Toodyay is a small Avon Valley town about 85 kilometres east of Perth, old enough and intact enough to feel different from the suburbs you leave behind. It began as one of Western Australia's early inland settlements, shifted after flooding, and spent part of the nineteenth century under the name Newcastle. The old stone buildings, railway, river, and dry hills give it a compact but real sense of place.
The town's best story is Moondyne Joe, Western Australia's famous bushranger, who was jailed here and then escaped. The Newcastle Gaol Museum tells that story well, while Connor's Mill shows the town's more practical wheatbelt history. Stirling Terrace is good for a slow walk past verandahs, old hotels, and heritage shopfronts.
Toodyay makes most sense as a day trip from Perth or as a quiet stop between York, Northam, and the Chittering Valley. Give it a few hours, climb up to Pelham Reserve, and you will get both the town and the dry Avon Valley around it.