Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Didn't head off this morning until 11am. Drove north on the Stirling Highway through Perth to Joondalup and then took roads east until we hit the Great Northern Highway, which will take us right up through the Wheat Belt, Mid West and Pilbara until we reach the coast at Port Hedland, where we will take the coast road through the Kimberley. All up it will be around 2,400km to reach Broome.
We stopped in a road side rest area to make some lunch and continued to the Monastic town of New Norcia. This town has an interesting history, started by Spanish monks and is the only Monastic town in Australia. Today the monastery owns all the businesses in town including a hotel, restaurant, wine making, olives, bakery producing world famous old style produced bread, nut cake and chocolate panne forte.
New Norica also has a dark history as as one of the institutions in Australia made famous in the film Oranges and Sunshine that participated in bringing children from the UK to Australia. Known as the 'lost children' they were taken from their parents sometimes without reason, with the knowledge of both the UK and Australian governments and basically used as child labour. A lot of abuse occurred in the orphanages and state institutions they were sent to, including New Norcia and the nearby town of Bindoon in WA.
We wandered around the Monastery buildings including the shed filled with old fashioned tools, farm equipment and furniture, the hotel, church and various colleges.
We continued driving, watching the surrounding landscape change from the green rolling hills near Perth, to wheat country and finally as late afternoon set, the famous red WA dirt stretched in front of us along either side of the highway, and the green fields gave way to low set native shrubs and flat, barren scrub. We stopped for the night around 5pm in a nature reserve well back off the highway and cooked dinner on the weber with the sun sinking on the horizon behind the car and caravan. Just perfect except for the midges that were out in force and biting me. Ate dinner inside and watched some TV (ABC is good on a Monday night!) before hopping into bed in our little home on wheels in what is now starting to feel like 'real' outback Australia.
Good night from somewhere in the mid west of WA xx
- comments