Day 82 To Perth

Today we drove to Perth and stopped at Lake Thetis home to thousands of stromatolites. Like the famous stromatolites of Hamelin Pool in Shark Bay, the rock-like structures on the edge of Lake Thetis are built by micro-organisms too small for the human eye to see. Within the structures are living communities of diverse inhabitants with population densities of 3000 per square metre! The stromatolite-building micro-organisms of Lake Thetis resemble the earliest forms of life on Earth. The Lake Thetis stromatolites exhibit unusual columnar branching. These narrow, closely spaced and almost parallel columns are extremely rare in modern stromatolites.

The lake water is alkaline and nutrient poor but provides an ideal environment for bottom dwelling microbial communities. The lake contains some small fish, amphipods and a few crustacean species adapted to living in highly saline environments.






The Hansen Bay Lookout was a quick stop before heading for the road to Perth.





We detoured east and inland to go to New Norcia, “a piece of Old Spain in the middle of the Australian bush”, was settled in 1847 by Spanish Benedictine monks who made their way north from Perth on foot to establish a mission near the banks of the Moore River . The town encompasses extravagant buildings, olive trees and church bells coupled with a peaceful tranquil atmosphere. Originally established as an Aboriginal Mission, the monks built a village comprising a church, flour mills, schools, hostel, apiary, blacksmiths shop, olive shed and olive groves surrounding the monastery. Twenty seven of its buildings are classified by the National Trust and the town as a whole is registered on the National Estate. It continues to be home to a community of Benedictine monks who own and operate this truly unique settlement. Baroque, Gothic revival, Byzantine, Italian and Renaissance architectural styles rising up between the eucalyptus trees and dusty scrub.

The Museum & Art Gallery houses an eclectic collection of Mission and Monastery memorabilia displayed alongside European religious art and contemporary artworks.

The site has been a large, imaginative mission for Aboriginal peoples, the centre of a vast pastoral enterprise, a place of education for both Indigenous and European children and a site of distinctly Mediterranean culture and devotion.

We went on a two hour tour of the site with a lady who had been a school teacher at the site and is the wife of a local farmer, so she had some 40 years of knowledge of the different stages over the years, a really interesting tour. The whole property had the most peaceful atmosphere, we came away very relaxed.

Abbey Church, houses one of only two large Moser organs crafted in Germany and imported to Australia in the 1920s. The church walls display a rare form of art called “sgraffito” alongside more conventional and familiar religious icons and paintings. The old Flour Mill, dating back to 1879.