Jogging Along to Jurien Bay, Proceeding to The Pinnacles and Monkeying Around New Norcia

Monday 2^nd September

From Eneabba we headed North West to Cliff Head on The Indian Ocean Drive.

We followed the coast down through Green Head to Jurien Bay and arrived just on lunch time. We sat on the beach to eat our rolls and low and behold, along came Aidan and Mary. They have been at the Caravan Park and are leaving tomorrow. We decided to stay as well.

After a lovely cuppa and a big, long catch up, Ron and I went for a walk.

 

 

The recent storms have played havoc and deposited a lot of weed on the beach so we walked along the bicycle track.

 These tourists were enjoying the view as well.

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We headed back for Sun Downers with Aidan and Mary and found that Mary had purchased a celebratory cake for Ron’s belated and Aidan’s impending Birthdays.

After the concentrated effort of lighting the candle, there was much huffing and puffing to extinguish it again all to the accompaniment of our glorious singing voices.

 

We then proceeded to enjoy a good couple of hours together as this will probably be the last time we see them (unless we follow up on our threat to visit them in Melbourne for The Boxing Day Test).

Tuesday 3^rd September

We bade a fond farewell to Aidan and Mary as they headed off East towards home. We headed off to Lesueur National Park (on their insistence). They went yesterday and said the wild Flowers were truly magnificent – ‘the best yet!

 

 

 

As you go onto tracks in the park, you have to scrub your shoes to prevent the spread of diseases.

 

 

 

 

 

As we drove back from the Park, we noticed this sign which would have been more appropriate last Sunday.

 

And there were cows grazing in fields of daisies.

 

 

As we got closer to home, the weather worsened and it got colder, rainier and really windy. It still has not improved.

Wednesday 4^th September

 

Woke to blue skies and sunshine this morning (for half an hour anyway and then it fined up again) so we decided to head off to Cervantes and The Pinnacles.

As we left Cervantes, we drove up to Hansen Bay Lookout for some spectacular views over the ocean and inland towards Lake Thetis.

 

 

 

 

From here, we drove round to Lake Thetis to see the Stromatolites.

The colonies of cyanobacteria that build these Stromatolites are similar to the earliest organisms that appeared on Earth. These organisms produced oxygen for subsequent life forms.

The Stromatolites in Lake Thetis have been growing for about 3,500 years.

 

 

 

Then we pressed on to The Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. The Pinnacles are very impressive limestone pillars (thousands of them) that rise out of the sand dunes.

 

 

We were quite surprised at the amount of vegetation around. And I was really surprised that we had mobile reception. (I’m talking to my friend Ros!)

 

 

 

We walked around the 1.2 km walk. We were not allowed to drive because Indie is too big.

Some of the Pinnacles had holes in them and Ronnie even spotted a galah resting on top of one.

 

 

 

 

We left The Pinnacles and headed off towards Moora.

On the way, we passed Emu Downs Wind Farm.

 

And we saw a little Crop Duster aeroplane at work.

We arrived at (422) Moora Shire Caravan Park ($28.00) and settled in.

Later I noticed that I had a small tick on the back of my knee. We got him out and the Caretaker at the Park said it looked like a Pepper Tick. After that, I kept imagining itches and seeing little black things everywhere.

The good news is; it is finally dry and non-windy enough for the inaugural outing of the new table!!!!

 

 

 

Thursday 5^th September

Today we headed off to New Norcia.

New Norcia was founded on its present site in March 1847 by the Spanish Monks and since then has been a mission, a monastic town, a place of education and now a tourism destination.

It is still run by the Benedictine Monks. There are heaps of old buildings, including Girls’ and Boys’ Colleges, Churches, Flour mills, Hotel, Library, Museum etc. There is also the bakery and the Monastery of course. There are only 9 Monks here now.

We did a walking tour and it was very interesting. 

 

 

 

 

 

The art work in the chapels was very interesting. It ranges from traditional painting to sgraffito (done in the 60’s)

 

 

 

We wandered around for a good couple of hours before returning to Indie for lunch.

We opted to stay at the roadhouse ($14.00 for power) overnight before beginning our adventures in the big city (Perth) tomorrow.

We dined on a loaf of bread, baked by the Monks. It was so delicious that we ended up being piggy-wigs and eating the whole loaf between us for lunch and dinner.

After lunch, we wandered back and looked around the Museum and Art Gallery but I really liked the huge screens in the Boys College grounds.

 

As we returned to Indie, I met one of the Monks.

He was very friendly and chatted for a while. I kept Ronnie out of sight for fear that he may try to enlist just to get access to an unlimited bread supply!!!!