Corrigin to Perth
Our Corrigin motel included continental breakfast at the roadhouse next door. John and Lynne went and ate at 7 am as discussed last night. Majella had enough breakfast supplies for the rest of the week so we had eaten in our room but joined them for better coffee than we could find in our room.
By 8 am Majella was driving west to our first destination for today, Corrigin Dog Cemetery. It is about 5 km from town and was established in 1974 when a local buried his dog, Strike, there and another was buried a year or two later. There are now a hundred or so dogs buried there with a variety of tombstones. John wandered to the back of the cemetery and returned telling us that he had seen one grave where the owner had subsequently had his own ashes interred.
When we checked in at the motel yesterday Lynne had picked up a brochure about the Corrigin Wildflower Drive. It is a 4.4 kilometre one way gravel road that begins opposite the Dog Cemetery and circles back toward Corrigin. A little way in Majella stopped and we got out for a closer look. There was such an impressive variety of wildflowers that it took us close to 90 minutes to complete the loop. It was a bright sunny morning so John and I walked much of the way while Majella and Lynne made stop-start progress with the car as they alternately crawled along or stopped and walked around for a while. By the time we were done we were all quite warm. I was sneezing and my nose was streaming, presumably a reaction to all the pollen that must be in the air around so many flowers.
Eventually we decided we had seen enough and Majella drove out to the highway and on toward York. The road wound through rolling hills covered in green crops, occasional areas of grazing with large flocks of sheep, and patches of low forest. We saw one grain depot where several large temporary storage facilities were being prepared in anticipation of a bumper crop. We made one stop at a site with a portion of rabbit proof fence and an information shelter.
We reached York just after 11 am. By then the sky was overcast but it was warm and not raining. On the way into town Majella spotted a sign to the residence museum and an old house at the end of a street and made a short deviation. That took us down a short side street lined by old houses that seemed to be well cared for and surrounded by well kept gardens.
Majella parked in the main street. I headed directly for a nearby pharmacy to buy some antihistamine and returned to find the others exploring a whole foods store. We wandered the streets admiring the old stone buildings for a while before entering the Imperial Homestead hotel, across the street from the town hall, to eat lunch. Lynne had burger and chips, John had baked brie, Majella had garlic prawns with rice, and I had chorizo with rocket and onion. The food was all tasty.
Around 1 pm we were back on the road to Perth. There was a fine sprinkle of rain as we left York but it did not last long.
As we approached Perth we noticed signs to Mundaring weir, the associated heritage site for the goldfields pipeline, and a sculpture garden. We had time to spare before we could check in at 3 pm so Majella turned around and followed the signs. We reached the parking area above the weir but it began to rain as we walked toward the weir and we returned to the car. The gallery was not open today and we never found the sculpture garden. We drove on toward our hotel in Perth.
We arrived at Pensione Hotel in central Perth a little before 3 pm and were lucky to find a drop-off parking space outside. Majella waited with the car while we checked in. Parking required her to drive around the block, down a narrow alley behind the hotel, and down into a tight basement car park. Our ’petite king’ rooms are petite rooms with king size beds, tight but comfortable enough.
After some time to settle and relax we met up with John and Lynne at 4:30 pm and went for a walk around the local area. We stepped out of our hotel onto Murray Street and walked down to and through the mall. William Street led us to Hay Street mall and we walked up there until we came to London Court. We walked through to St George’s Terrace and then back along Barrack Street where we found the 43 Below Bar. After drinks there, Majella and I walked back to the hotel to prepare for her night out with a local Sing Australia group while John and Lynne walked on to see more. We will meet at 9 am tomorrow for more explorations.
