding first class

Our friends run a mixed farm on their 500 acres.   A large area is reserved native bushland.  The rest is mostly sown oats, which is cut and baled into oaten hay and exported.  We helped out clearing some of the paddy melons or gourds (cucumis_myriocarpus) from the paddocks.

Hard at work clearing the paddy melons

Early autumn brings the promise of rain, however unfortunately it hadn't yet come to York.  The whole area was looking desperately dry, and with only one dam on the property still holding water, another job on the property was transferring water.

Checking out he dam whilst the pump is running

The best part about the dam was that Vic had carefully transferred yabbies from the other dams into the remaining dam with water.  Catching them was almost guaranteed - causing much delight from the boys.  Thankfully for the yabbies sake, they were only small, so they all got to live another day.

Up close and personal with the Yabbie

We drove into York to check out the beautiful historic town, and were very nearly held up by a grain train leaving the depot.  As the train slowly pulled forward, filling up each truck with 60 tonnes of grain, we watched for a little while - the boys captivated by the being able to get so close to the massive locomotive.  On the back of a near record harvest, massive amounts of grain are being transported to the ports for export - the sheer scale of it is mind boggling.

The massive locomotives hauling the grain harvest

York has many things to see and do - but a real highlight was when the Sydney to London Car Rally pulled into town.  We were part of the small crowd on the main street to see these 30 year old cars pull in for a overnight maintenance stop.  

The boys were very excited to see some real racing cars - and we were free to mingle around the cars.  The cars had driven in from Kalgoorlie, with some closed sections on station tracks seeing the cars reach 200 km/hr.  Looking at the cars, not much was original - but we did get caught up in the excitement of the moment.  By some crazy coincidence we had the boys in shirts that matched the car's colour!

A real racing car!

The real deal - up close and personal

And a blue one matches the blue shirt!  

It was one thing to see the cars up close and wander around them - but the boys got a real buzz when they were invited to sit in the drivers seat!  That was a completely unexpected development - but sowed a seed in these young minds.  As they sat in the drivers seat, you could see the young fellows imagine themselves winning stage after stage on their own 'round-de-world' rally.

The Little Fisherman has a moment in the driver's seat

Followed by The Little Helper.

Now the Sydney-London Rally is one thing - but York also has a famous Motor Museum, and we returned to town to check out the historic cars on display here.  This museum was simply fabulous, with many rare and unique vehicles on display, from the very start of motoring right up until the 1970s.  

Some of the earliest cars in the world

We all had our favourite cars, and thoroughly enjoyed our walk through the museum, including Mum.  She was taken with the oldest VW Beetle in Australia - one of the first 30 to roll off the production line in post WWII Germany.  I liked the Peugeot Bebe - but the boys liked the racing cars.

York was a fantastic place to visit - but our time was made extra special because of our wonderful hosts, Vic and Donna.  A big thank you also to Chris and Julie who suggested we join them over Easter and also to James, who shared his toys so generously with our lads.  We really appreciated the opportunity to have a break from travelling - and to recharge and get ready to do it all again.

Seeing the old cars at York was one thing - but it was time to see something even older.  We decided to head north and check out New Norcia.  The old community was founded by Benedictine Monks - and was full of historic buildings, magnificent art and old schools.  We had a bit of time in hand waiting for a delivery from the east that had gone missing - so were in a bit of a holding pattern around Perth .  We were determined to make to the most of our time - and found New Norcia the perfect place to fill in a day.