New Norcia:,

New Norcia is a town owned by the Benedictine monks who first came from Spain in 1846 to establish Aboriginal mission. They were granted 30 acres 150 klms northeast of Perth. They built many buildings - an abbey church, 7 prayer chapels,
accommodation for girls and boys who attended the schools, set up a bakery,
flour mill and many others - in total 67 buildings, 27 of which are heritage listed.
Two talented monks were responsible for the beautiful hand painted frescos and pressed metal ceilings which appear in many of the chapels. Another monk with a keen eye for architecture improved the original buildings with a touch of Spanish influence.
The monks became self sufficienty and baked their own bread, made olive oil and wine and developed a thriving community.

New Norcia is Australia’s only monastic town and the monks who live here live a simply life of prayer and work within the monastery. They attend chapel prayers five times a day and the public are invited to join them. Unfortunately they were on a picnic so we didn’t see them in the village.


I went on a tour of the town which was very interesting and explained the monastic
life. The chapels, the art work and the highly decorated alters were very impressive.


There is a magnificent museum and art gallery which shows how the monks established their community in this harsh climate. We also saw some very old and makeshift machinery which reflected the early struggles.




The schools and accommodation closed down in the seventies and a lot of the food gardens disappeared but some of the buildings are now used as an educational facility for school camps and seminars.

Brian met a very interesting Aboriginal man who had been taken here as one of the Stolen Generation and he had to work in almost slave labour conditions and wasn’t very well fed or looked after. This was an eye opener as we were led to believe that the children were sent here voluntarily to improve their education.

To Jurien Bay:

Time to head back to the coast. We found a beautiful spot called Sandy Cape
Recreation Park which was right on the water. The water was a brilliant blue, the sand very white and there was lots of wattle and some lovely lookouts. A very picturesque place. As usual we always arrive early to ensure a good spot which we found and were surprised that there was only one other person here. It was quite windy so we decided to move to a little sheltered site and by the afternoon all the sites were taken.
I went for a walk and saw some wattle that had yellow leaves as well as yellow fluffy balls and it almost dazzled me.


We were surprised once again that there are very few waves but you could see a reef right out to sea. This coastline was responsible for many shipwrecks in the early days.

The next day the wind dropped and it was quite warm – even put the shorts on again but too cold for a swim.
Brian tried his hand at fishing and I put up the beach umbrella and became engrossed in a good book. Unfortunately the fishing was non productive so the fishing lines were put away.

We then went for a walk to the lookouts where you had some magnificent views. A boardwalk took us over the sandhills which protect the plants.

I met a nice girl who was a hairdresser so our site turned into a hairdressing salon as I was desperate for a haircut. We left lots of hair on the ground for birds and I was very pleased with my look.

After a relaxing few days we went a whole 14 kms to Jurien Bay. The wind picked up again and the temperature dropped.
Jurien Bay is a large bay with a protected marine park. There a couple of small islands of shore which are home to a sea lion colony but we didn’t see any. It is a pretty area and there is a nice foreshore with a bike path all along so we went for a long ride. There is a lot of development here as it is reasonably close to Perth and the opening of a new road will make it even more popular with the Perthites.

We went for a drive to the Leseur National Park which is nearby.
There was a lot of smoke bush, a grey feathery shrub, that waves in the breeze and looks like smoke. It is used a lot it in the cut flower industry. There are a lot of grass trees in this park as well as lots of banksias, and hakeas. It was a very pretty drive. We stopped a few times and I found a few new flowers.






That afternoon we went for a ride on the bikes along the foreshore. It was still windy but was an enjoying ride and in the evening there was some country music in the CP and after that we had some drinks with a couple we met at the last campsite.

Western Flora Caravan Park:

This park is on 160 acres and is run by Alan Tinker who has been here for 22 years. When they came here the land was all cleared and now it is a wonderful paradise for wildflowers and birds. Every afternoon Alan takes you on a guided tour around the park. He is passionate about wildflowers and the environment and gave us very interesting insight into plants, how they are pollinated by different methods and how they are structured to make sure the pollination takes part. I can assure you it is much more intrinsic than you think. The insects see colours differently to us – yellow is extra bright, red is black, green is very insignificant and pink is blue. Therefore the insects are attracted to the yellow centre in flowers and when it is pollinated it turns red so the insect won’t go to that one.
Birds see red as bright so bird pollinated flowers are often red or orange. Amazing!! The tour takes about nearly three hours but the group didn’t go very far. Everything he tells us about he says “I could talk for an hour about that subject”. There is so much to learn and it certainly makes you aware of the marvels of nature. We even looked at some of the plants under a microscope. One was a Geraldton Wax flower and I was fascinated to see the little yellow centre of the flower was full of microscopic grubs and bugs – makes you think twice when you smell a flower. I was so fascinated with this tour that that I went on it twice.

