Go West, Young Man! (part 4 of 4)

A few days in the Swan Valley just to the north-west of Perth were just the ticket to let us chill out after the long days up north and prepare us for going home. The Vines Country Club was perfect as a base to enjoy a bit of luxury.  Driving into the Swan Valley, the first thing we encountered was a 'roo hopping about on our side of the road.  Don't think our Hyundai rental would have come out of a collision with a big 'roo too well.

Beware of local hazards!

The Vines was a model of understated luxury and the photo below is the view from our room - grape vines and fountain with a small pool.  Why do I always feel slightly out of place in this sort of luxury?

Courtyard panoramic

A pair of ducks were swimming in the small pool and as soon as they saw me emerge from the room, they were over in a flash, expecting a feed.  Even when we closed the French windows, they stayed outside tapping on the window with their beaks to remind us that they were still there!

 Tap, tap - got anything to eat mister?

We'd already visited some vineyards down south so we skipped these, visiting a nougat factory and coffee roasting place instead.  The range of products was amazing and not good for the waistline either!  We also paid a visit to the motor museum of Western Australia which had a great range of bikes and cars.  There's a selection of photos below but my personal favourite was a hand-built special which was completed by the owner when he was in his 80's!!!  The first photo is my photo of a picture on the wall showing the chassis during construction with the builder's wife looking on (no doubt rolling her eyes and tutting).

Sigh.. her car probably has to sit outside the garage!

Tantalising glimpse of a Jag V12 powerplant through the rear window

Front view - what a looker with hand-made alloy panels!

I guess when you get to your late 70's and 80's, a lot of people would would be thinking of taking it easy but this guy is an inspiration to us all!

 Early Honda car with 350cc twin powerplant

Superbly-restored 1929 Studebaker

Aussie legend Peter Brock's racing Holden Torana - brutal

Greeves twin port single motocross engine

massive finning, tiny crankcase

 

Flawlessly restored Kawasaki Z1

On the ANZAC day public holiday shared by Australia and NZ, we drove out into the hinterland for a look-see and ended up in the historic town of York.  We were standing outside a shop when the vintage car in the photo below came chugging along and parked.  Somehow, it didn't seem at all out of place!

York main street

York lookout

An Acorn Banksia - flower is bigger than your fist

Grass Trees which look very alien!

On our last day in Western Australia, we were driving through the Perth suburbs and got held up at the traffic lights.  There was some reconstruction work going on and at first, we didn't notice anything amiss.  Click on the photo and look closely at the 2 big signs - isn't the world better for people with a sense of humour?

Simply wonderful!

I hope that you've enjoyed the selection of photos covering our travels in Western Australia.  We thought that it was a fantastic destination although it doesn't seem particularly well-publicised.  You've certainly got to do a bit of planning though because of the distances involved.  We mixed self-drive with two very good limited numbers tours in small luxury coaches.  The tours were excellent from the perspective that they included stuff which would be hard to find or organise if travelling by yourself.  The tours were well-organised and it would be extremely remiss not to mention our drivers, Mike from Pinnacle and Terry from Travelmarvel/APT.  Both were fantastic ambassadors for their country and companies - extremely knowledgeable, funny as heck, and supremely organised.  In fact, driving seemed a minor part of their role. They both ended up more as friends than company representatives, which says it all really.

Also, many car rental companies won't let you take their vehicles off the tar seal which is a shame as there are so many things to see down the dirt roads which outnumber the sealed ones by a country mile.  Mixing tours with driving is the only way you'll see things properly.  By way of a parting bit of wry humour, there was a sticker in our car which said that rental vehicle travel on dirt roads was not permitted unless it was in a 4x4.  It then added that the Subaru Outback 4x4 was excluded from the dirt.  Ironic really, that the Outback isn't allowed to travel in the...... outback.  The ultimate irony!