Archive for August, 2009

Guesthouse In A Monastery At New Norcia, WA

Monday, August 31st, 2009

New Norcia in Western Australia is definitely not off the beaten track, but it offers some accommodation which is truly out of the ordinary. It is Australia’s only monastic town, and the accommodation is a guesthouse run by the monastery following a fifth century tradition. I recently stayed in this unique place.

New Norcia began in 1846 when a monastery was built 132km north of Perth, and a small town grew up around it. In the tradition of St Benedict (born in Norcia, Italy), the monks offered hospitality to passing travellers, as they still do to this day in the guesthouse attached to the monastery. The numbers of monks may have reduced, and their schools closed, but the monastery still owns and operates the town, a situation unique in Australia.

Guests stay in either single or twin rooms, some with ensuites and others sharing a bathroom. Standards could be summed up as basic but comfortable - everything you really need is there, including a guest lounge room, dining room, and kitchen. Meals are provided, and the showers are consistently hot. In keeping with the surroundings, quietness is requested at night, and there is no TV.

You can attend prayers with the monks and eat with them if you want to, providing you are male, but you don’t have to. I ate with them in their refectory to experience how monks at New Norcia do dinner - without speaking, other than someone reading from the bible. The food was very good, but as a slow eater I found it a little rushed. You can eat in a more normal way in the guesthouse dining room if you prefer, as most guests do.

Whether you stay there or not, the twice-daily walking tours are an excellent way of exploring this one-of-a-kind town. Of its 64 buildings, 30 are classified by the national trust for their heritage value, giving it probably more historical ambience than anywhere else in Western Australia.

Even if you’re like me and prefer the roads less travelled, staying in the monastery guesthouse is a good reason to visit the much-visited town of New Norcia.

Links:
New Norcia website
The monastery guesthouse

Topics: Accommodation, Western Australia | 4 Comments »

About Maps, And Update Frequency

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

This is just a quick explanatory note about a couple of aspects of this website.

Maps

I like to include basic maps showing the locations of places I write about on this website. Not for navigation - anyone touring the area can get free detailed maps from visitors’ centres - but to provide context and indicate the general area.

So far I’ve used Google maps. With the ability to zoom in, scroll around and switch to aerial photos, it seemed the ideal solution for a website.

Unfortunately, creating Google maps has become painfully slow and troublesome. Components either don’t load, don’t work, or else they take an extremely long time, or numerous attempts. The time I’ve wasted following Google’s troubleshooting tips has been fruitless, therefore I’ve given up on Google maps. I simply don’t have the time to waste on their fault-ridden product - the time would be better spent writing content.

I’m looking at alternatives that don’t take all day, and actually work. In the meantime, I apologise for any lack of maps.

Update Frequency

I began this website with the aim of adding to it twice per week if possible, but was happy with an average of once per week. Things have dropped off a lot recently!

The reason - I’ve been juggling a demanding combination of work and study which has consumed nearly all my free time. It won’t always be that way, but there may often be periods when busyness precludes regular writing. Also there will be times when I’m travelling and therefore offline.

My desire to build this website into a large and useful resource remains, however it is a long term goal (ie many years). In the short term, don’t be surprised if my writing is sometimes irregular.

Topics: Odds and Ends | Add Your Comment »