I Thought We'd Seen It All, Then We Came To Wyndham!

Wyndham:
Week 12.
15,000 Kilometres.
Beautiful.


Mark, this one's for you.  Here we are camped at Doon Doon. Great Caravan Park and Roadhouse managed and owned by the local Indigenous Community.  Last night we learned we had a new Prime Minister!
We were planning to stay at Turkey Creek last night but the attitude there didn't go down well with Honey Pie.  It was also very crowded at the caravan park so we decided to head-tail it to the next stop at Doon Doon.  So glad we did.  Lovely people, lovely service and a nice quiet and small caravan park.  Almost a full moon...it was a beautiful night.  We had dinner at the roadhouse because we were so exhausted after our day at Purnululu N.P.

The Grotto, discovered this as we drove into Wyndham. One hundred and forty something steps to the water...after yesterday's hikes we thought we'd give it a miss!  And who should we run into while there?  Mark and Mal nonetheless!!!  Had a good catch-up.

Willow, this one's for you.  (It's pretend!)  Right in the middle of Wyndham.


Not far from the above structure is the post office where I went to buy some stamps.  I could have done a week's shopping in there!

Once again, photographs do Wyndham no justice.  The view from Five Rivers Lookout is something to behold.


I just loved Wyndham Port.  It is a town that time forgot.  We visited a resident artist in her studio that must be about seventy years old if not more (The studio that is).  So idyllic, here she did her lino-prints at her leisure and supplemented her income with a week's work once a month.
We also visited a little knick knack shop that sold souvenirs as well as 'antiques', no windows here...just shutters which were open to the world and the exhausting heat.  Oh, and the dust too.
Next door we were able to take a reprieve from the stifling heat in a little outdoor eatery.  Cooled off with a cold drink and a barra hamburger filled our tummies.

Echidna Chasm and Mini Palms Gorge

Echidna Chasm
Despite the fact that we started our walks early this morning, it was hot even before we'd begun.  The Echidna Chasm walk was relatively easy but in hindsight, should have been completed after the Mini Palms Gorge walk.

Livistonia Palms are plentiful in and around Echidna Chasm.
It is amazing how these hills just wrap around each other.  Also quite scary at how close the 'walls' of the chasm can be.  The 'ranges' here are composed of little pebbles all glued together with soil and even in the short time we were in the chasm, a few came tinkling down from above us.  Rock fall warnings are a very present reality here. 

The palms are so graceful, growing towards the light, in the Echidna Chasm area.

Mini Palms Gorge entry.
The Mini Palms Gorge walk was quite a difficult walk for me to complete.  By the time we'd arrived at the start of the walk, it was very hot.  To reach the entry of the gorge, we walked quite a distance, in full sun, along the rocky bed of a creek.  The time in the gorge was very short indeed compared to the amount of time we were actually walking.  The walk back, well, it was hot!
Had lunch at the car park, drove many kilometres back to the visitors' centre, and then began the fifty one kilometres back to the highway.
Could the road have deteriorated so much in just over twenty four hours?  Or were we just tired?  The major water crossing completed the previous day seemed much deeper, much longer.
Some people drive recklessly on these roads...totally ignoring the fifty kilometre speed limit and putting other people's lives at risk.
Can't imagine what that sort of driving does to one's car.
A poor soul looked like he'd lost the complete front end of his car.
But we did make it out in one piece.  Made a vow to keep four wheel driving to a minimum from here on in.  Guess we're not as adventurous as we once were!

Purnululu National Park, Western Australia

Nothing compares to the Bungle Bungle Ranges.

Left Leycesters Rest – Ord River at seven twenty this morning - after a restful night.

Seven kilometres further north along the Great Northern Highway we turned off to Mabel Downs Station. The access track to Purnululu National Park runs through this property – fifty one kilometres of it, and every bit of it four wheel drive.

After yesterday's report from the visitors' centre, we weren't sure what to expect.

