Day 369 – Perth, WA (17 Sept)

Woke to a chilly morning in Dalwallinu, packed up and headed south to Perth.  The road to Perth was narrow and very bumpy in parts so slowed us down somewhat.  Stopped in New Norcia and it was cold and windy.  New Norcia is a historic town and the only monastic town in Australia.  In 1846 Spanish Benedictine monks started an aboriginal mission for the local aborigines.  The town houses two boarding schools, Abbey Church, an old mill, a wine press, a hotel, and the monastery itself.  The last Spanish monk died in January 2010 and was 99 years old.  We got to Burns Beach where we are staying at about 12noon.  Burns Beach is in the northern suburbs on the beach and the caravan park backs on the beach and we are lucky enough to have ocean views from our site.  The sun was shining, blue sky and blue ocean so all good.  Drove to the shopping centre to restock groceries and overwhelmed with the busyness of the whole area, traffic, people, buildings and noise. We couldn’t get back to the sanctity of our van quickly enough but even then we have a noisy neighbour and can constantly hear the background hum of suburban life.  Will take us a while to adjust after the peacefulness and beauty of the remote areas we have been in.

Everlasting daisies

Fields of daises

New Norcia Monastery