New Norcia

We had been well and truely spoilt in York, and we were sad to leave.  We still had no idea where our springs were for the car.  No doubt we weren't the only ones in the Perth area waiting for goods from the derailed train - but we were itching to get on the road north.  Easter had disrupted the normal timelines too, and with ANZAC day creating a three day week, we feared we would be held up another week before being able to head north.

With nothing to do but stay in a holding pattern around Perth, we headed north from York to New Norcia.

New Norcia lies on the Great Northern Highway - and as we came into town, we  were held up by - and eventually waved around two massive 8 metre wide dump trucks, on their way north to the mines.  In fact the volume of trucking on this road, was incredible, as was the number of wide and oversized loads.  As we rolled into town, two more dump trucks were on their way south - waiting at the widest section for the northbound trucks to pass.  It was of course fascinating for the boys, who checked out every truck that rolled on through New Norcia during our stay.

Unfortunately for the boys, New Norica is not just a great truck observation post.  It is an historic community founded by Benedictine Monks in the early 19th century.  It has incredible collection of historic buildings, priceless artworks and a Monastry.  We checked out the art gallerys which had some beautiful, albiet very symbolic paintings.

We decided to stay the night and for the grand total of $7.00 secured a nice bit of gravel behind the roadhouse for the evening.  The luxury of hot showers was welcomed - however the canvas walls of the camper proved not to be very soundproof with the trucking rolling through over night.  

We wandered up to the former guest house, now hotel and enjoyed a special Abbots Ale, made supposedly to the Monk's recipie - by none other than James Squire.

In fact the Monks had not only outsourced the making of beer, but their wine making, flour milling and even bread baking had all been outsourced.  

I guess with only nine monks in residence now, it is a far cry from the 80 or so who lived in the Monastry at its peak.  

We joined a guided tour the following morning, and learnt a great deal about the Monastry and its enthusiastic attempts to educate the indiginous people who lived in the area.  

Whatever your beliefs, you have to admire the tenacity of the early Missionaries who built New Norcia.  Unfortunately in coming to educate and bring Christianity to the indiginous people, they also brought disease that decimated the local poplulations.  

We checked out the old fluor mill, closed down because of OHS regulations in 2004 after milling flour successfully for over 100 years.  So, whilst the bread the monastry is famous for is still baked in the wood fired bread ovens (by an employed baker), the flour is now milled offsite.  

What New Norcia did do for much of its history was provide schooling, and four schools were running at the town during its peak.  These days the school buildings are used for school camps, with lessons on indigenous culture, history, art, music and even deep space astronomy being conducted there.

New Norica was fascinating place to visit that provoked some interesting discussions in the car about religion and schooling, and its place in our society today.  It was well worth visiting, oh and for the record, the bread was delicious, as was the Abbott Ale!

The other good news was that our springs had arrived - so we headed back to Perth for a night with the plan to get them fitted and be on the road up the coast before the ANZAC long weekend started.  Like all good plans though, it was a basis for change!