In the morning Brian and I went for on the river walk and were treated to a feast of wattle and masses of pink heath like plants(scholtzia uberflora) as well as lots of other specimens of wild flowers. This area is very sandy at first and then near the river there is lots of limestone so the vegetation changes. It gets very hot in the summer – up to 50 degrees so they are very resilient.

The next day there was a tag-along-tour where we were taken into the crown land across the road. What an amazing experience this was. I went in the lead car with Alan so had an excellent view. We learned about the different eco systems and how different plants occur in different soils, were shown where to find the native orchids (they are very hard to find by themselves as they are only tiny) and each time we stopped we would see different flowers. We had some enthusiastic photographers on this tour and we all had an opportunity to take as many photos as we as we wanted. Many of us were seen flat on our stomachs trying to get the perfect shot. It is so frustrating to get the flower all lined up for a perfect shot only to have the wind blow just as you are about to click. However I did manage to get some good shots.


There was an amazing stand of beautiful wattle which loves the limestone and certainly put on a splendid display for us especially when it is dispersed with grass trees.


Alan then took us to an area that had been burnt out in Feb and the regeneration that is occurring here is just so just so wondrous. It was full of blue china orchids, cat’s paws, and lots of other plants reshooting or re seeding. A lot of the plants have very large tuberous roots that just reshoot again after a fire and then others need a fire to open their hard seed pods.

On the way back to the CP Alan spotted a little thorny devil on the highway. We were glad that the huge semi approaching managed not to squash is and Alan ran out onto the road and rescued it so he could release it into the park.

This tour has been one of the highlights of the trip for me.





PS Don't forget to double click on the photos to view full screen.

Mullewa to Eneabba:

From Mullewa we went to Morawa (all these M towns are confusing) via Canna. Canna consists of a store, a church and a hall (which used to be a school). It is an area where there are lots of the elusive orchids. A short walk revealed numerous cowslip orchids (which are the most common) but it is really exciting to find them in the wild.
We found the caravan park in Morawa a lovely quiet country CP and it was a well presented town. We had a look around the town which has a lovely church designed by Monsignor Hawes.His buildings are so impressive and he even built a tiny stone hut that he could sleep in on his visits to the town. He rode his bicycle from Mullewa to Morewa and other parishes in the district and covered incredible amount of miles. There was a very interesting museum but unfortunately it was closed so we were only able to poke around in the yard.

We went for a drive through the countryside the following day and we finally came to a good display of the reef flowers.


From Morawa we headed to the Coalseam Conservation Park
which was prolific in wildlife and carpets of wildflowers. This is where the first coal was discovered in WA but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough quality to be profitable so although a mine was started it was soon abandoned. There are lots of wild flowers here as we as lots of birds and it is very peaceful. The last night we were here we had quite a heavy storm which washed through our site.

From here we headed to the coast and on the drive there we encountered the most amazing and prolific wattle on the side of the road. For about 30 klms we were treated to bright yellow wattle spilling down on to the side of the road. As the road was rather narrow we felt like we were almost in a tunnel of wattle. Unfortunately we were unable to stop because of the narrow road but managed to get a photo while travelling along. The wattle was interspersed by other wild flowers. We also came across a massive wind farm that has wind 52 turbines. No wonder – it always seems to be windy!!


Greenough is renowned for its leaning trees because of the force of the wind and is just south of Geraldton.



I explored a wonderful historic village which consisted of 2 churches, a hall a police station which also housed a gaol, courthouse, and a community room. There is a convent and some settler’s houses. All the buildings have been restored and the churches and the hall are still used.

From here we headed south to Dongara –Port Denison which is a peaceful little
fishing village. All these towns are famous for their crayfish in the season which is in November. It was a beautiful day so we cycled right along the pretty foreshore which was really good exercise as it is quite hilly.

From here we found a great little free camp right beside the sea. There is a lot of limestone in the area so the cliffs have lots of caves. There was lots of sea grass on the shore and we find it extraordinary that there are no waves. We were able to have a fire which was great. It rained that night so we were lucky we had such a nice day.



Our next stop we headed inland to the Western Flora Caravan Park near Eneabba which is famous for its wildflowers.

Flowers

Here is a sample of some of the flowers we have seen. The everlastings are not as prolific as normal because of the lack of rain but we think they are great. There are lots of little orchids which usually found under a tree. Locals let you know where they are. It would be very difficult to find them on your own.

To Mullewa:

We spent a couple more days at Coronation Beach and then headed to Mullewa which is wildflower country. We went via the scenic route up the Chapman Valley which is a fertile valley where there is a winery. We also passed acres and acres of more crops so the whole countryside is very green. Lots more wattle on the way and of course lots of other wildflowers- some shrubs and patches of everlastings. Every now and then you come across patches of low lying areas that are sandy and have very stunted growth here. I think the underground water must be salty as nothing much grows in these spots.

