Leaving the Coast

We decided to leave the coast, we were both "over it" and decided to head inland and see some of the beautiful sheep/wheat/canola farms.  Lush green hills, some bright yellow with canola, massive gums and, of course, wildflowers.  Some we hadnt seen before and, of course, Rick is :"over them" as well.   He loves to see them on the roadsides and in the fields, but wont detour on any road that is signposted "wildflowers". If we pull into a small town and ask at the Info Centre "what can we see", its almost always "The Wildflowers".  We have visited a few of the smaller towns inland, just doing a walk around the town or a bit of a heritage tour.   Its been nice to just stroll, talk to the locals and just relax..  One night, we parked up in the carpark of a big wind farm.  Naturally it blew a gale and we huddled down, heater on and played UNO most of the night.     We seem to be getting either days of warm sunshine or wind and showers.   Sad to say I actually put socks on my feet the other day, what a miserable feeling that was.    Our next "must do" was the town of New Norcia.  The only Monastic town in Australia.   This town was founded by the Spanish Benedictine Monks in 1840.   They arrived here and with the help of aboriginal and local people built a self sufficient, christian village with the intention of teaching the aboriginal people both agricultural and educational skills.    Bishop Rosendo Salvado was the monk in charge.    It progressed from that intention to then becoming an educational facility for the rural children of WA, a girls school, a boys school and a convent were added.    The monks were self sufficient, having thousands of acres of land. Orchards, vegetable gardens, vineyards, flour mills, olive groves etc.    They bought out craftsmen from Spain in the 1800-1900s to help them build the monastery, churches, schools etc.   All the bricks in all the buildings were made by the monks onsite.    There are over 65 buildings in this monastic town.   We did a tour of some of them.   The Monastery is private, but we did see the Monastery chapel where the monks are called to prayer 6 times per day.   People are welcome to join them for prayer or to spend one on one time if necessary.   Mass is also celebrated here on Sundays.   You can tour the art gallery, museum, St Gertrudes girls school, St. Ildephonsus Boys school, the Old Convent, the cemetary, the flour mill, the education centre, the bakery, the olive workshop.  There is also a hotel on the grounds.  This was once a hostel for the parents of boarding school kids but is now a licensed hotel.  On tap is the monks special brew ABBY ALE.  Rick said it was a very good drop.  They also have their own wines, which you can taste.  The Shiraz was excellent according to Rick. Hotel  accommodation is available and in the guest house of the monastery.   There is also a roadhouse and post office, owned by the monks, a small caravan park behind the roadhouse and an oval across the road  if you just want to camp up without facilities.

One of the stations of the cross in the catholic church with an aussie touch.

The schools themselves closed in the early 90s and now they are used as educational camps etc.   The monastery guesthouses are available for anyone who would like to just "retreat" and rejuvenate.   The monks have the motto PAX which means peace.   Its a very beautiful town to visit, the museum and art gallery alone are fascinating, let alone the buildings which are stunning.   We stayed overnight on the oval and visited both days.   A must not be missed experience.   So many photos of the interiors were taken, but simply cannot show them all.