The road was winding, in parts, it was corrugated but not all of it, it was dusty, there were dips and crests and three or four water crossings with one major wet crossing. Sometimes the road turned back on itself. There was one bad stretch, about ten kilometres long, but mostly it was a pleasant drive through very scenic country.
The speed limit is fifty kilometres per hour so I guess fifty one kilometres at fifty kilometres per hour is going to take at least one hour's drive no matter what condition the road is in. A lot of the time we were doing less than fifty kilometres per hour but in the end it took us ninety minutes.

We have chosen an ideal time to visit Purnululu. About four weeks ago the Kimberleys had unseasonal substantial rainfall.

So everything is green and a lot of the wildflowers are out too. Although it is hot, it could be hotter, and we found out that mid winter (or as they call it here, dry season), can see the skies become hazy. So the best time is now!

The hills are punctuated with infinite full stops of startled looking bright green spinifex. The intense blue sky looks so near that each time we topped a crest I felt I could reach out and touch the sky.

We had morning tea at the Kungkalanyi Lookout carpark, after we'd walked to the lookout. There is nothing to compare with the Bungle Bungle Range and its uniqueness is one natural criteria that earned Purnululu World Heritage Listing.

As we turned into Piccaninny Carpark Road,just past the Walardi Campsite, the Bloodwoods took on a soft sage green colour, as if they had been lightly dusted with talcum powder.

The national park is sprinkled with a variety of trees but mostly Bloodwoods, Snappy Gums and Acacias.

At the carpark proper we had a quick, early lunch and started the Domes Walk in pretty hot conditions. I wondered about our decision to head out for a walk at this time of the day but the woman at the park's visitors' centre said we should have no trouble completing the walks at the southern end of the park today.

Once we'd come back to the main track we made our way to the Cathedral Gorge. In the hot sun the spinifex released a warm buttery aroma.

Just after the Potholes we descended about six metres into the gorge by a set of stairs. The temperature dropped dramatically and we were now in full shade and air conditioned comfort!

It wasn't long before we'd reached the end of the track and found ourselves in a phenomenal natural enclosure.

After all the gorges we've visited over the past few weeks, nothing prepared us for the Cathedral Gorge.

We spent around thirty minutes in the gorge, taking photos, sitting and taking the enclosure in, having a drink and talking to other tourist. One man told us that Cathedral Gorge beats the Grand Canyon hands down, mostly because of its remoteness and therefore the small amount of tourist in the enclosure at any one time. Unfortunately we were not able to spend time in the Cathedral on our own, as there were people there when we arrived and more arrived after they left and again before we left.

Not to worry. We then decided to walk eight hundred metres further to the Piccaninny Creek Lookout. By now it was really hot! But once again we found relief at the lookout itself and we were able to spend some time, just the two of us, taking in the scenery and the tranquility. Just so rare to have this combination these days, as we are finding out! A bird came to visit us while we were there and it got close enough for me to take some photographs of it.

We trudged back to the car, arriving at about three, energy drink, more food, and a thirty four kilometre drive to our campsite. (As is typical for Western Australian, nothing is close in the park.)

We set up camp while the sun was setting, (sorry, no sunset photos today, as the campground is under trees and blocks out the ranges and the sunset). Tomorrow we plan to do the walks at the northern end of the park, then after lunch travel a bit further north as we aim for Wyndham.

I thought you might like to know that I typed this sitting at our fold out table, under the stars, balmy breeze blowing, and the moon shining down.

Potholes

How big? Katherine Gorge, Purnululu National Park.

View from Piccaninny Creek Lookout.

Our Journey Continues.

Nothing is close in Western Australian! Yes, we hope to visit all these places.

When we left Fitzroy River Lodge this morning at eight fifteen, the air was calm and the temperature around thirteen degrees. 

Only went a short distance before we stopped the car to take a walk across the Fitzroy River Bridge. 

It was h

eartening to come across an Indigenous Australian with a huge smile and a cheery 'good morning'. O

ne more positive thing to add to an already beautiful day.

Driving along the Great Northern Highway, the landscape changes often and dramatically. Soft lime-green spinifex gives way to rocky outcrops, to sweeping plains, to ranges far and distant or only metres from the road.

