Attractions

The intriguing 2-hour walking tours are a must. Tickets cost A$23 (US$21/£11) for adults and A$12 (US$11/£5.50) for children 12 to 17, free for younger children, and include entrance to the museum and art gallery and tastes of local produce. Tours depart daily, except December 25, at 11am and 1:30pm, and they allow time for you to attend prayers with the monks if you wish. The guide leads you around some of the town's 27 National Trust-classified buildings and gives 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.

The Museum and Art Gallery is full of relics from the monks' past -- old mechanical and musical instruments, artifacts from the days when New Norcia was an Aboriginal mission, gifts to the monks from the queen of Spain, and an astounding collection of paintings by Spanish and Italian artists, dating from the 1400s. Give yourself at least an hour here. The museum and gallery are open daily from 9am to 4:30pm (closed Dec 25). Admission is A$10 (US$9/£4.50) for adults, A$6 (US$5.40/£2.70) for children 12 to 17, free for younger children. Don't leave the gift shop without some of the famous New Norcia nut cake, made at the monastery bakery.

Apart from joining the monks for 15-minute prayers in the monastery chapel five times a day (noon and 2:30pm are the most convenient for day visitors), you can join them for Mass in the Holy Trinity Abbey Church Monday through Saturday at 7:30am, Sunday at 9am, or at 5:30pm for vespers.

A Monk's Point of View -- One of the more enthralling options at New Norcia is to "Meet a Monk." You get to sit down and have a half-hour conversation with one of the monks about life in the monastery, and life in general, from the Benedictine point of view. Available Monday to Friday 10:30am (just before the 11am tour), Saturday 4:30pm, and Sunday at 10am.