After a lovely drive we arrived in at Mullewa which is a lovely well presented little town with a very nice and reasonably priced caravan park. We discovered that some friends we had met up several times before were in this caravan park.
Mullewa is renowned for its wonderful wild flowers especially everlastings and the wreath flowers. The wreath flower is unique to this area and is found nowhere else in the world and cannot be propagated or grown from seed. It grows on disturbed soil so loves the verges of the road. It starts off green and then the flowers grow in a circle around the edge representing a wreath. There was a wildflower show on and we were able to see the wreath flower here.
Mullewa was a thriving town years ago but now most of the shops are closed down and there is only a very small supermarket which is also the PO. There is a service station and that’s it. However the town is very well presented and clean with a heritage walk, large recreational facilities, a big town hall, a lovely school and they are building a swimming pool. This was the parish of Monsignor Hawes who was the priest as well as an archlet. There is a beautiful church which he built here and for years he lived in very meagre accommodation so his parishoners convinced him to build himself a priest’s house. It was open for inspection and had all the original furniture in it. There is a walk which goes from the town hall to the church with plaques along the way explaining his life and amazing achievements with both his architecture and his energetic work in the community. What a contribution this man made to this district.


We also went for a drive to the scenic lookout where you could view the town and the picturesque countryside. I saw some spider orchids here. There are lots of wild orchids but they are quite hard to find as they usually occur under a bush and are fairly small. Fortunately the locals put a pink ribbon on the bush so you can locate them.


It turned very cold and overcast and the next day it rained nearly all day so it was an indoor day. The following day looked the same so we decided to go into Geraldton which is about 100 klms away. What a beautiful drive it was. All along the way the magnificent yellow wattle lined the road interspersed with purple, blue, white and red bushes loaded with flowers with a backdrop of green pastures and a grey fluffy sky. In Geraldton it was sunny and warm with some white clouds.
We explored the foreshore, bought ourselves some books to read, enjoyed a coffee, did the shopping and generally had a pleasant day. We arrived back in Mullewa we found out it had been cold and miserable and raining all day!!

Finally the sun peaked through so we went for a drive in search of the wreath flower. The information centre tells you where to go which is usually on a quiet country road. We followed the bitumen past lots of wattle and patches of everlastings until we turned onto the gravel and followed that along until we found the pink ribbon.
We found one just on the edge of the road growing in the gravel – quite amazing. There was another car there and we started talking only to discover they live at Gwandalan where Jenny and Doug have a holiday house and we visit regularly. It turned out they were good friends of J and D and were staying in the same caravan park as us. It certainly is a small world!!
That evening we had drinks with our old and new friends.
The next day it was raining and cold again. All the everlastings close up when it is overcast so we had another quiet day. That evening we had birthday drinks with our new and old friends, which was nice.

The first day of spring (my birthday) turned out to be rather cold with a few patches of sun.
Opposite the caravan park there is a wildflower walk which takes you on a delightful path wandering through large patches of everlastings

– pink, yellow and white carpets of colour spreading through the twisted trunks of the dead shrubs or yellow wattles and other flowering bushes.
Every now and then you spot the purple fringed climbing lily twisting its way up the branches of a shrub. If you are lucky you can spot an orchid underneath the bushes. There were some beautiful moss covered rocks along this walks with lots of round holes in them that fill with water after rain and often there are little caves formed that provides good shelter for the small animals. You can imagine the aborigines wandering around this area.
In the afternoon I had a game of scrabble with our neighbour but we had to be inside as it was very cold.
Finally it seemed to be fining up so we went for a drive to find some more wreath flowers. There was a beautiful old pub which is now a B &B as well as a coffee shop that had Devonshire tea. Of course we had to stop and we enjoyed a great chat with the owners as well as some delicious scones. Unfortunately we discovered the road to the flowers was closed because a road train had taken his heavy load on a short cut and managed to get himself bogged and churned up the road.
It was a lovely day and Sandy (next door neighbour) and I went on the wildflower trail again in the hope that the everlastings would have opened up some more and they were much better than the day before.
The next day was another beautiful day and we went on another drive to an old well and saw lots more everlasting flowers scattered all around the shrubs.
We continued on a country road to do a circuit but got ourselves lost so we had to turn around. These roads are just about devoid of traffic so there was no-one we could ask. We saw a couple of trucks near a big tank but no-one was around but there were lots of empty plastic drums and a bad smell of chemicals. Later on we saw a huge machine with spray out either side. It just makes you wonder how much chemical they put on our wheat.
We ended up staying a week in Mullewa which we really enjoyed especially as the last two nights were free.