A bird of prey soaring above Ngumpan Cliff.

Ngumpan Cliff and Mary Pool provide picturesque scenery and a spot to either camp or picnic. The size, shape and colour of termite nests changes consistently from small and thin to bulbous and tall, from soft beige to dunn, to brilliant pindan. 

The spinifex changes colour too, from soft lime-green to dusty brown to bright green and back again. 

The trees are either non-existent or sparse and the mighty boab is no longer present. Bloodwoods are common now.

Ngumpan Cliff.

Less than one hundred kilometres from Halls Creek and rounded, faded-terracotta coloured boulders spot either side of the highway. 

The temperature is a bit cooler today, helped along by a headwind to keep the heat under control. 

Some of the tourist literature labels this region as 'uninspiring' yet Andrew and I find it tranquil and a welcome change from the harsh Pilbara country. 

We arrive in Halls Creek just on noon and go straight to the Halls Creek Visitors Centre for information about Purnululu National Park and the Bungle Bungle Ranges. 

The standard information is received: Road bad, will take two to three hours to travel fifty odd kilometers. Maybe you'd like to book a one day tour – cost? Almost three hundred dollars per person. No thank you. 

Andrew telephones the ranger at the national park. The Visitors Centre would not make the call for us as they can only call 1800 numbers. (They wouldn't be tour operator numbers now would they?)

On the public telephone, Andrew is told by the ranger that the road is 'pretty good' and people are completing the fifty odd kilometres to the park's visitors' centre in around one and half hours. Also, there is ample camping available. 

We decide to have lunch at the Kimberley Hotel, buy some groceries from IGA then do some sightseeing around Halls Creek and tackle Purnululu tomorrow. 

China Wall is an interesting phenomenon of a natural quartz formation of an unknown distance and after visiting the wall the two of us drive out to look at Old Halls Creek. 

But everything is an adventure here and thinking that Old Halls Creek Town would be just around the corner, we instead find ourselves driving eighteen kilometres out of Halls Creek proper only to discover eighteen kilometres  of corrugated dirt road. 

Oh well, it is a nice drive with spectacular scenery. 

Unfortunately there isn't enough time to explore the old town ruins because we've decided to drive another one hundred kilometres east along the Great Northern Highway, to a rest area not far from the national park entry, where we will camp for the night.  This way the drive out to Purnululu N.P. can be completed while still feeling fresh. 

The wind has calmed down, the temperature is mild, the light is softening and the shadows getting longer. 

Hope to arrive at Ord River by about four thirty.

 
China Wall, near Halls Creek.

Eighty Mile Beach - Beauty and the Beast.

Last night's sunset at Eighty Mile Beach.
Dolphins played while we watched.

What an impressive cloud formation.
Eighty Mile Beach is great for fishing and shell collecting.

We are just a small part in the scheme of things.

These palm trees are the only unscathed trees after the last wet season's cyclone.
Most of the caravan park was left bare of vegetation.  Some of the trees (what was left of them) are just starting to re-sprout.
Much of the cattle was sandblasted and did not survive the destructive winds.


***
Thursday 10th June:  Karijini National Park to Port Hedland.  363Km.
Friday 11th June:  Port Hedland to Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park.  280Km.
The temperature has quickly risen since leaving Karijini.  I really don't know how people can permanently live in these parts.
Snowing in the Blue Mountains?

***
Petrol:
Port Hedland:  $1.50 per litre.
Pardoo:  $1.67 per litre.
Sandfire:  $1.66 per litre.
We don't use LPG any more...just too expensive (up to $1.22 per litre).  Our weekly petrol spending has almost doubled since leaving the eastern states.
Western Australian living is very expensive.
In the mining towns, tenants are paying anything from $1500 to $2000 per week rent.  Housing, if you can buy it, is closer to one million dollars.  Eating out is expensive, holiday accommodation is too because, (as happened in Port Hedland) workers in the mining industry live there also.
There is a critical shortage of housing.  Too bad if you're the one still earning twenty two dollars an hour (as compared to mining industry employees earning six figure annual salaries)!  Local business find it hard to keep staff because most prefer to work for the mining companies because they earn more there.

