It was lots of fun to learn where our best bakeries are. Heats in Cockburn was a surprise that many callers say have the best donuts. Rottnest Bakery wasn’t a surprise nomination and it’s a great example of what we like about our favourite bakeries when we travel. They’re part of that rite of passage moment that defines your arrival. You haven’t really arrived on Rottnest until you’ve been to the bakery.
Williams Woolshed has a sausage roll that will get you through the day and Mount Barker with its range of gourmet pies was a popular choice.
A good bakery can be a reason to travel or it might just be the traditional break on your way to somewhere down the road.
The cream bun at Rottnest Bakery will give you the sugar rush you need to cycle around the islandWilliams Woolshed sausage rolls have become a reason to stop in Williams for my family (pic Williams Woolshed)Many bakeries are on the main streets of country towns. The Toodyay Bakery has a balcony veranda overlooking the Main Street, perfect for watching the world go by as you wait for your cottage pie to cool down.
On 6PR with Rusty, we swam with dolphins, watched some bilbies and even made time to debate whether a cream bun should have mock cream or real cream.
Enjoy listening to the show on the bar below. Let me know if it inspires you to head down to Dryandra or Rockingham or anywhere that’s got an animal experience you can be a part of.
Astronaut Michael Collin’s once wrote that he wondered what John McGee, author of every aviators favourite poem, High Flight, would have written if he’d been able to go into space. I wonder if my own words, far less grander than High Flight, would improve with more height. I don’t think so. Gliding above the flat, wide landscape below me was a remarkable experience that I’m happy to share with you in the published story below.
On ABC Statewide we took a drive down our favourite roads. From Broome to Cape Leveque in the far north, to the roads of the Midwest during wildflower season, the big loop from Perth to Kalgoorlie, Esperance, Albany and back to Perth and how about the Zig Zag Scenic Drive up on Gooseberry Hill?
Personally, I still think an unsealed road in the Wheatbelt is hard to beat but the Broome to Cape Leveque road (back in the day) was a great experience.
Broome to Cape Leveque – couldn’t be redder, couldn’t be bluer, couldn’t be happier.
On ABC Perth Saturday Breakfast we found mural trails in Kuching and Milan and in ever increasing numbers here in Perth and our regional communities. Where’s your favourite mural? Where’s your worst?
Enjoy listening to our discussion below and then find a way to find a mural next weekend, and then walk to another one, and another one. You get the idea.
For ABC Perth Saturday Breakfast we thought we’d head over the escarpment, through the Wheatbelt and head up the wide open road to Kalgoorlie.
We had callers with tales of brothels and gold in the gutters and the culture of a community that sometimes gets mistaken for being only about the colour of your high viz shirt.
Enjoy listening to our show in the file below and learn about rotundas with Afghan architecture, big holes in the ground, wide streets and where to play Two-Up!
On the Weekend Explorer for ABC Perth Saturday Breakfast, I recently explored space and rediscovered my memories of Skylab and discovered observatories, big dishes, astrotourism towns, astronauts in Carnarvon, emus in the sky and starlapse wonder by local photographer, Dan Paris.
Listen to the link below to learn more about Astrotourism and some really good music but really bad space jokes:
One of our best ever Hidden Treasures stories of all time! With special guest star, global writing superstar Molly Schmidt, we explored local books and the use of local locations and how they inspire our travels.
Listen to our chat below and learn not just what our favourite Western Australian books are but how important those local locations can be:
The Main Street of York is full of history, cafes, books and lollies
Growing up in a country town, the main street was a great place to walk down on a Saturday morning to see who else was out and about.
Main Streets of Western Australia continue to define the life of their communities. It might just be to go to the butcher or grocer, pick up the newspaper (maybe a copy of Have A Go News!) or some rope from the trading post. Or it might be that you’re on a road trip and want to buy the best sausage roll in town or look through a local museum.
Main streets are great reasons to get out and explore regional communities at any time of year.
Below is a story I recently had published about some of the best main streets in WA, and the best reasons for a walk down them:
How’s the serenity? That question has a special place in Australian culture as a great line from the movie, The Castle. The Kerrigan’s serenity was getting away to Bonnie Doon. It’s more than a great line though. It’s an important part of life. We all need to seek out opportunities to experience the serenity and this morning on Hidden Treasure we want to know where you go to find serenity. Where’s your Bonnie Doon?
Can we start with why serenity is a hidden treasure?
Serenity is a hidden treasure because it recharges us. Serenity is what we all crave, either at that little café around the corner after peak hour, the park bench at the top of the hill at sunrise or sunset, the path around your local lake or an annual escape to a camping ground where flannel shirts and smoky green wood rule supreme.
Serenity in the Avon Valley
My Godfather, Uncle Mike, always says he wasn’t born in the Kimberley but when he’s there he feels home. Serenity can be a sense of place as well as a sense of rest.
For me, the Dryandra Woodlands are an opportunity to let everyone sleep in while I watch the world wake up with a cup of tea and a gingernut biscuit, seeing how long it takes the rising sun to melt the frost on the grass in front of the woodcutters cottage.
Being on a boat always gets me as well. Being on the water feels removed from the problems on land. When I’m on travel jobs I always request opportunities to get on a boat; an old fishing boat, a ferry, a barge, it doesn’t matter. I might tell my client it’s about providing a great description for my story but really, it’s just about me loving the serenity I feel for being on the water.
Let’s look at some ways people find serenity:
Go small; local cafes and parks.
Go large; being overseas to escape the weather (poolside lounges and day spas).
Getting out of the city; this one time, in the Kimberley.
Camping; slow down the routine, slow down the heart rate.
Bushwalks; breathe deeper and rest awhile.
Being away from people
Sunrises and sunsets
Proving to Tom that the sun comes up every day and gives us a chance at a fresh start
I took my mate Dennis out in my dad’s boat once. The mighty Red Witch. I remember we caught fish, we caught the salty spray in our faces but what I remember most was the filling of the soul, the filling of the tank to get back into the fight to tackle the noisiness of life on land.
Find your Bonnie Doon and you’ve found hidden treasure.
Chris Parry Writes For Us 