Wildflower Country

Everlasting Daisys

We headed east from Geraldton, firstly to Mullewa known for the trails of pink, white and yellow everlasting daisys, travelling along ridges with outstanding views across the green valleys and then on to Morawa, a delightful little town to base ourselves at the smallest van park we have stayed - 20 sites and 2 cabins, with spotless facilities and a bunch of friendly people.

This countryside brought back memories of our visit to the Amish country in the US State of Pennsylvania, however, there are no covered bridges, barn-raising or farmers tilling the soil with horse and farrow here in Aus!
Big Ears

First day toured south to the town of Perenjori, (Aboriginal word meaning 'water hole') and then looped back through Three Springs (home to the largest Talc mine in the Southern Hemisphere), and Mingenew the grain centre, (with the largest grain receiving facility also in the Southern Hemisphere) and also home to a giant wheat stalk sculpture, fondly known as Big Ears! These small towns are all charming with loads of history and a variety of wildflowers along the roads. Ade was disappointed that he couldn't find hot food (preferably a meat pie of course), after 1.30 pm! It feels like a step back in time or is it that we are really away from the big smoke?

Wreath Flower

Saturday we back tracked to Canna which had the best of mother natures displays. Everlasting and pom pom daisys, wattles (so many varieties), hakeas, myrtles, pea flowers, sturts desert pea, banksias, heaths, flannel flowers, kangaroo paws, grevilleas and fanciful names - featherflowers, red ink sundews, pixie mops and honeypots, to not even scratch the name calling surface!

We found the unique wreath flowers, which grow from a center of green and form pink and yellow flowers on the rim as they continue to grow in a distinctive circular shape. Tiny native orchids, cowslips, spider,custard, bird, vanilla, Queen of Sheba(just a few), as big as my smallest finger nail, and difficult to see in the bush. I hate to think how many I may have stepped on before realizing.

Cowslip Orchids

This particular area is only one of the hot spots for wildflowers and I'm sure we will be entranced by many more displays as we continue around the south west..

Time to head back to the coast, this time to Jurien Bay and maybe some warmer weather.

Geraldton-Greenough

Greenough's Leaning Tree

Tuesday 31 August we arrived in Geraldton, a relatively short distance to travel from Horrocks, and that gave us the chance to settle in before catching up with Brisbane based friends, Syd and Lorelle who are also doing the big round trip having left home about six weeks prior to us. A barbecue and exchange of travel notes at the Farina/Wilson camp was on the agenda that night. It was great to see familiar faces!

Wednesday our first port of call was Coronation Beach, a short drive north, and well known for windsurfing and kite surfing. We could see three ships lined up on the horizon waiting to go into the Port of Geraldton to load grain for export but I would have preferred to see colourful sails tearing across the water! The coastline is a continuation of beautiful beaches and the 122 island archipelago of the Abrolhos Islands lie off the coast which is another marine sanctuary and is also known for harvesting of pearls.

South of Geraldton are the horizontal trees, or 'Leaning Trees of Greenough', River Gums with strong trunks and weak branches which can survive against the powerful southerly winds; the Greenough River where the waters meet the Indian Ocean at Cape Burney, and a step back in time of restored stone buildings part of the Historic Settlement of the area, circa1865.

Point Moore Lighthouse

Geraldton's marina and port with its bold red and white stripe Point Moore Lighthouse is in close proximity to the city centre, and then a must see, the HMAS Sydney II Memorial on a hill overlooking the city . The beautiful silver dome of 645 seagulls is a moving tribute to the same number of men who lost their lives when the WW II German raider, the Kormoran attacked and sunk the warship Sydney on November 21, 1941. The Kormoran was disguised as a Dutch merchant vessel and was also sunk but 340 of her 393 crew survived. Both wrecks were found 150 kilometres off Shark Bay in March 2008.

As well as the dome there is a a bronze statue of a woman gazing hopefully out to sea waiting for news of a loved one, and a stele - a single dramatic shape representing the bow of the ship which soars into the sky. The names of the men lost, photographs and the story are part of the display at the memorial.

HMAS Sydney II Memorial

Time to leave the coast for a while and travel east to see the wildflowers for which Western Australia is world renowned.

