Stirlings to Katanning

Driving along the Salt River Road this morning, the biggest excitement was seeing a big mob of emus: a mother and about a dozen chicks. As soon as I stopped the car, they turned tail and ran. They were too quick for me. This is a very quiet road with hardly any traffic, so they were not used to being disturbed.

There were more wildflowers to photograph, including this yellow Chittick, a completely different colour to those we saw in Cape Le Grand:

I needed my expert H to help identify the rest, but I’m on my own now:

The long straight road to Cranbrook went though flat fields of recently harvested wheat,  with pale golden stubble glowing across the landscape. Flocks of sheep had been let loose in some to feed on what was left.

I arrived at Katanning just before lunchtime. It was a relief to make use of their super fast wifi to update my blog.

.... later:

I now have a room looking out onto the street and the railway line. On a miserable wet Sunday evening, there is nothing much doing in Katanning: just one goods train came through from Albany, covered in graffiti. My room is slightly larger, but not so quiet. There are noises of people talking and laughing, but not from next door. It seems to come along the machinery, the original mill workings in the ceiling:

The restoration of the mill is a great selling point, but impractical  in some respects. A few mod cons are appreciated, such as the availability of in-house movies. Instead of a siesta, I watched The Gentleman a clever Guy Ritchie production. There is a small “Guest Valet”, a communal kitchen area on each floor, where boiling water comes from a tap for tea and coffee making. Also included in the Valet is a collection of Folio Society books, exclusive and expensive, but surely this could have been achieved with a smaller price tag. However, this place makes a welcoming half way stopover for those who don’t want to drive back to Perth in one day.