canola fields forever

i have said this a million times over, but i love the country and i love the wheatbelt. no lies. my long term dream would be to buy some land so i can enjoy the open space, grow things and just listen to the sounds of silence. to me, the country is beautiful, often in unconventional ways, like the colour of wheat against the blue sky. the sunburnt paddocks when there hasn't been any rain for months... and the dirt tracks with the green trees hugging their edges.

but i also find the things that should be pretty too - like the canola fields in full bloom on my drive to york today. they are just breathtaking. very few things are prettier than them in fact. they were so striking that i pulled my car over to take some pics, then a car pulled over on the opposite side of the road and waited and waited, so i thought i was being watched by a local who was making sure i didn't walk out into the fields for my own personal photoshoot. they have a lot of issues with that - and my friend keryn who lives in york takes great delight in yelling at people who do it because it's super disrespectful and it ruins the crops!

i hung about for a minute or two more just admiring the view then got in the car to keep driving - as which time the other person got out, phone in hand. looks like they had been waiting to do the same thing and was too embarrassed to get out while i was there. crack up! 

it's the country life for me. ❤

my favourite place

i grew up in a teeny tiny country town in the wheatbelt called clackline, 80kms from perth. i loved it then. i still love it. everything is far away, your neighbours are not at all next door and you can be as loud as you want. the most fun bit though, is the friends you make that are from seriously all over the place, because your high school caters to students that live ages away and we all turn up on buses that can take up to an hour to and from school. a lot of the "local" high schools (still 20 odd kilometres from ours only go to year 10 - so for their last two years they are bussing it in each day to hang with us. i also am from 20km out of town, but add in (as far as) dowerin, york, goomalling, toodyay, grass valley, spencers brook, bakers hill, wundowie... there's some massive ground you're covering there, so you really end up with mates all over the place.

anyway. one of my dearest friends from school is from a town called york and every now and then, we like to go to york and catch up with her. but it conveniently just so happens that the best opshop ever is in york too. boom.

so, today we drove out to york to see my beautiful friend keryn annnnd hit up the salvation army jumble sale there. i have said it before and i'll say it again, i am convinced that the guy who is in charge of pricing the items as you leave gets bored with his job cause he counts for a while and then just announces a total, (which is always way lower than it should be) which you hand over gleefully. today we paid (between mum and i) $30 for 65 items - which is just 46c each. sorry perth - but you'll just never be able to compete with that!

the way home from york to mums though, is my favourite place in the world. there is a certain point where all you can see is crops and sky. i love stopping there and just taking it in for a few moments, as well as grabbing a snap or two. you can take the girl out of the wheatbelt, but you can't take the wheatbelt out of the girl. ❤

a day out in york

growing up in the wheatbelt was amazing. as any teenagers do, we complain about everything, and that there's nothing to do, but i can assure you, we found plenty.

york is one of the neighbouring towns to clackline where i grew up and it is so beautiful! it is wa's oldest inland town and the all the old buildings are stunning. the town hall is my favourite.

i love the old country town feel of it. i love the amount of work that went into buildings years ago. i just love the country. i was so so blessed to grow up out here. 

i mean seriously, how stunning is this building? i can just imagine the events, the meetings, the concerts that would have gone on back in the day.

and the view from the top windows isn't bad either

stunning stained glass accents...

that grand staircase... it's just amazing!

afterwards we went for a play at the local park with my friend keryn and her son jamison. we have known each other since school and are still close as anything.

this little cutie had a great time as always, give him a swing and he's happy... 

and he was especially stoked when aunty keryn took him for a glide on the flying fox.

we constantly visit york as my favourite opshop is there, but all the other things make it wonderful too, especially having friends there. i love being able to share home with my kids. ❤

home for the holidays - trekking around the wheatbelt

we spent the past few days at mum and dads hopping around the little towns that neighbour their house. i love it out in the country, there is always something fun to do - and i always feel like i am home when i drive those roads. we had the best time! 

we spent one day in york, conveniently during their town festival. the kids were loving these massive animals placed around the town... this fish was even made so that you could walk through it - and the inside was all paneled like an old church roof. so much work went into it. 

we also got to try our hand at archery in the same park... madeline and joseph thought it was the coolest thing ever and are still talking about it. even more so, because nanna did it too!

madeline did a pretty amazing job at it and got a few great shots in, hitting the target each time.

i love watching these kids learn something new, they put everything into it and give it a good go. i am sure they'll want to do it again, so we will have to hit up the archery park near mum and dads house. that's where i learned as a kid.

we also spent a day in toodyay, looking at the old buildings... like the old goal museum

it's hard to believe that these little country towns were long ago thriving and completely independent of the rest of their surrounds. each built on an industry that kept them going, with people coming to work and set up their lives... while now they are full of empty shop fronts and tourists who only come for the day. it is so sad to me.

it does, however, make for some wonderful history and things to look at.

the boys hanging out in the old goal building across the road from the main museum... joseph was pushing the pram about to make him giggle.

we also had to take a photo with the coca-cola museum for aunty dom. it's only her favourite thing in the world after all. haha

i love the old connors mill building, definitely my favourite one in toodyay.

and our last stop? the christmas store in toodyay. open all year around selling christmas things, people come from everywhere to see what they have on offer. i must admit it is pretty impressive, it's massive and just brimming with christmas. the kids, especially alex, loved it!

