Hi everyone. Regular visitors to my blog would have noticed that I have been missing lately. We have been away for the last 6 weeks travelling through the north of Western Australia. We are safely back now, but I am taking a little while to get back into the swing of life. But I promise I will return soon with stories and pics from our trip.
By the way the wildflowers this season are amazing due to the rain we have had this season. This is one of the Mulla mulla varieties - Ptilotus Exaltatus
Something a little different this week..... the start of a piece for my writer's group's latest proposed anthology - Memories of Childhood.
Some of this story is true and some is embellishment. I remember taking a steam train ride when I was a child. We travelled from Perth to York, east of Perth, Western Australia's oldest inland town. York was established in 1829 to grow crops to feed the growing Swan River Settlement and became the stepping off point for gold seekers on their way to the Coolgardie-Kalgoorlie goldfields.
The images are from a steam train ride we did in the Hotham Valley Tourist Train a couple of years ago in Dwellingup. Unfortunately I don't have a photo I have taken inside the Perth central railway station. Next time I am in Perth I should go there.
This one below is from Heritage Perth website. I tried to find an old photo of the inside of the Perth Railway station, but could only find this one taken in 1937 of the outside.
I can still remember the golden light streaming through the steel and glass roof of the Perth railway station. Dust moats dancing in the glowing mist. The cold early morning air biting my cheeks and fingers. I thrust my hands into the pockets of my buttoned up coat and tug the edge of my new knitted hat. The train hisses, engulfing the platform in billowing clouds of swirling steam and coal smoke.
I hop from one foot to another excited to be here and trying to keep warm. My bare legs and short socks do little to protect me from the cold. My sister and I laugh as we blow our steamy warm breaths into the sunlight.
Mum tells me to stand still and pulls me away from the edge of the
platform when I lean over to look at the railway tracks.
“But Mum, I saw a cat running along down there”.
“Rubbish, don’t be silly”.
Dad takes my hand and walks me over to the kiosk where he buys a
newspaper and a bag of Fantails from a girl with dark curls framing a big smile
and bright red lipstick. Dad winks at me as he secrets the lollies in the
pocket of his coat.
As we walk back to where Mum and my sister are sitting on a wooden bench
with the picnic basket between them, the train’s whistle blows and the train
clunks slowly forward. It hisses as it stops just beyond us, as if it too is
impatient to be on its way.
A man with shiny buttons and stripes on his sleeves swings down from the
nearest carriage.
“All aboard” he calls.
Dad pulls our tickets from his pocket and hands them to the conductor.
He smiles at me and tips his cap. “Good morning young lady. Up you go.”
Dad lifts me up the first step and I clamber up into the train. I
scamper down the carriage looking for the seat number on my ticket. Dad stows
the picnic basket on the overhead rack.
We seat facing each other on hard blue vinyl seats which are cold under
my legs. Dad pulls down the window and I lean out looking up and down the platform
watching the people get on the train.
“All aboard! Last call!” the conductor calls. He blows his whistle and
waves a green flag. The train sounds its whistle loudly in reply and we start
to move forward. We are on our way.
Out of the station, through the city, and then into the suburbs. The
train blows its whistle whenever we come to a rail crossing. I wave to people
sitting waiting in their cars at the crossings.
The city is taken over by the trees and green paddocks. Cows and sheep
grazing. Farm houses with red roofs and smoke lazily drifting from chimneys. Tractors
turning the damp earth. I see a mob of kangaroos bounding away across a
paddock, their long tails beating rhythmically on the earth.
More information about York here: Visit York