Upside Down River, Blowhole and Conglomerate

The Gascoyne River, Carnarvon, literally flows upside down.

Conglomerate, or as Honey Pie, thought, the cement truck's been 'ere.

Quobba Blowhole.  Impressive but pretty wild!


Drove to Carnarvon where we visited the Aboriginal Centre for a yummy morning tea and purchased some great gifts.  Had fish and chips for lunch, a must while in Carnarvon.
Drove out to the Quobba Blow hole and then to Gnaraloo Station to camp...what a drive, and then to find it would cost us forty dollars for an unpowered site.
Weather report predicts rain, if it rains out here, we'll be stuck for days, so decide to stay for one night only. We had been thinking of spending a night at Red Bluff before driving back to Carnarvon, but don't want to risk being stuck out here indefinitely.

Skipjack Point

Woke to another spectacular morning, this time at The Big Lagoon in the Francois Peron National Park.

Nothing prepared us for the awe inspiring day ahead of us.

After a short walk along the beach (where we discovered terracotta coloured cliffs along the sandy beach),

we left the lagoon and drove the four wheel drive road out to Skipjack Point and Cape Peron.
 The amazing view before me, at Skipjack Point, will remain imprinted on mind for the rest of my life, I'm sure, and the slow drive through deep sand, corrugations and clay pans was worth every bit of effort.

This place, in real life, is even better than any travel brochure photograph. 

 Photography cannot do it justice, so I apologise for the poor photographs in this blog.

As we looked down from Skipjack Point, we could see manta rays, stingrays, and dolphins in the most pristine and crystal clear water imaginable. In the sky a wedge tailed eagle rode the air currents directly above our heads.

Red cliffs, azure waters, blue sky, white feathery clouds.

Drove back to Denham to check out Monkey Mia Resort in the hope that we would be there early enough to see the dolphins tomorrow. We didn't like the campsite they wanted to allocate us so we drove back to Denham where we booked into the Denham Seaside Tourist Park. 

Our camp is literally a few steps from the beach. This park boasts that it's the most westerly caravan park in Australia.

Watched another beautiful sunset and dined with fellow campers in the camp kitchen before retiring early.

After all these years of wanting to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia, I suddenly decided that I didn't want to go tomorrow...all seems too controlled for me. Perhaps we will get another chance on our trip to see dolphins close up in the wild.

Rock-Hopping the Murchison and Board-Walking Hamelin Pool

Where on earth is Hamelin Pool? You may well ask.

Once again we find ourselves in a remote part of Australia.

At around nine this morning we left the holiday park at Kalbarri, stopping to buy some fruit and other supplies before leaving town. (Didn't buy apples were nine dollars a kilogram!)

On the way out we ventured back into Kalbarri National Park and explored Hawks Head and Ross Graham Lookout. At the lookout we meandered towards the Murchison River to explore its colourful and majestic gorges and its rocky bed. After all the cold weather we experienced at Geraldton it's amazing how warm it is here. Even though Kalbarri is on the coast, these are still arid lands and a five minute walk was all it took before we began to feel the heat.

It was noon before we were heading north again, our next stop: Billabong Roadhouse. Here we had afternoon tea and filled up the petrol tank at one dollar and fifty four cents per litre.

LPG was priced at one dollar and ten cents so passed on that as did Honey Pie on the coffee which was four dollars and sixty cents a cup (for espresso that is actually made from a self-serve machine). Settled for tea made from the thermos and some gluten free choc-coated wafer biscuits.

As luck would have it, the Overlander Roadhouse, about forty five kilometres further along Highway One, sold unleaded at almost ten cents a litre cheaper and gas seven cents.

Approximately two hundred and ninety kilometres later we drove into Hamelin Pool Caravan Park which is located in a World Heritage Listed area, on the way to Monkey Mia.

After we'd paid for a night's fees for an unpowered site we realised that there is no town electricity here and therefore the park electricity is produced by a diesel generator - so guess what?

