Considering that it is snowing I decided to post this blog that I was saving for a rainy day. It is from the middle of January and was written about a very special place in Western Australia that I discovered, and got the biggest surprise of the trip. Here is the tale of my surprise enjoy.
January 15, 2010
Well, we have spent the last couple of days in a little place called Boyup Brook, a little town of about 800 people. And I would like to say somethings about this place. It is incredibly cool, and here is why. First off we came into town and hit the tourist information center that is run by local volunteers. The first person we meet is Jaquie Chambers (More about her in a minute). We asked if there was any work in the area, and she called up her granddaughter who sure enough needed some work done the next morning on her garden. So we killed part of the day walking around town and mostly just wondering.
The town isn't big, but it has an overabundance of very cool sculptures. 
That night we camped down by the river at a place called Jays Bridge, free camping, where I got attacked and bitten by three very, very large ants called Bull Ants. These suckers are the most painful bites I have ever gotten. Two days later I still have welts from them. Anyway, we did some gardening for Lauren the next morning, Chris used a weed whacker, and I trimmed the hedge......with a chain saw. And yes mom, I was careful and it felt great to be doing some work for the first time in months, well, since we tore apart the car outside of Mundare. That afternoon, upon a recommendation by Lauren, we hit Harvey Dickson's Country Music Center. We were shown around the place by a guy named Tom (called Pom by his friends because he was originally from London) and shown the three different parts of the center. To be a bit more accurate I should mention what the three parts looked like from the outside. It looked like a old tin house, a pile of wood/rock/dirt, and lastly a rusting tin shed surrounded by junk. So first we entered the old house originally built 1884 by the first Dickson to come to the area. The house was surprisingly cool considering it was like 40 in the sun. We discovered a couple of old antiques from different time periods, and well, this. 
We found the room packed full of Elvis and Johnny Cash records as well as enough memorabilia to sink the Titianic. This room was full of records, memorabilia, and other stuff that was of Elvis. This guy loves Elvis, I was really surprised as I never expected this. We went across the road to the pile of stuff and discovered it was actually a rodeo arena complete with cool wood guitar men 
and eve a outdoor concert stage. I was becoming more and more impressed by the minute, and that was before the grand finally. While Chris and I went wondering around the rodeo area taking pictures of different stuff, our guide said he would meet us back at the front gate when we were ready to see the last shed. About 5 minutes later he met us at the gate, gave us a cold beer, and we entered into the indoor stage. This is where my jaw finally stopped hanging and bounced off the dirt floor. What we walked into was a true blue county stage, including dirt floor, made from true local bull shit. In fact one part of this stage area is called the Bullshit Pit. I love this place, old things are hanging from the celling, parts, hubcaps, bottles, sand sculptures of Johnny Cash and Elvis and old toys. I loved listening to the stories told by Tom, even though they were complete and utter bullshit, they were entertaining, and that was important. There were also these guys. (More about them later).
We came back the next night and sat down with Tom, Hugo, and even Harvey himself joined us for a beer in the "Bullshit Pit". That night everyone took turn letting the bull fly, and when Huley pulled out the home brew, and the tales got taller. It was a good Friday night, and Harvey, who built all this, and who told me that he did this because he never grew up. He always had a good imagination, and he never let it go, and after I saw what he had built and created, I believe him, that, I think was one of the few things he said that night that wasn't bullshit. The rodeo grounds, the old house, the wood art, the character of the place and most importantly Harvey Dickson himself make this place a must see if you ever come to Western Australia. The night I sat down with Harvey, Tom the Pom, and Huley in the shadows of the stage within the bullshit pit, was one to remember. The morning before we got drunk in the bullshit pit we stopped by and saw Sandy and Jaquie Chambers. Jaquie was the lady we first met at the visitors center, but the reason we stopped in was that Lauren, their granddaughter who we did some yard work for, said that we should. Well Sandy it turns out is the artist in residence, and boy is he an artist. 
He did all of these for the town, and these two sand sculptures of Elvis and Johnny Cash that was given to his good friend Harvey Dickson. Sandy and his wife are originally from England, but moved to Australia with their 4 children 46 years ago. 
He originally started a building business to feed his family but transferred the business to his son so he could return to his passion to be an artist. They invited us into their home and they showed us around for a while, I kissed a camel, and we had a wonderful conversation for over 3 hours as Sandy showed us some pictures of his old work, he made some amazing sand sculptures that litter the town 
as well as 2 very special ones he made for his good friend Harvey Dickson of Elvis and Johnny Cash, (as seen earlier) and 
holograms (Nudes are his specialty). It was a really wonderful conversation we had, they had so many cool stories, 
Jacquie even made us some sandwiches for lunch, which was amazing. Sandy can do anything as an artist, when we showed up he was working on a 30m mural for the agricultural society, this guy does everything. We hit Boyup Brook with the expectation of staying for a couple of hours, and we stayed 3 wonderful days. I will remember Boyup Brook for the people I met Sandy, Jacquie, Harvey and the crew. The statues and works of art Sandy gave to the town will be nothing compared to what I will remember of the people who created them, I will remember the town for the people who called it home. 
I love this town, oh ya, this place also has a 5m diving board, one more thing that I love.
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