Weeks 17 & 18 - Mullewa to Mandurah (via New Norcia and Perth)

Well here we are again and this blog covers the Wildflowers in
Mullewa as well as our journey south to the beautiful city of Perth.
So firstly let's take a walk through the wildflowers in the bushland
areas around the township of................

Mullewa

There were two walk in Mullewa - the Wildflower Walk just across

from the only caravan park in town and the Bushland Trail and
these photos show just some of nature's floral displays on both
trails. As both are in natural bushland and not in gardens, there
are no gates and no entry fees.

Where oh where will I point the camera!

There is a variety of colour in these fields and I've posted some

of it. You'll just have to come and see them for yourselves but

do allow a few days to get here and make sure you come after a

good season of rain which the area has experienced this year.

 Mullewa is also known for this beautiful church - Our Lady of Mount

Carmel, designed and built by English born Monsignor John Hawes

who studied architecture in London before becoming an Anglican priest.

After spending time as a missionary, he converted to Catholicism 

and then headed to Rome.

In 1915 he was invited to work as a country pastor in Western

Australia but was keen to develop his architectural skills so he expressed 

 his desire to build a Spanish Mission style cathedral in Geraldton. He

then designed and commenced the building of St Francis Xavier Cathedral

in Geraldton in 1916, a photo of which is in our previous blog. In his

24 years in Western Australia, Monsignor Hawes was responsible for

designing and building over 16 churches in the mid-west region.

 He was also well known in Mullewa for his love of dogs and horses.

Above is the main altar of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Mullewa.

This is a close-up of the side altar to the left of the main altar. 

Pindar

We took a short drive to Pindar just north of Mullewa and a

little further along a gravel track towards a sheep station, we

found the Wreath Flowers pictured above and below....

These wreath flowers are almost heart-shaped.

The Wreath Flowers seem to grow well in red earth and our car

again took on a red appearance but that's part of this country

and we've grown quite used to it. But hang on we're

not saying that we'll miss it when we head south!

As we left Mullewa we noticed this mural on the wall at the 

town hall which hosted the Wildflower Show for the week.

It's certainly a striking memorial.

From Mullewa we headed south-west towards Jurien Bay,
 Cervantes and  a little further south to the.....

The Pinnacles

The Pinnacles, thousands of limestone pillars rising out of the

bright yellow sand, are located in the Nambung National Park

about 20kms south-east of Cervantes and 270kms north of Perth.

Good photo spot through this hole in one of the pinnacles.

This 4km long track allows you to drive around stopping along the

way to walk among the pinnacles, but there is also a separate

walking track which covers about one kilometre.

Many of the pinnacles tower above the car while there are

also thousands of smaller ones in the desert floor.

It's getting closer to sunset now but the clouds are building on the

horizon so we'll leave you with this photo at The Pinnacles!

Leseuer National Park

Leseuer National Park is situated just west of Jurien Bay and

is one of the most significant reserves for flora conservation

in Western Australia. The photo above shows Mt Leseuer

in the background and the whole field covered in grass trees

which are plentiful following fire in the park.

Here are just some of the flora in the park.

Stockyard Gully National Park

About 50kms along a gravel road north of Leseuer National Park 

and after a short section of 4x4 driving, we found Stockyard Gully 

National Park and this photo above is the entrance to a 100m long

underground tunnel you can walk through. The choice is to

walk in water in spots or climb over rocks. We chose the latter

and occassionally our shoes did get a little wet.

There's just a bit of light near the exit of the tunnel at Stockyard

Gully. When Leigh and John from Coffs Harbour (a couple we met

on our travels) and Gerry and I were in the middle of the tunnel, we 

switched off our headlamps and it was so totally dark that we could

not see our hands in front of our faces. On the walk notes it does

state that you need a torch to do this walk and we certainly agree.

Sandy Cape Recreational Park

This was our campsite at Sandy Cape Recreational Park

(CAW426) on the shores of the Indian Ocean and this camping

area has no power but generators are allowed and it does have

environmental toilets. From this park we drove to the Pinnacles

and the Leseuer National Park.

At Sandy Cape a new boardwalk was constructed out of recycled plastic

and built on top of the sand dunes in the park and it offers magnificent

360 degree views of the area. Above is the view to the north

and below Gerry is looking to the south.

This easterly view from the Boardwalk Lookout looks towards the

campsites and maybe you can just spot some white dots in the centre

of the photo which are some vans behind the dunes. It was a beautiful,

natural and quiet camping spot and you could hear the sound of the

waves crashing from the front and back beach during the night.

We left Sandy Cape to travel inland towards New Norcia

and passed through the small township of Moora where this

great mural on the wall of the council building caught my eye.

