We had big travel plans this year. Three small trips to Bali and a three week extravaganza in Greece and Italy. including one week sailing around the Greek Isles (Cyclades). Enter Mr Covid.
With lock-downs easing in (Western) Australia we decided for the rest of the year we’ll travel around our own “back yard”. Well there’s no choice really. But of course we’re blessed to live in such a beautiful place as Western Australia – so quit yer whingin‘.
Day one – get your motor runnin’, head out on the highway…
We’d just bought a new car (2019 Mazda6 for those interested) and we were itching for a long drive. We decided to spend a weekend in the Avon Valley. On the spur of the moment we thought “lets go ballooning”. The have hot-air balloon charters from Northam. But we were too late and the weekend was already booked out. We decided to push on and booked a lovely Airbnb in Toodyay. Toodyay, situated in the heart of the Avon Valley is a small country town 100km east of Perth. Its an easy one and a half hour drive from Perth though the rolling green farmland.
The Studio was a nice little guesthouse in Toodyay booked though Airbnb. It was hosted by a lovely lady, Caroline who lived in the house attached to the Studio.
The new car 
Main bedroom featuring some lovely art work 
The locals having a bath
We arrived around lunchtime and unpacked – we’d seemed to packed enough for our european holiday rather than a sleepy weekender! Into the town for a pub-lunch. We shared a fish and chips at the Freemasons Hotel, one of the two pubs in Toodyay. Lunch was nice – the chef served the single serve of fish and chips on two dishes for us, which was a nice touch. After lunch we went back to the studio for a nap…hey I did say is was a sleepy weekender. We got up hungry again (Jane) and went back into town for dinner at the Spice & Grill. We shared a Prawn Curry. It was nice without being spectacular.
Day Two – what’s open?
Caroline met us on Sunday morning and told us of the history of the place and suggested some attractions in the surrounding towns. We decided to take Caroline’s advice to drive to New Norcia via Bolgart. Caroline suggested a nice cafe in Bolgart called “Trees“. We hadn’t had breakfast, so we were getting pretty peckish. Sadly Trees was closed when we got there. In fact there wasn’t a soul to been seen in the whole town. We pushed on to New Norcia. The drive was a pleasure through the rolling farmland. We were keeping an eye out for a nice spot to take some photos. Turning off the Bindi Bindi-Toodyay road we crossed the Railway. Jane likes railway track photos so we stopped for a photo shoot.
Jane was inspired by Gucci’s latest fashion looks and wanted to try to recreate the look.
When we got to the Great Northern Highway we we aghast to discover the road to New Norcia was closed. The GPS Navigator recalculated the journey to over an hour that took us through Bindoon. At this stage Jane was getting hangry and we decided to stop in Bindoon Bakehaus for a pie.
Jane ordered a Kangaroo pie complete with a little pastry roo.
We travelled back to Toodyay through the Julimar State Forest, another one of Caroline’s suggestions. The new Mazda handled the winding narrow road beautifully. We detoured off the main road down a small track for another photoshoot.
We reached Toodyay and decided to press on through to Northam. Northam is a larger town about 25 km south east. I wanted to see the Silo Art. The Silo Art Trail is a series of painted grain silos throughout the whole of Australia. The silos in Northam were painted by London artist Phlegm and Atlanta native HENSE in April 2015.
Showing the scale of the murals 
Siren and Silo 
Heave-ho way to go 
In the town itself we stopped for a snack and drink. We found a Dome Cafe with a nice little surprise. It has a modern wine bar attached. We had a couple of cocktails and a side of chips. I had a gin and tonic with green chilli which was delicious. Jane had a couple of drinks including a margarita and passionfruit mimosa.
It was getting towards dinner time, so we continued our journey to Grass Valley. A good friend of ours recommended the Grass Valley Tavern so we aimed the Mazda there. Of course the “theme of the day” was honoured and it was closed. Oh well back to Toodyay for dinner at the other pub the Victoria.
We shared a Chicken Burger and wings. It was pretty average. Wearily we made out way back to the studio for an early bedtime.
Day three – home
Monday morning we stayed long enough for Jane’s work (online) meeting. I packed our European trip’s luggage into the Mazda for the 100km trip home.
Although there were some disappointments with the trip, we both appreciated the weekend away. The Avon Valley is a beautiful region and we’ll definitely be back, perhaps we’ll get to the ballooning after all.
JellyfishKing Travel 
One thought on “Toodyay yay yay”