We had a lovely weekend in the small town of Beverley, courtesy of S and A who invited us to their weekend home there. The town is about two hours drive east of Perth. We set out at around 10am and arrived at S and A’s in time for lunch.
Set on the banks of the Avon River, Beverley has a population of around 1600 people. It was lovely to spend time in such a quiet and pleasant town. We walked around the town and admired the architecture and cleanliness of the place.
S and A were very hospitable and fed us very well with delicious soup at lunchtime and a lovely beef stew at dinner time. We brought jl’s gift of Moët et Chandon Brut Imperial champagne to share, and enjoyed it thoroughly (thanks, jl! It was beautiful!).
Some of the highlights for me:
The wonderful backyard at S and A’s house. I especially loved sitting out there first thing on Sunday morning and listening to the morning chorus of birds.
Simba the Dog. The picture says it all, I think. (Something strange is happening - having always been a cat person, I think I am slowly also becoming a dog person!)
Finally, something that doesn’t happen at Beverley (or anywhere else) everyday: a group of vintage motorcycle fanciers were in town. (That is, fanciers of vintage motorcycles - although some of the fanciers were of quite esteemed vintages, too.)
They came in to town on Saturday evening and spent the night in the hotel, and on Sunday morning they gathered to set off on an annual commemorative ride from Beverley back to Perth. One of the riders told S and me that the ride commemorates the first ever bike race in Western Australia. (I don’t remember if he told us when this first race happened.)
We went down to the main street to see the bikes lined up as their riders prepared for their rides. It was amazing to see these wonderfully kept very old motorcycles, dating back to 1911! I don’t know much about motorcycles but it was fascinating to see so many different old motorcycles in one place. I was thrilled to see real Indians (having seen the movie The World’s Fastest Indian). More photos of vintage motorcycles on Flickr.
I can completely relate to this love/obsession. Replace the bikes with vintage fountain pens…
Map originally from WA Mainroads.
I could have spent more time online, given that we bought a new monitor for me on Saturday. I am now the happy user of a 22″ widescreen Asus monitor. I am still amused by the number of tabs I can open in my browser without any of them disappearing off the screen (ya, the novelty will wear off).
