Toodyay

Trish wants to buy a small farm out in the country to retire to when Martin retires in a couple of years. She saw an ad for some property in Saturday's paper and decided to drive out there with a friend of hers to look at it. She asked if I wanted to go along to see the the Australian bush.

So we drove east up into the mountains out of Perth into the rolling hills and valleys of the Darling Range. It is very beautiful up there. It reminds me of central coast near Paso Robles/Lake Nacimento area, except with more trees.

We found the property advertised. It was awful. Too close to the road, railroad tracks, and with a poor water drainage. We stayed 10 minutes and left. We continued east into the small town of Toodyay in the Avon River Valley. Toodyay was hosting the Western Australia Jazz Festival this weekend. Downtown, all one block of it, was packed with people enjoying Australia Jazz, bluegrass, and even the Australian versions of country and blues.

We had lunch at the Coca-Cola museum. It wasn't really a museum. It was more somebody's house that was obsessed with Coca-Cola and collected everything Coke ad, can, bottle, key chain, pin, poster, cooler, and more that has every been made. The "museum" served Australian hamburgers out on the patio. I ordered a Pepsi with mine. I didn't get one.

Next door was a real estate office. Trish looked at some of the ads they had in their window. The manager came out and started talking to her. She told him about the land she had driven up to look for and then described what she was looking for. The agent said he had just the place.

So we piled into his 4wd and took off east deeper into the bush. After about 20 minutes of small farms he pulled into a dirt road and into a large meadow. What he had was a 50 acre lot that we was selling. The lot was surrounded by national park on two sides. The park was in it's natural state with a deep forest of gum and and other types of trees. It had a dam and a small lake on one side to capture water from a small creek that ran down the middle. The land was in a small valley with mountain views to the north and east. Trish and her friend walked around it for a while, asked a few questions, and then decided to buy it.

So we drove back to the office and she cut a check for $120,000 for the 50 acres. Her husband Martin didn't even know that she was looking at a farm today. He left in the morning to go golfing with a friend.

Tomorrow is his birthday. Won't he be surprised. She said escrow should close by December and she wants to take the family camping on the new land for New Years Eve. She said I am welcome to come along to experience camping in the Australian bush.