In Katanning, I stayed once more at the lovely Premier Mill Hotel. This is a beautifully converted historic flour mill, proud of its heritage, and now owned by Dome. The pleasant American guy who checked me in turned out to be the manager; when I checked out he was keen to chat about my impressions of the place. I said the only thing wrong was the minuscule fridge: everything else was perfect. There is an informative booklet about the history of the mill and of Katanning, a souvenir to take away. This has been expanded a lot since I was last here. I also told him how much I appreciated the super-fast wifi in the hotel. He took me outside and pointed to a nondescript building with a big tower. This is Telstra’s back-up station
for the whole of WA. If the state network fails, this back-up station can take over! That’s why the signal is so strong here.
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Part of the original flour mill machinery. |
Check this out: beautiful shots by a professional photographer. I was in a Boiler Room.
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Railway line going south. |
When this railway was built in the nineteenth century, it was an important link between Perth and the port of Albany. Katanning was a halfway stop. Now it is only used for goods transport. It would be great to bring back passenger trains.
Just outside the hotel, there is a new charging station for electric cars. I saw three of them later at Williams (these ones owned by Tesla). The charging stations are popping up everywhere, to encourage the purchase of electric cars. I don't know how much it costs to charge your car or how long it takes. When my 15 year old Prius dies, I want to buy an electric vehicle.
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One of several murals around town. |
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Inside Williams Woolshed, where I stopped for coffee. |
Interesting
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