We drive north

16 hrs of airtime, and we finally arrived in Perth. We have hit the ground running. We reunited with our Dutch friends, Rob and Cora, at the Comfort Inn, closest to the airport. We closed out the Palm Restaurant at 9:30.



Apparently after we had left, the dining room was broken into. The staff graciously cobbled together a breakfast. Then it was on to a mall to fit the iPads with Australian sim cards. 3 gb of data for 30$. Att, should be ashamed, selling 250mb for 15$!
Then we hit the road driving 2 hours north of Perth. We were directed by our Dutch TomTom and iPad google maps. We stopped at a lovely lunch spot in Gingin, CU@Park. I of course had to stop and smell the roses.






Approaching our friends station, the countryside became more remote with expansive fields. The terrain is quite flat but at the moment thanks to the rain, the vegetation is lush and green. Various Gums (eucalyptus) red, white, and black. You can tell what the quality of the soil is by which Gum grows. For the most fertile growth, look for the Black gum. Wild lillies and wild flowers abound. The bottle brush trees are in bloom.





Dandaragan is about 20 small buildings the post general store being it's hub. And of course there were more roses to smell.





We arrived at Andrew and pauline's station, a small 13,000 acre spread. Galahs, and vivid green little parrots called 28s ( their squawk sounds like they are saying 28) flew around. Ibis were in the fields along with sheep and cows.












Andrew and pauline's house is amazing. Built in the 1800s,the rooms have 13 1/2 ft ceilings. It is all one floor but a sprawling layout. Their dining room table can sit 23 comfortably. Historical photos and farming pictures are on the walls. Stain glass panels are at the entry. Hard to capture by image. I had the sense that i had stepped back in time. Several dogs and cats greet the visitors. We were made welcome by receiving. Mosquito netting for our heads and our own individual tubes of vegimite a yeasty spread full of vitamin bs.



Then it was off to tour the spread, including some of the biggest farm equiptment ihave ever seen. Spreaders and harvesters with sophisticated gps software. We stopped to pick some of the wild lilies. Pauline led the way after telling us to walk loudly to scare away the snakes (tiger or brown, both venomous). We are not in Kansas any more.





We had an scrumptious dinner a roast leg of lamb from the farm with roasted root vegetables. Wine and song and a Victorian sponge cake ended the evening.






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Location:Dandaragan western australia