Last week we officially joined the ranks of Australian coffee drinkers: we purchased an Espresso machine. It seems that at home people here either drink instant coffee or espressos/lattes. Everyone has an espresso maker. Even in the offices, like mine, they don't have 'regular' coffee makers but instead espresso makers. We are used to having percolated, filtered "regular" coffee but when in Rome have a no foam, no fat, chai, double shot, cinammon latte. Nadia and the boys are particularly keen on the device. In my opinion it takes too much time to make a coffee with the machine. I prefer a more effecient caffeine delivery system. In addition to latte's, they are also enjoying Calm Tea Misto's and some other types of teas with steamed milk. I think the main reason everyone is so excited about the machine is that Perth appears to be the only major city in Australia that doesn't have a Starbucks. Let me put that into context: there are over 1.7 million people in the greater Perth area and not one Starbucks. Yes, there are some other coffee shops but as we all know it's just not the same. So, we have gone from having a Tim Horton's on every corner and a Starbucks on every second corner to neither. It's a wonder that we have managed to keep ourselves going.
Zaren is enjoying the new machine.
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Last week Nadia and I ventured about 1 1/2 hours east of Perth to a small town called York. If you're keeping track at home that makes several "York's" on the planet. There is the original York in the UK. There is (old) New York, which was once New Amsterdam. A portion of old Toronto used to be known as York and the University there still bears it's name. The only other remnant is the suburb of North York near the center of the universe. Also, there is a York in Pennsylvania. I'm sure if I were to look hard enough I'd find dozens of "York's" around the world. Which leads to the question, if the citizens of York, UK loved their city so much that they named all of their new home's in it's honour, why did so many of them leave the original York?
In any case, Nadia and I recently travelled to York, the Western Australian edition. In the tourist propoganda it was heralded as the "gem" of eastern towns outside of Perth. It's claim to fame is that it was the first inland settlement in Western Australia, just a few years after Perth was originally settled (by Europeans). As it turns out, if we drove at the posted speed limit of 50km/h we would have gone through York within about 1 1/2 minutes. In other words, it was a bit of a let down.
York has a historical district that is comprised of 4 oldish buildings on each side of the road. Today, the municipality serves the local farming community and all of the tourists that are gullible enough to believe the official literature. It's nice to see that "Baghdad Bob" the former Iraqi Minister of Information managed to find a job after the war.
"Baghdad Bob"
Nadia in front of the old Town Hall building in York. These people are responsible for the tourist trade and should be commended for doing a fantastic job without much to work with. Be on the lookout for these folks as they are certainly qualified to take over the world.
Besides a couple of buildings, York does have some local hand made furniture made of the wood that grows in the area that is quite nice.
The oldest church in York. It is still in use.
There are a few antique shops on the main street. For the most part it's a lot of junk in the eye of this beholder. However, this place claimed to have a drum kit used by Ringo Starr. I'm not clear what he used it for since he certainly couldn't play the drums.
A short suspension bridge over a bacteria-infested river.
After our day in York, on the way home we stopped at one of the national parks for a picnic. It was beautiful and peaceful and we were the only one's there. Unfortunately, we had to rush home because Keva was home by herself and we were a little concerned about her.
If you're wondering how she occupied her time while we were out this is how we found her upon our return. She is sitting on the couch, in front of the TV with two laptops and the iPad. This is multi-tasking, Y-Generation style!
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