Carnarvon to New Norcia.

---

After spending over 2 weeks at Carnarvon while we waited for brake pads to arrive from Gympie in Qld!!!! back on the road headed towards Perth. Spent a few days at Kalbarri which is lovely, got a yearly pass for WA national parks which cost $42 with our seniors discount. As it costs $12 for your car to go into a national park we've already got our money back and in front. Natures Window is quite spectacular. Kalbarri is very pretty but windy. Headed to Geraldton next via Dongera, very pleasant drive along the coast. The convict settlement at Lynton has some great memorabilia. The Pink Lake just down the road at Port Gregory is a very pretty colour caused by beta carotene in the water. The memorial to HMAS Sydney 11 in Geraldton is very peaceful, beautifully done. Their are 645 seagulls in the dome, one for each life lost when it sank after a battle

in WW2. The maritime museum is also very interesting. After leaving Geraldton we called in at Cervantes to see the Stromatolites, these natural formations have been created by the oldest known organisms on earth, some remains dated at 3.6 billion years old. They are at Lake Thetis which was named after the sailing ship that surveyed the coast in1847-8. Close by are the Pinnacles in Nambung national park. There is debate on exactly how they were formed but they're limestone weathered down. After the distances between places in the Kimberley and Pilbara its nice to have so many interesting things so close together. We headed slightly inland to visit New Norcia, which is run by an order of Benedictine monks who are largely self sufficient. The original monastery was built in 1842 and the small town around the monastery is owned by them as are the bakery, hotel and servo. The buildings are outstanding and its well worth the price of the tour as you get to see buildings that are usually closed to the public. From New Norcia we went to Club Capricorn Yanchep, a northern suburb of Perth to spend a month over xmas giving us time to check out Perth.

---