After some consultation with the park owners we found a spot that would be furthest away from the said generator but even as I write this, sitting up in the tent, I can hear the generator loud and clear. Oh dear.

Anyway, once we'd set up camp we wandered off to view the Stromatolites that grow in Hamelin Pool which is part of the Shark Bay Marine Park (that also includes Monkey Mia and Francois Peron National Park).

Along the walk we discovered an historic shell block quarry which in the past supplied compacted shell blocks for various buildings in the area.

A boardwalk took us to the stromatolites which are the largest, oldest display to be found anywhere in the world.

Stromatolites in Hamelin Pool.

And guess what? We were witness to yet another magnificent sunset, maybe the best one yet.

Oh, and Hamelin Pool is about eight hundred kilometres north of Perth.

It's amazing, birds really DO fly across the sky as the sun is setting!
These birds just appeared from nowhere.

How sweet it is.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

the rain fell in torrents...

And so we got very little sleep while the gale force winds shook the on-site-van we were staying in at Jurien Bay.

Even though most of the clouds had cleared by morning, the wind held steady and followed us to Green Head where we stopped for morning tea. Andrew braved the elements to video a wind surfer on the water at Green Head.

Cold and wind-blown at Dongara, we lunched at the Dongara Hotel (heritage listed and built in 1867). Our yummy burgers were so huge that we were happy to have toasty cheese melts for tea.

Attempts at doing beach-walks were hopeless so if we couldn't drive to the lookout/location, then we didn't go at all.

Around three o'clock this afternoon, we rolled into Geraldton, (about four hundred and thirty kilometres north of Perth, population of around thirty thousand).

Geraldton has an impressive port and there are many signs of modernisation of the buildings all around. Geraldton's trees are pretty impressive too...some are buffeted so constantly by the salty wind that new growth is burnt off on the windward side so that they grow with a lean.

In Geraldton, the wind had eased a little so we meandered along the foreshore and enjoyed afternoon coffee (well Andrew had espresso, and I had a Margaret River Citron Presse) at the new Dome Cafe which only opened in Geraldton yesterday to much media fanfare.

At dusk we drove up the hill to the HMAS Sydney II Memorial and witnessed yet another glorious sunset over the ocean and dodged a sun shower.

Then off to Drummond Cove for another night in a small cabin to avoid the gale force winds predicted for most of the west coast.

What a Beautiful Day-Nambung National Park

The cows stopped bellowing at around ten last night

Magpies greeted the sunrise and Andrew and I lounged in the sun leaving Waddi Farm Resort at around eleven.

Clouds were already starting to build up.

We arrived at Pinnacle Desert not really knowing what to expect. I certainly didn't expect hectares of pinnacles! Took a drive through the desert and set up our picnic chairs ready to have lunch...unfortunately, this was not to be!

No sooner had we made our lunch that it started to rain!

We sat in the car with our meal and managed to finish the drive without too much rain.

Next we decided to continue along the coast and drive to Jurien Bay...

Here comes the rain again....

By the time we arrived at Jurien Bay it had stopped raining, long enough for us to take a walk along the beach and watch the sun set.

Just as well we've booked into an on-site van 'cause it's raining again!

Waddi Farm

Woke at New Norcia Roadhouse to a cold 6.7oC, but brilliantly sunny, day.

