York is a heritage town in the wheatbelt to the east of Perth. Its a fair old trek from where we live by the sea, so we packed the camera bags and headed out early as its a couple of hours drive through the forest and out into the fields.

On the way we stopped off at a place that makes it own olive oil – run by a charismatic Frenchman – and full of the yummiest locally made honey, tapenade, olive oil, etc. We came away with some bounty (of course) for later. The local scenery is lovely too, with rolling fields and totally unspoiled forest.

York is only a small town with architecture straight out of the wild west, quaint, with verandahs, wrought iron fretwork and the original signwriting on the buildings. Its pretty quiet and cool. We went for a walk about, had some nice lunch and went off for a tour around the old courthouse. Its wonderfully preserved – you walk into the later of the 2 courtrooms, then to the earlier basic courtroom, then the jail cells, which are scarily small and with preserved graffiti on the walls. All the pictures I took of York are on the Holga or Trip 35, so you’ll just have to wait for those 🙂

Went on to the main Catholic church – a very nice traditional building with lovely stained glass windows

church

Had a very disappointing Devonshire Tea in the somewhat crap Yorky’s Coffee Carriage tea shop, but consoled ourselves with a load of shots with the Holgas and Trip 35’s then came home via Brookton, a scenic detour through the most gorgeous countryside.

Trip 35's

Drive was lovely, through the fields of the wheatbelt – which actually extends 100’s of miles to the east.

Great Southern Highway

farm

driving

fields near Brookton

In Brookton, saw this wonderful sign. Not sure how that actually works as a business though..any ideas?

smalltown business

next post – the canola fields.