Days 18 and 19 Albany - Perth - New Norcia

Okay Okay - yes we were slack and thank you for your feedback about not publishing Day 18.  It was a long day's drive - Albany to Perth.  No photos taken but we can tell you that the countryside is lush, the wildflowers are starting to appear and some wattle is out.

We arrived at our prebooked motel in the Perth suburb of Belmont - pretty tired.   Then we headed out in search of an evening meal and low and behold the nearest eating place was the Burswood Casino!!  There was no interest here for us except for the meal.

The contrast between the Casino and where we write this blog from is chalk and cheese.

Christ Church Claremont

Sunday morning began with a drive almost to Fremantle in search of Christ Church Claremont. Thank goodnes for "Karen" our GPS. An old acquaintance, Fr Jack Thompson, is currently their locum and it was good to see him at work, as a recent retiree celebrating their 10am Sung Eucharist.

From there we went in search of the "Boardwalk" at Fremantle which Rob Shattock had told us about but sadly no success and instead we ended up at the Market located at the wharf, where we had a wander and lunch.

Time to head off to New Norcia and look out for a suitable place to stay on Monday night on our way. With that in mind we stopped at Guildford in the Swan Valley and arranged a B&B for tomorrow night.

New Norcia is about 130kms north of Perth. A very pleasant Sunday afternoon drive listening with heart in mouth to the Tigers playing the Demons back home on the MCG. Joy oh joy - Richmond have strung two wins together! 



Abbey Church - New Norcia



New Norcia is a Community established by Benedictine Monks back 150+ years ago. The founder, Dom Salvado, was a Spanish black sheep who we learned about when we walked the Camino 3 years ago. He left his monastery in Spain apparently a somewhat difficult man to control  (so we heard in Spain) but he had a huge missionary zeal and this driving force produced this amazing place. New Norcia is named after the place where Benedict founded the original Benedictine monastery. Tomorrow we are booked in for a guided tour of the many buildings on site and we hope to learn more of the work of the monks.

Having checked in at the Hotel (owned by the Benedictines) and looked around the village (all of which belongs to the Benedictines) we joined the monks for Vespers. Then had a delightful pizza washed down with the monks' own label of "Abbey Ale" and "Cabernet Merlot".  Not bad drops!

Back in our humble room as we write the blog there is no TV or ensuite or even wine glasses - a far cry from  Belmont and the Casino! But we are attempting to take the advice of the monks to slow down and enjoy the peace of this place.

Just a short walk in the early evening from Vespers

in the Abbey back to the Hotel and dinner

PAX