Breakfast, as usual, was porridge cooked on the Trangia washed down with a cup of green tea for me and espresso coffee for Hun.
After breakfast I tried out the shower which I'd heard so much about the night before:
“Oh and did I tell you how tiny it is? Oh and did I tell you about the drips?”
So I was expecting something awful.
The room was exceptionally small, and I did have trouble shampooing my hair because my elbows kept banging the side of the shower recess, but going by past experiences of community showers, this one wasn't too bad. And yes there were drips, big drips that fell off the extra high ceiling. I wondered if stalactites would eventually form on the ceiling because it was obvious that these drips were of a permanent nature.
The floor of the cubicle was up to the standard of many of the other showers I've used over the past seven weeks, that is, gritty and brown with soil picked up on previous users' shoes and deposited on the wet floor.
I now keep our old newspapers, not only to help with starting campfires but also to use as disposable bath mats in muddy showers, especially when there are no mops provided in the ablution block.
Our camp was almost packed up by nine o'clock but we left the roof top tent up with flaps open to allow it to air out and for the heavy dew to dry off. (We'd managed to pick the shadiest spot in the caravan park.)
Towels, teatowels and blankets were hung out to dry before we set off to buy some freshly baked bread at the New Norcia gift shop. We were hoping for some rye sourdough but unfortunately, this is not baked at the monastery so had to settle for one fruit-and-nut and one rosemary-and-olive wheat loaf.
Over the past five or six years I have, to varying degrees of success, reduced my intake of wheat products. When I did this initially, I managed to reduce my wheat intake to zero and lost ten kilograms in two or three months.
Andrew also cut back on his wheat intake at the same time and found that his gastric reflux improved to the point that he could stop taking his medication.
But we are finding it increasingly difficult the further we travel north to purchase wheat-free bread. The closest we can get to this is rye sourdough which can sometimes be one hundred percent rye but not always.
The bread was still warm when we picked it up and we walked back to the tent to have a slice of fruit loaf spread with butter and accompanied with a cup of tea before we returned to the monastery to visit the museum and art gallery.
The monastery has a rich history dating back to the nineteenth century and houses an amazing collection of religious artworks and artifacts which I believe would be of interest to anyone wanting to learn about Australian pioneering history and the indigenous people of the area. The fact that it is religious based does not detract from its significance to Australian heritage. The artworks alone denote a unique collection dating back to the seventeenth century.
In the present the monastery faces huge financial challenges to maintain the town to the standard it is entitled to. Many of the buildings are heritage listed but it takes dollars to maintain such heritage. Monastic numbers are dwindling and as a result lay people have to be employed to carry out more and more duties at the monastery.
The amount of produce coming out of the monastery seems to be proportionate to the number of monks.
The Great Northern Highway was originally a track built by the monks for their own use. No one dreamed that it would one day become the main route north and today the use of the highway by up to four hundred trucks and road trains a day impacts on the many unique buildings on either side.
The two hour tour offered by the monastery is well worth every dollar. Our guide Ricki has been in the monastery's employ for nine years and proved to be a wealth of information regarding the history of the town. Not once was she stumped by questions asked from the gallery.
In the museum itself I will mention only two pieces: a monstrance c1870 which was presented to Bishop Rosendo Salvado OSO by Governor of Western Australia, Governor Weld (1869-1875) and a long case clock with John Ellicot clock movement donated to New Norcia c1857 by Queen Isabella II of Spain. I hope these tempt you enough to go and visit the place for yourself. Two days could be easily filled in at New Norcia.

We left the town around 2.45 p.m. and travelled one hundred and twenty one kilometres to Waddi Farm Resort to camp for the night before heading to the coast.
Enquired at reception regarding a camp site and were told that the ablution block has no hot water but we were welcome to stay if we were prepared to use the bathroom in one of the cabins. We didn't have a problem with that, the price was right so here we are, camped at Waddi Farm Resort, it is now 9.2 o C, a clear sky, with the odd bird call, (the birds in the Western Australian outback seem to stay up later than in any other place we've been, but on the other hand are awfully subdued at dawn.)
Waddi Farm was originally an emu farm. Emus are no longer farmed here, but there are endless undulating hills dotted with grass trees as well as the odd grey kangaroo.

Dinner; sausages with corn on the cob, steamed carrot and peas under the stars.
As per the usual practice, it's early to bed and hopefully early to rise.
We are hoping for a quiet night but won't be surprised if it's not. Last night, the trucks and road trains were frequent after about five in the morning. There was a irregularity in the road conveniently positioned just in front of the roadhouse, which meant regular use of exhaust brakes by most of the trucks.
We are finding that quiet camp sites are far and few between and I can count the number of quiet nights we've had so far, while camping, on two fingers.
Is that a cow or three I can hear, mooing in the distance? Oh, did I mention that we're travelling through farming country?

New Norcia

New Norcia Hotel

Whoa, it's cold in the tent tonight.

