Day 124 Toodyay, WA

 Today we are at Toodyay.  We are just 85kms North East of Perth but we are not heading that way.  Because of its close proximity to Perth, Toodyay is a popular weekend destination.  There is plenty to see and do in this very pretty town that was established in 1836.  The town was formally known as Newcastle but adopted the aboriginal name after the confusion with Newcastle in NSW.  The town was relocated away from the banks of the Avon River in 1850 after it had been flooded several times. Our caravan park is on the banks of the Avon River that is flowing very fast with all the recent rain in this area.  There is a walkway into town that we may do tomorrow morning before we leave or maybe even late this afternoon.  Toodyay is in the Grain Belt of Western Australia and we loved todays drive that took us through several towns in close proximity to each other and fields full of crops on both sides of the road. The paddocks are dotted with sheep, some just off shears.  It is very cold at the moment and we wonder how they will hold up with no wool on them in these cold conditions.

Our first top today was at Merridan where we fuelled the car at 197.9 for diesel. We hope that prices will get cheaper as we continue our journey and we do notice further along the highway that prices are indeed coming down, thank goodness. We are still following the water pipeline that stretches from Perth to Kalgoorlie.  Some sections of it are being replaced due to age but for the most part it looks like this.....

There is a little silo art in this area and we stopped at Merridan and then again at Northam to view the art.  Neither were spectacular but I am still in awe that someone could paint something so large and still keep it in proportion. I know that Silo Art should tell a story but I really don't know what these are trying to tell me......

Our lunch stop today was at a picnic area at Tammin between Northam and Merridan.  Here there is a little grain silo painted bright pink. Perhaps it was the owners idea of Silo Art.....

Going back in time to last night, we walked down to the local pub at Westonia were we had a bit of a "pig out" on bar snacks.  Boy did I pay for that through the night.  So today for lunch I made us a gigantic "chop chop" salad to put some healthy goodness back into our stomachs.

I can't stop thinking about Westonia and what a great little town it was.  It was lovely by day but at night it undergoes another transformation. This was how the street looked at night.....

The weather is bleak and we drove in and out of rain on our journey today.  Looking ahead to the weather forecast we can expect more of the same.  Cold and Wet.  Just what we love (not).....