Day 100: Wed 26 Jun 24 - Northam (Toodyay)

Wed 26 Jun 24 - Northam (Toodyay)

A slightly warmer day, 2 to 19 Deg C and partly cloudy. Another pleasant day visiting another nearby historic town with a colonial and convict past - Toodyay on the Avon River. 

Toodyay, located 26km from Northam, was previously known as Newcastle between 1860 and 1910, but after persistent flooding in the 1850s, the townsite was eventually abandoned and reestablished at its current location in the 1860s. Due to confusion with Newcastle in NSW, it was also renamed Toodyay in 1910. I'm not sure how that happened, because Toodyay is more than 80km from the coast, much smaller in size, and on the opposite side of the country.

We arrived in Toodyay at 1030, and our first priority was the 'Artesan' Bakery for coffee and cake. The largest apple strudel you have ever seen was served to me, while Noel had carrot cake - both were very nice. After our fill, we walked through the small township enjoying another charming town with an amazing past. I lost Noel for a while in the Christmas 360 store - there's nothing Christmas related in this store that you can't buy - it was amazing. We met up again a little later, then continued to the Pelham's lookout for wonderful views across Toodyay and the surrounding farmland - all very green and lush. Toodyay is quant old town, and located on the Avon River with many surrounding nature trails,  would make for a lovely place to visit for a few days.

On the way back to the van, we stopped in Northam for a short walk, went to the supermarket to buy a few essentials, and refuelled. Back at the van, Noel had a busy afternoon baking another healthy slice and cooked Butter Chicken for dinner - all very nice. 

Tomorrow we leave Northam for Kalgoorlie, but we may test the new batteries with an overnight free camp along the way. It is only 500km to Kalgoorlie, and unfortunately some rain is forecast. Apparently the road is not as good as most other WA roads so we'll take extra care. We've booked a four night stay at Kalgoorlie from Friday.

Toodyay - Historic Flour Mill (1870), now a museum, but we didn't into this one

Toodyay Bakery - Nice coffee nice and cakes for morning tea

Toodyay - Memorial Hall

Toodyay - Bakery and Freemasons Hotel

Toodyay - Post Office

Toodyay - Victoria Hotel

Toodyay - Old Fire Station

Toodyay - Christmas 360

Toodyay - Christmas 360

Toodyay - Freemasons Hotel

Toodyay

Toodyay - War Memorial

Toodyay - War Memorial

Toodyay - War Memorial

Toodyay - View from Pelham's Lookout (into the sun again).
Very picturesque countryside

Northam - Silos

Northam -Town Hall

Northam - Uniting Church

Northam

Northam - Old Fire Station

Northam - St Johns Anglican Church

Our home for 3 nights until tomorrow morning


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