Our time in Perth was good and it was nice to have the full range of goods and services at our fingertips again but as nice as that was it reaffirmed our preference to avoid big cities. So with the van freshly serviced and our Swift cooker approved for full operation we decided to do some freecamping and take off for the Western Australian Wheat Belt. First stop… York.
After so much time travelling down the W.A. coast it was time to do some inland exploring and the Wheat Belt looked like the perfect way to fill in the time until our friends arrived in Margaret River for a visit with us.
York was an excellent place to have an overnight freecamp having a freecamp rest area on the bank of the Avon River at the edge of town. The freecamp was quite roomy and we were able to park under a bit of shade and stay hitched. The location was excellent with an easy walk into town via a suspension bridge across the river.
After a bouncy but picturesque walk across the bridge it is a short walk past a park area and onto the main street of the town. York itself is quite a pretty little town with a very striking Town Hall and colonial style stone buildings.
There is a vacant lot that has a number of sculptures made from wheat straw in the style of Japanese Wara Art that uses rice stalks. There was a number of sculptures around 4m high including a bilby and a tortoise to name a couple.
Despite our Swift cooker being cleared for use we opted to have dinner at the Settlers House York. The Steak Sanga and Calamari were great examples of ‘pub grub’ and good reminder of how good country pubs are when they’re done right.
Tiny Doors
Lots of small regional towns do do community initiatives to create interest and attract tourism dollars. York‘s point of interest is a number of ‘Tiny Doors‘ scattered around various businesses and public locations.
Jo made it her mission to find all the tiny doors on her morning walk, which she managed to do except for one that we think was on the way out of town. It’s little things like this that make small towns interesting, quirky and all the more enjoyable. We were totally surprised by York and thoroughly enjoyed our overnighter there.
The jewel in York‘s crown is the York Motor Museum. Located on the main street the museum looks like a shopfront but once inside it reveals itself as a massive, multi-roomed floor space of immaculate automobiles, motor cycles and motoring memorabilia. The displays range from the earliest days of motoring in Australia through to more contemporary models.
There truly is something for everyone amongst the exhibits, most of which are in immaculate condition and/or fully restored to showroom condition. Originally a private collection, it was acquired by a community not-for-profit group and was the catalyst for the revival of York.
Once again we were lucky enough to have the whole place to ourselves and wandered through the amazing array of vehicles and displays at our leisure. All for the princely sum of $12 for Rob and $10 for Jo (using her Senior’s card). It was unbeliebavble value for money especially compared to a number of other museums and collections that we had viewed in our travels.
The prized exhibit was one of the first six Australian Six‘s built (without a chassis number). It is one of only four Australian Six‘s known to exist from a production run of around 500. It was beautiful automobile that was an early 1900’s attempt by Australia to compete against foreign cars that was ultimately doomed due to high production costs.
One of Rob’s favourite exhibits was one of Ralph Sarich‘s Orbital Engines. The Orbital Engine burst into the automotive scene back in the 70’s and was hailed as a revolutionary new design, similar in concept but different to the rotary engine of RX7 fame. Despite immense global interest the Orbital Engine was plagued by a couple of issues and never garnered the financial support required to fully develop it and disappeared from view in the 80’s.
Another unique exhibit that peaked our interest was due to the Seagulls telling us of their former heavy involvement in go-kart racing. Gary Seagull was actually a National Champion in his younger years and Sandy raced as well. The museum had on exhibit Rosco McGlashan’s rocket powered go-kart capable of 407kph, a truly amazing piece of ‘terror’…
One of the quirkier exhibits was ‘Never Never Tours’ Valiant Ute from the movie ‘ Crocodile Dundee‘ with the dashboard signed by Paul Hogan. The ute is displayed complete with a stuffed crocodile sitting in front of it for a bit of character and whimsy.
Not being huge car enthusiasts we were completely blown away by the York Motor Museum. We didn’t know it existed until we arrived in York and are so glad we stumbled upon it. It was unforgettable and totally absorbing.