west coat newsletter 1.pdf

7/30/2019 west coat newsletter 1.pdf

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A U S T R A L I A


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New Norcia

The New Norcia Mission

as founded by Rosendo Salvado1847. It all began when Salvado

nd a handful of monks were sentom Rome in 1846. Upon landingn the deserted shores of what is

ow Perth, They traveled over aundred days with al l their

elongings to a small valley in theutback, where they befriended aibe of aboriginals. They then

pent many years building andeveloping the mission. and the

bby. Along with continuing toevelop their relationships withhe indigenous peoples, the monks

ere masters in agriculture andeating a sustainable community .

By this time many otheronks had arrived from Europe

nd there were near 80 in their

ommunity. They developed a

gional ly renowned bakery,inery, brewery, and olive grove.

Here they sold their products tothe local and surrounding areas. Inthe mid 1850s the monks first

built the olive grove consisting ofover 600 trees, some of these trees

still produce olives to this day. Thegrove was followed by the buildingof a bakery and development of a

winery.

! One of their most sought

after products was the wine. Itbecame so popular they increasedthe size of their vineyard to over

80 acres of grapes vines. Althoughthe wine was popular all over the

country, they were forced to closedthe winery in 1973 due to moneyissues. After the closure of the

winery, they were still able to makeolive oil, which is still in operation

today. Still today, they use theoriginal machines they used backwhen the mission was still young.

! Beginning in 1908 a new erafor the monastery

started........when they built aschool for girls, from grammar

school through college. The school followed shortly afte1913. Today the school ground

still used for continuing educasuch as seminars and workshop

! Now in present day,monastery itself has chanmuch. The monks still go

prayers every day, and tend to daily work. They have a tim

the day when no one talkanyone as it is a quite time. Onthe biggest changes was that

accommodations for visitorstudents was turned into a h

open to the public.

! When we first got thethought that it was just going t

a modern hotel on the foundatof and old monastery but it

totally different. It was ramazing how it has stayedsame throughout all these y

when the res t of the worl

developing so quickly.

New Norcia

Key Products

Olive OilWine

Bread

ale

other Wheat products


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Whale Migrations in Australia! The West Coast ofAustralia is one of the manyplaces on Earth where some of

the great whale migrations

occur. We arrived in Perth onthe West Coast in late Octoberand were fortunate to be thereso we could witness part of this

amazing journey.

! One of the most

common types of whales thatcan be seen migrating here arethe Humpbacks. The

humpbacks are one of the largerspecies of whales and scientist

have found that their songs canbe heard up to a hundredkilometers away under the water.

! The migration begins intheir wintering habitat along the

Coast between Kalbarri andRottenest Island. In early to midOctober the humpbacks will

travel thousands of milesmaking the pilgrimage to their

summer habitat in waters ofAntarctica. Here they will feed

on the endless supply of krilland plankton. They will alsobreed here before they begin

their return passage North in

mid March. Tens of thousandsof Humpbacks will make thechallenging trek. Although thehumpbacks are the most

commonly seen, other species ofwhales make their journey down

the West coast including Bluewhales, Right whales and Greywhales.

! Around the world,whales have a tough and

challenging migration. Theyhave to cross thousands of milesof open ocean, and although

there is not much out there thatwill harm them, they do have

two relentless predators,humans and Great Whitesharks.

! There are three countriesthat are still whaling today

which are Japan, Iceland, andNorway. All but a few countries

in the world have passed lawsmaking whaling illegal. Besidesthese laws there are hundreds of

organizations that are dedicated

to stopping the practice ofwhaling. One of the mostknown organization is the SeaShepard which is a fleet of boats

who will go to the extremes tostop whaling. They are the team

who takes part in the DiscoveryChannel show, Whale Wars.

! It was really remarkable

that we were there at just theright time to be able to see the

migration of the Humpbacks.Even though we did not getextremely close, it felt like we

were right there with them andthe pod. We did many walks

along cliffs on the coast, downbelow we could almostconstantly see sprays and

arching backs. I am grateful forall those working to protect the

whales!!


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The Dol hins of Shark Ba! Shark Bay is one of the many world heritagesites in Australia because it has the largest bed ofseagrass in the world. In the summer time it is home

to the largest shark population in the world, but

along with sharks, the bay shelters a few hundred ofthe rare Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dolphins, (this

species was not recognized until a few years ago). Westayed at Monkey Mia Resort and research stationwhere the research team has a feeding program so wegot to feed the dolphins but they only feed them a

small amount so the still learn how to hunt in thewild. A calf was born when we were there so we got tosee her when she was just a day old.

! The dolphins have many threats in the bay

including several species of shark and fishing nets.

! The males of the bay form groups which arecalled alliances which last for many years. The groupscan range from two up to fourteen dolphins. The

groups herd females so that the females are forced tomate with just them so they can be sure that one of

them will be the father of the offspring. There are twotypes of alliances, The ones that herd the females andthe ones that steal the females from other groups.

! It was so cool to be able to get so close todolphins and be able to learn so much and we even got

to meet with one of the researchers. They are one ofthe smartest animals in the world with theirintelligence rivaling ours, it was an amazing experience

and I hope that future generations will be able towitness such a fascinating creature.

44% of the calves die before the age ofthree often because of shark attacks.Although sharks are their main predator,

researchers have seen groups of dolphinsmob and kill fully grown sharks as well aseat juveniles.

! The dolphins have a large diet andeat almost every fish in the bay alongwith sea snakes, crustaceans, and

mollusks. They have been seen chasing aspecific fish for over and hour and alldolphins, just like us, have a favorite mealwhether it be sea snake or treavally.

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