i love the country. still not ready to move out here just yet, but i love to be here - and for the kids to spend time here too. i think it's so good for them. the wheatbelt is amazing.

the best day with nanna

school holidays aren't complete without a visit to nanna's house and today was the day! we met in york for a rummage at the york salvation army jumble sale (in my humble (educated haha) opinion, still the best opshop in wa with the best prices. i have found soooo many good things there over the years. then we hit up some more opshops in northam, (can't wait to show off what i found in a future post, two awesome prints for alex's room and a huge map of the paris metro system for our wall!) before heading home to mums place via the clackline "post office" in the old railway carriage.

i was in heaven, as they have a little free library of sorts there now... a community book exchange in an old telephone booth. we left some books and took some, both the kids and i were thrilled. we love finding new ones wherever we go.

maddie showcasing her new wedges from york (meant to be hers for sure, mum found them a few weeks ago and didn't buy them, but when we went back today - still there! that never happens!) and definitely feeling a bit sassy today. i love to write memories so when the kids read back on these one day we can have a laugh. todays maddie gem: we were at the park in northam and a girl was being awful to her, rude to joseph and then told her right to her face that she was ugly! i was having none of it and when mum told her to go and play again and that she would stand with her, i said no, i have a better way of dealing with this. we got back in the car and drove out - and me being the awful mother that i am (and a terrible example!) let her flip the girl the bird. she was so proud of herself and even though it was the worst idea ever and so not the solution, it made her feel better and the girl was mortified. case closed, points to madeline. defend yourself girl, don't let anyone push you around 😆 and what better place to do it than from the safety of your car.

today was the best day. 

a day in york... with the emergency ‘copter

i spent the day in york today with mum and the kids today... which of course included first up a visit to the salvation army jumble sale... we got a pretty awesome haul (including 45 items for me, and a stack for mum which i didn't count, all for $30. to be honest, i think the guy got sick of counting the items haha) which made me very happy... before we moved on to the park by the river and met my friend keryn and her little boy who is just younger than madeline.

crossing the old suspension bridge, which is a lot more rickety than i remember! 

miss madeline loving her life out in the country ♥

while we were playing at the park, we heard the very unmistakable sounds of a helicopter, which seemed odd in york... turns out it was the westpac rescue helicopter making a stop off to get someone to perth. seeing as keryn knows york, she knew exactly where to go for a front row view of it being loaded up again... 

and taking off, which was actually really cool to watch (side note: i hope the person getting loaded in was okay!)

we love york. it's a great place to be, especially with old friends and fun kids!

york salvos

another day, another awesome haul from the york salvation army jumble sale. this very overflowing ikea bag full of clothes and other stuff cost me $40... for so many things!

after all this time and so many opshops, this one is still right up there in my favourites and very rarely disappoints and it certainly didn't today! i was stoked. 

lunch with mum and the kidlets at my friends house after... best day this week! ♥

to york to york

there is nothing my mother and i love more than a good opshop, even if it's a bit of a drive to get there. one of our favourites, which isn't too far from mums house, is the salvation army jumble sale in york. it is in a shed behind the salvation army church (meaning of course that it's hot in summer and freezing in winter) located in avon terrace, open from 9:30-12 noon monday and friday. we always get some awesome bargains and have a lot of fun.

and the kids love it too! there is a "cafe" inside the church hall during the jumble sale opening hours and they serve scones with jam and cream. yum yum yum. we love our york trips with nanna. ♥

a trip to clackline and york

no matter how long it's been, or how many times i visit... going to clackline is always like going home. after church yesterday we (doug and the kids and his parents and i) went to my parents house for dinner... and the kids and i stayed the night. i love it there. i love the drive up, the farm, everything there... and just being there. 

madeline was in heaven too, as we always let her sit on our laps to "drive" up mum and dads road. i remember how important i always felt when they let me, so i love to watch her.

and today we went to the salvation army jumble sale in york... imperative when visiting - there are bargains to be had! and then took the kidlets for a play at the park near the bridge. they are so cute it's insane... and i love to watch them playing and laughing together.

and swinging the day away...

of course we then had to stop in for a visit to the lion monument in clackline...

(i am unsure if i have ever shared this story on my blog, so apologies if you are reading anything you've heard before... 

my brother likes to tease my sister in law and say she is a little gullible... and one time upon visiting clackline they happened to discuss the lion monument. jared told her that years and years ago there was a travelling circus that visited the local school. according the jared version of the story, a lion escaped and attacked (ate?) two of the children and the monument was erected in their memory. donna replies with, "oh my! but wouldn't they have had children on the monument? not a lion? it seems odd to me that he would be the one remembered" upon which time she glanced at my brother who was stifling a laugh. what a clown)

the creek that flows under the old clackline bridge...

and the vintage train carriage and old tractor parked by the clackline general store.

even if i visit a million times, i will never tire of the place. 

we love clackline! ♥

clackers and baby jacob

mum and dad got home from the uk wednesday night and needed a ride back to clackline, so i threw my hand in the air and quickly snuck off to visit jen and baby jacob once i had them home and safe.

he spent most of the time i was there sleeping, but that's okay... you can still cuddle a sleeping baby. i got my fix.

and today we went to york, played at the park and got a haul from the salvos... everything you see for $20. this is why we love york. 

i am so glad mum and dad are home and safe. it always makes me feel good when they get back.

and i love clackline. you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. all these years later and i still feel at home driving those long roads and getting out to the farm in the bush. i love that place and it will always feel like home.