York

York sits about an hour east of Perth in the Avon Valley, and it holds the distinction of being the oldest inland European settlement in Western Australia, founded in 1831 just a few years after the Swan River Colony itself. I drove out on a whim after someone in Perth described it as “what Fremantle would look like if it never got fashionable,” which turned out to be roughly accurate and entirely a compliment.

The main street, Avon Terrace, runs for about a kilometre lined with genuinely old buildings — sandstone and brick facades from the 1850s through the 1890s, most still in active use as shops, pubs, and galleries rather than roped-off museum pieces. The York Town Hall, the courthouse, and the old post office all date from the Victorian era and have that specific weight that comes from buildings that have simply kept operating for a hundred and fifty years rather than being restored for effect. I spent an hour just walking the street reading the heritage plaques, which is a more engaging activity than it sounds when the buildings themselves are doing most of the work.

The Avon River, which gives the valley its name and its agricultural fortune, runs along the edge of town and hosts the Avon Descent each August — a gruelling white-water race that’s become one of the state’s more significant annual sporting events, though the river itself is a placid, shaded stroll the rest of the year. I walked a section of the riverside path in the late afternoon, kangaroos grazing on the far bank in the cooling light, and the contrast between the quiet water and the town’s noisy colonial history felt worth sitting with for a while.

York is also known for its motor museum, one of the better vintage car collections in the state, and for a handful of excellent bakeries and cafés that have made the town a popular weekend day trip from Perth without it ever tipping into full tourist-town territory. I had a coffee and a slice of something involving quandong, a native Australian fruit, at a café on the main street and left with a jar of the jam.

When to go: March to November for comfortable temperatures — the Avon Valley gets genuinely hot in summer. Early August, if you want the spectacle of the Avon Descent, though accommodation books out well in advance.