DAY TRIP TO YORK

By Mark

Art Refuge heads to the historic inland town

The town of York, Western Australia, is the state's oldest inland settlement, dating to 1831 (which is old by Australian standards). It is a small town (population 3000 or so) and is located about 100kms (60 miles) from the capital, Perth (where the YWAM base is situated).

Last Saturday, the Art Refuge crowd (plus some guests) travelled to York on a day trip. York is known for its historic, colonial-era architecture (and many of these heritage buildings have been fully-restored). The town also has a budding arts, crafts and culture scene (e.g. jazz festival, flower show, art gallery in a renovated old flour mill, etc). So it was a good opportunity to show the ministry's internationals (hailing from Germany, Ireland and the United States) some of the state other than Perth (and where the arts are beginning to flourish).

After consuming a pancake breakfast at Narelle's pad, eleven of us headed off in a YWAM bus. An hour or so later we were standing in the main street of York. We checked out the local markets (filled with various stalls peddling home-made scented candles, honey, olive oil, etc). Narelle's son Jason and Mario's son Jan were both quite interested in an antique sword one stallholder was offering for A$100. But Narelle's husband Brad, an enthusiast for swords (as well as medieval weaponry and armoury in general) gave it a mere casual glance: "It's definitely NOT worth $100," he mentioned to us non-experts.

We lunched in a nearby park and Ava treated us to her own recipe of mince and baked beans which was soon dubbed 'Chilli Con Ava.' Then we split into various groupings and explored the town: Ari (who kindly agreed to drive the bus there and back) and myself checked out a few of the old York churches and began a deep theological discussion which took in Augustine and Calvin (among other intellectual heavyweights of Church history). Narelle and friend of Art Refuge Belinda were found at various locations sketching local sights. Brad was seen taking numerous pictures here and there. Julie and Ava visited the local sweets shop (which offered an assortment of British and American lollies and chocolates, including the old English favourite Yorkie bars - 'Yorkies in York').

Before returning to Perth, we headed up to the Mt Brown lookout, a hilltop location from which you could take in the entire valley in which York sits. On the journey back, we munched on sugar-rich butter choc chip cookies which Julie had baked, before feasting on pizza for dinner (Kangaroo meat pizza seemed to be the popular choice).