Return to Perth

Today was mostly driving from Hyden to Perth.  We started out in fog but by the time we had driven about 50 to 75 kilometers, we were out of the fog and into beautiful sunshine and blue skies. 

We drove through wheat and grass lands with cattle and sheep ranches between the farms.  We drove through the Darling mountain range as we neared Perth. 

Today was Western Australia Day so all of the town restaurants and cafes were closed.  Even  the grocery stores that advertise open 7 days a week were closed.  We ate breakfast and lunch at “Roadhouses”, which are combination gas stations and fast food outlets.  In Australia fast food is usually premade sandwiches and meat pies.  One place we stopped even had fried chicken.  We even found that the public restrooms that all towns have were locked.

Traffic was light and weather was good (after the fog), so we made good time back to Perth.

Not to many pictures today.  The majority of them are in the category of public art.

In Hyden we found a park full of metal sculptures.  A grant was made to some of the small towns in the area (included the towns of Kondinin and Karlgarin).  Hyden chose to depict people of the area (for the most part).

Echidna

 

Mile, Man of Measurement.  Milo Prince was one of the early surveyors that marked out the first farming blocks in the area.

Johnny the Mechanic.  A busy man particularly after World War II when more mechanization was introduced/

Hyden’s First Power Station.  This one is just whimsical.

There are many more of them than what I have included in this blog entry.  This gives a little bit of an overview of the sculpture park.  It was fun to look at each of them.

The road we drove on was all two lane until we got into Perth.  It was tree lined most of the way.  We enjoyed looking at the variation on color of the bark of the trees.  They went from brown, to red, to gray, to blond, to white.

Just outside Corrigin, we came across this Dog Cemetery.  It was created in 1974 as a tribute to Mans Best Friend.

There are over 800 pets that have been laid to rest here.

We are back at the All Suites Hotel in downtown Perth.  This afternoon we caught up on some laundry, took a nap and generally rested.  On tap for tomorrow is a little shopping and a visit to Kings Park, the botanic gardens just West of the Central Business District (CBD).