From here we continued on to.....

New Norcia

'The Benedictine community of New Norcia' is the official title of

the group of Roman Catholic monks who have owned and operated

the small town of New Norcia, located 132kms north of Perth in

Western Australia, since 1847. Below are two of the town buildings.

The building above is St Gertrude's which was used to house

the female boarders during their schooling.

Ildephonsus College was the accommodation for male school boarders.

The forward moving Benedictine community have continued to grow

strong through tourism and their various product lines including bread,

wine and food. One of St Benedict's rules, when he founded the

Benedictines in Italy over 1500 years ago, was that all monks should

greet anyone who arrives at their monastery gates as "if it were God

Himself who had knocked". So when you arrive at New Norcia, the one

thing you won't be denied is hospitality. Today New Norcia has over

700,000 people visiting the town each year.

Visitors are also able to join the monks in prayer services.

The 'Vespers', sung evening prayers with the monks in the monastry 

and 7.30am mass in the Abbey Church the following morning provided

an experience of a different kind and were certainly very reflective. 

Following 'Vespers' we had dinner at the hotel and met up

with some OZ Opera members on their Australian Tour, who just

happened to be singing and relaxing around the hotel piano.

We enjoyed a drink with them and were invited to meet with them 

at the 'after party' following their performance in Mandurah which

is our next destination.

How could we resist such an introduction to Opera!

On our 'Oz Tour' so far we've had some great opportunities and

we're grateful that we've been able to enjoy these special moments.

Following a night to remember in New Norcia, we headed off

in the morning towards the beautiful city of Perth and came across

this great signage to the Bindoon Heritage Museum! The posts

must be pretty strong to carry the weight of the Austin A30

which is also known as a 'Baby Austin'.

Perth

Perth is a beautiful city with the contrast of modern and heritage

buildings. It has a great public transport system as well as a great
cycling trail network which is fantastic for commuting as well as 
leisure riding.

Perth's city skyline as viewed from King's Park.

In King's Park which is on the hill above the Swan River, stands

this statue of Victoria, Queen and Empress from 1837 - 1901

during which time Australia was colonized and federated.

 King's Park also has beautiful wildflower gardens.

From King's Park you can see where the Swan and Canning

Rivers meet. The Kwinana Freeway bridge spans the Swan River.

The meeting of the two rivers that forms this vast expanse of

water, symbolises the strength of unity in Nyoogar culture.

Nyoogar is the generic term for the indigenous people of

the south-west of Western Australia.

This is St Mary's Cathedral at the top end of Murray Street.

The cathedral has undergone extensive renovations with  side wall

extentions as well as stunning changes to the inside of the building.

The Fire Station from 1899, situated on Murray Street

is now a Fire Brigade Museum.

Oh it was tempting for an old firey! Just to ring that

old historic fire station bell would be something.

And you'd thought he'd stopped arson around!

This is the Trinity Anglican Church on St George Terrace.

Trinity Arcade Cafe is on the right side of the church.

The Cloisters on St George Terrace, is one of Perth's finest historic

buildings and it displays both Gothic and Tudor stylistic influences.

It was built for the first Anglican Bishop of Perth 1856 - 1875

Mathew Blagden Hale who opened a secondary school for boys.

Apart from being used for different schools since then, it's also

been used as WAAF Barracks, a Dutch club, kerbside cafe and

commercial offices. It was planned for demolition but a public

campaign put a stop to this. Retention of 'The Cloisters' was 

important as it's a link to the early history of the city.

This is Miss Maude's Swedish Hotel on Murray Street built

in 1911. We enjoyed a smorgasboard lunch with swedish delicacies

and the food was absolutely delicious. And to top it off the seniors

discount meant we got our glass of wine free!

On the TransPerth system they've got some great signs in

both trains and buses which give quite clear messages.

We found them humourous so we hope you do also! You'll

need to check out the faces as well as read the messages.

Below are a few more to enjoy.

Sorry about the reflection on the two above caused by the

sun reflecting on the glass.

This last sign was in front of a double train seat and it read:-

'This seat is reserved for seniors, people with a disability

and parents carrying young children. Please make this

seat available for those who need it. Thank you.'  

I just love the expression on the baby's face.

We'll leave you with this blog here in Perth as we're now

working on the one in Mandurah. At the moment we're

in a great camp spot in the Leeuwin Naturaliste National

Park just 20kms south of Margaret River and we have a

reasonable internet signal but not a good phone one. 

Once again we've parted from our travelling group because

of work enquiries here in WA and we may not meet up

again this time until the next caravan rally in October.

Keep safe and till next time, Gerry & Maria