Gingin

I only stay two or three days with each host, so Sara and I headed to Gingin, WA. On the way, we stopped at a road house that kept emus. They do appear in the wild in this area, but none have appeared to me! 

A pretty nature walk in Gingin. I am being hosted by a wonderful couple Karyn and Peter. I had a little time to chat with Peter, a driver of those huge road trains, before he headed off to work. Karyn took me on a tour of housing styles around Gingin. We then met her Koorunga CWA of WA chapter and members of other chapters at the hotel in New Norcia. After a wonderful lunch, I talked about Illinois HCE, Illinois, Fulton County, and my life. What a fun group! 

Gingin's IGA grocery store.

New Norcia Benedictine Mission was established in 1847 by Rosendo Salvado. There are now only 10 monks in the monastery. It is the only monastic town in AU.

https://www.newnorcia.wa.edu.au/.

This is the pipe organ that was played by one of the monks.

This is in the other end of the hall in the church shown below.

The order established a boys and a girls secondary school which flourished for many years. There were very few secondary schools in WA, so many came to board. The monks also ran a school for the local Aboriginal students. They ground their own flour. The museum has numerous examples of religious art, ancient and modern.

We learned that the Aboriginal people had six seasons based on when certain food sources were available. Many people now regret the loss of knowledge that the Aboriginal people had.

Inside one of the chapels.

This chapel has been recently restored. The monks and local laborers created these.

One of my goals was to eat as much lamb as possible. So far: roast lamb, lamb chops and lamb burger. It tastes better than what I remember. No funny taste like ours.