Nine decades ago, nine-year-old Mavis Rowles took her first very long ride on a steam train from the red dirt and tin houses of Meekatharra to Toodyay, 700 kilometres away.
She was instantly smitten with the small West Australian farming town.
"I loved it, loved it from the first moment,"
Ms Rowles said.
"And, well, I more than love it now, I really do."
This weekend Ms Rowles, who continues to live independently, is celebrating her 101st birthday.
She was the youngest of eight siblings when she was born in Meekatharra.
Ms Rowles's mother died when she was four and she went to live with one of her two sisters, who was married a Toodyay farmer.
"It was awful leaving my dad and brothers — we were a very close family," she said.
Ms Rowles remembers the rattle and noise of long rides on the rail line from Northam to Meekatharra when she would travel back for holidays.
"There were lots of kids on the train ... running up and down the corridors," she said.
"You'd have breakfast in Yalgoo and lunch in Mullewa."
Getting to school in Toodyay involved a 10km bike ride "up hill and down dale" from Ms Rowles's sister and brother-in-law's farm.
"It was hard work because I had to milk the cows and feed the pigs, help to do all the things there," she said.
Heartbreak and hard work
Some of the time Ms Rowles boarded with families closer to town and it was during one of these stays she met Pat, who was to become her husband.
"He decided when he met me when I was 12 he was going to marry me," she laughed.
But first they had to wait out World War II.
"It was heartbreaking when he went away," Ms Rowles said.
Ms Rowles was 19 when Pat returned from the war and married her, but heartbreak was to follow when they tried to start a family.
Her first two babies suffered from heart conditions and died very young.
"I had a little girl, four months old, she died," Ms Rowles said.
"Now it can be operated on and I think how dreadful it was," Ms Rowles said.
"It was dreadful, but then I've been thinking in latter years how wonderful they learnt from me losing my babies how to save other babies."
After the death of her second child Ms Rowles waited six years before trying to become a mother again.
"Oh, it was a big decision, so I did, and then I had Bernard and that was absolutely wonderful — he's just like his father," she said.
The couple went on to welcome a second son, Trevor.
"Love 'em, love them to bits — they've all done well," Ms Rowles said.
She said there were some very hard times, particularly while running a farmstay for 26 years with lots of animals while Pat was away shearing.
"At holiday time the place was packed," Ms Rowles said.
"It was good — we worked damn hard."
Pat passed away in 1984 but Ms Rowles has many fond memories.
"We had a good life," she said.
Best friends for 70 years
Through the hard times Ms Rowles had her best friend Ellen, who she met as a newly married woman in Toodyay, to support her.
"She was 16 and she's still my best friend,"
Ms Rowles said.
Another constant in her life has been the Country Women's Association, which she joined as a young woman.
The association celebrated its centenary last year, when Ms Rowles turned 100.
She was a guest of honour at the official celebrations at Government House and cut the anniversary cake.
So what is the secret to Ms Rowles's longevity?
"Lovely family, lovely friends and living in the best place,"
she said.
There is also the odd brandy and dry at night when she cannot sleep.
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