Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

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CHAPTER 9 . PERTH & WESTERN AUSTRALIA
a planned day spa and sauna may have opened. Each individually furnished
room has a potbelly stove, and you get treated to fresh flowers in your room,
complimentary port, sherry, chocolates, and a daily newspaper. You can choose
between a room in the homestead or in the rustic mud-brick servants’ quarters.
Breakfast is served in the quaint tea house in the garden. No smoking indoors.
Pets are welcome. Owners Andrew and Joy Savage also offer self-contained
accommodation in a cottage called Riverside on York’s Avon Terrace.
30 Forrest St., York, WA 6302. & 08/9641 1065 or 0416/121 392. www.yorkwa.com.au/hillside. 4 units (all
with shower only). A$120 (US$78) double. AE, MC, V. Rates include full breakfast. Amenities: Small outdoor
pool, tennis courts, golf course nearby. In room: A/C, TV/VCR, fridge, coffeemaker, hair dryer.
NEW NORCIA: A TOUCH OF EUROPE IN AUSTRALIA
132km (83 miles) N of Perth
It’s the last thing you expect to see in the Australian bush—a Benedictine
monastery town with European architecture, a fine museum, and a collection of
Renaissance art—but New Norcia is no mirage. Boasting a population of 55
(when everyone’s at home, that is), this pretty town and the surrounding 8,000-
hectare (19,760-acre) farm were established in 1846 by Spanish Benedictine
missionaries. Visitors can tour chapels with beautiful frescoes, marvel at one of
the finest religious art collections in Australia, stock up on famous New Norcia
nutcake straight from the monastery’s 120-year-old wood-fired ovens, and
attend prayers with the 18 monks who live here.
GETTING THERE New Norcia is an easy 2-hour drive from Perth. From
downtown, take Lord Street, which becomes Guildford Road to Midland; here
join the Great Northern Highway to New Norcia. Government rail organization
WAGR (& 13 10 53 in Western Australia, or 08/9326 2000) runs a coach service
(there is no rail line) Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from Perth for
A$14 (US$9.10) one-way. Greyhound Pioneer (& 13 20 30 in Australia)
coaches run from Perth on Friday only for A$40 (US$26). Coach schedules will
probably require you to stay at least overnight, if not longer, in order to have
time to see anything. Check ahead if you plan to travel on a public holiday or
during Western Australian school vacations, because schedules sometimes
change then. Day tours from Perth are available.
Conference groups can book the town solid, so reserve accommodations and
tours in advance, especially in wildflower season from August to October. Write
for information and book town tours at the New Norcia Tourist Information
Centre, New Norcia, WA 6509 (& 08/9654 8056; fax 08/9654 8124;
www.newnorcia.wa.edu.au), in the Museum and Art Gallery, just off the highway
behind St. Joseph’s, beside the Trading Post and Roadhouse. Its hours are
those of the museum and gallery (see below).
EXPLORING THE TOWN & MONASTERY
The New Norcia Tourist Information Centre’s intriguing 2-hour walking tours
are a must. Tickets cost A$12 (US$7.80) for adults and A$5.50 (US$3.60) for
children 12 to 17, free for younger children. Tours depart daily except Christmas
at 11am and 1:30pm, and they allow time for you to attend prayers with the
monks if you wish. The guide strolls you around some of the town’s 27 National
Trust–classified buildings and gives an insight into the monks’ lifestyle. You will
also see the frescoes in the old monastery chapel and in St. Ildephonsus’s and St.
Gertrude’s colleges. Much of the monastery is closed to visitors, but the tour does
show you the fruit gardens and a glimpse of the men-only courtyard. Heritage