Our last camp was at Cape Le Grande National Park, well over a week ago. The temperature that night stayed above tweleve degrees centigrade.

We left David's this morning, at about ten o'clock, then stopped off at Subiaco to do a little bit of grocery shopping before our departure for the north of the state.

We'd looked up Farmer Jack a few days ago and found the store at Crossways, checked it out and liked it so went back today. It took both of us a while to click our brains into gear after our break from travel.

Picked up a handful of groceries, bought some contreau and tangerine pate as well as a packet of some thinely sliced pastrimi and a cryovac packed cooked chicken from Deli Delights. The pate would go well with the rye sourdough we'd bought from the market yesterday and which we planned to have for lunch later in the day.

Also found a butcher shop that sold gourmet sausages and bought two lots to freeze and to use later this week or even next week.

As we drove out of the shopping centre car park, the sun was shining – a nice change after two days of rain.

Felt a bit sad to be leaving David, it was good being around him, even though he's very busy with work at the moment. Hopefully we'll see him again at Christmas time.

As we drove towards the outskirts of the city, I couldn't help noticing how much Perth has changed since our last visit, over Christmas/New Year 2004/2005. The city has certainly grown and matured a lot in that short space of time with a price to pay for the maturation. Eating out is expensive, even though a lot of the Western Australian produced food is very reasonably priced, this does not seem to flow on to the food service industry.

Fresh fish is expensive, as is meat. Housing prices seem to have not only caught up with Sydney prices but overtaken them as well. None the less, Perthians seem to love gourmet food, eating out, football (AFL), and keeping up with fashion.

It wasn't long before we were driving through Swan Valley, pleasant countryside, spotted with vineyards, wineries, cafes and surprise surprise, free chocolate tasting at the Margaret River Chocolate Shop. Couldn't by pass this place! Purchased some chocolate coated honeycomb, River Gum honey, some yummy tasting onion and thyme marmalade (which we decided would go superbly with our pate and sourdough) and some Dutch cocoa. At the coffe shop, Andrew had an espresso while I nibbled on some of the honeycomb.

About 1.30 p.m. we found an attractive looking park at Bullsbrook...Wally Jones Park I think it's called. It has toilets, bubblers, picnic tables, shade and a funny looking rusty metal cow (perhaps it's a bull?) with a wind up tail that turns a cog inside the animal's body - which can viewed through a perspex window shaped like the spot on a cow. While we were having lunch a painter turned up, presumably to paint the cow/bull, but we weren't there long enough to see any of the results.

Next stop would be New Norcia.

New Norcia is in the Avon Valley.

New Norcia is the only monastic town in Australia.

New Norcia is where we planned to spend the night.

New Norcia is where I'm writing this blog.

New Norcia is where we had dinner tonight, in the New Norcia Hotel.

Everything in New Norcis is owned by the Benedictene Monks, yes, even the hotel and the roadhouse.

Our camp site cost us seven dollars, that's right seven dollars for the night. We have the use of public toilets and the shower at the roadhouse. We could have cooked tea tonight but the menu at the hotel dining room was very reasonalbly priced and the meal we had was of a high standard.

Honey Pie had Green Thai Beef Curry and I had Chicken Breast Tandori, both served with jasmine rice. Yum, the chicken breast (three generous portions) was melt in your mouth, and served with mango cutney and cucmumber raita.

Bread is baked at the monastry each day and sold through the gift shop and the roadhouse. We're hoping we'll be able to purchase some sourdough to have for lunch tomorrow and the next day.

At eleven tomorrow morning we plan to join a tour of the town as well as visit the museum and art gallery.

As yet we haven't decided which route we'll take after we leave New Norcia. We can continue on to Morowa, Perenjori, Yalgoo then to Geraldton, following the Monsignor Hawes Trail or do a coast trip and cut across via Moora to the Nambung National Park. But we don't have to make a decision tonight....

I found this beautiful rose growing in the rose garden out front of the New Norcia Hotel. The rain had destroyed all the other roses, as it had done in Subiaco over the weekend.