Horrocks and the Chapman Valley

Cliff Views of Horracks

We had another three night stay, this time at Horracks, a delightful village nestled at the base of coastal cliffs and known for its fishing and protected waters for boating and swimming. Our journey was a continuation of rolling hills of wheat, barley, lupin and now fields of iridescent yellow canola, a tapestry of colour all the way to the beach. We have become so accustomed to sand dunes and sparse areas through our travels we were surprised to find this rich agricultural land almost on the ocean shores.

Canola Country

With Horrocks as our base, we headed out for a day of exploring inland to Northampton and the Chapman Valley. We soaked in the change of countryside with it's old stone farmhouses, barns and fences, some in ruins, and enormous grain storage sheds some of the largest in the country, and 'green' everywhere.

A Testament to our Beginnings

Northampton is best known for its many historical buildings. Oakabella Homestead classified by the National Trust is known as the most haunted house in Western Australia.

We took a run out to the Bowes River mouth which we were surprised to find was cut off from the sea by a wide strip of sand. I'm sure a king tide would change that situation. Miles of stunning surf beach, and treacherous rips. You would have to know what you were doing to venture out with a surfboard at this beach.

Entrance to Willgully Caves

On the way back we met the challenge to find the Willgully Caves and it was worth our trek through the knee high undergrowth to see rock art created by the indigenous Nanda people. Fortunately it has been spared from vandalism and I summised that is pobably due to the lack of signs!

Willgully Cave Drawings

Our next stay will be Geraldton, the second largest town in Western Australia with a population of approximately 36,000!

Kalbarri

Wildflowers

About 25 kilometres from the intersection of the North West Coastal Highway and the Kalbarri Road turn off the scenery totally changed from desert to rolling hills of green pastures, grain crops, and grazing sheep. Then we saw natures stunning array of wildflowers - ground covers of white, yellow, hot pink, pale pink, mauve and shrubs of red and yellow. I have this amazing picture etched in my mind of a carpet of white contrasting against the green, like it had just snowed in one particular area. This is absolutely gorgeous country. Our route took us through the Kalbarri National Park to the pretty seaside town of Kalbarri with its open sandy beaches and where the Murchison River meets the Indian ocean. This so reminds us of Caloundra where the Pumistone passage opens to the sea.

Natural Bridge

We had a three night stay at a park opposite the River and found lots to explore around the area. Safe swimming beaches and surf beaches, fishing spots, rock pools, whale watching, lookouts, a rugged coastline and the beautiful wildflower landscapes. The Kalbarri National Park's coastal gorges were easy to access with walking trails from the car parks where we saw dramatic cliff formations made up of layers of sandstone and limestone which the ocean has eroded over millions of years.

Island Rock

Moving on from Kalbarri we travelled down the coast road through the National Park and then the country opened up again to more rolling hills of pasture and more contented sheep and fat cattle - we really have left the desert behind, at last! Detoured into Port Gregory, a tiny fishing village, passing Hutt Lagoon otherwise known as 'Pink Lake' . The pink colour is caused by bacteria trapped in the salt granules which produces beta carotene. It was an overcast day so it was probably a little more subdued and we were told the sunsets are stunning when the colour changes from pinks to mauve and to purple hues.

The Pink Lake

Back out on the main road again, we came across the ruins of the stone buildings of the historic Lynton Hiring Station established in 1853 to house the convict labour who worked for the lead mines at Geraldine and local pastoral stations. The harsh conditions of the time forced the closure in 1856.

On to our next stop at Horrocks, another seaside

town.

The Shark Bay World Heritage Area

Shark Bay Pelican

Friday we were on the road again, destination Shark Bay and the town of Denham and a visit to Monkey Mia which is famous for the Bottlenose Dolphins who come in to feed every day.

An early food note: We stopped at the Overlander Roadhouse near the turn off to Denham for a bite to eat. Sausage rolls on the menu today. Not just any sausage roll, the most enormous, I mean hard to get your mouth around enormous, and delicious we have ever eaten. One would have probably satisfied the both of us but we soldiered through!

110 kilometre drive to our base for five nights at the Denham Seaside Tourist Village and such an interesting drive catching views of water on both sides of Shark Bay and a change of scenery with flowering bushes on the roadside. Spring has sprung and we are hoping to see lots more wildflowers down the track.

The history is so interesting. Dirk Hartog, the Dutch explorer, landed in 1616 at Cape Inscription on what is known today as Dirk Hartog Island. He was the first recorded white man to set foot on Australian soil. William Dampier named Shark Bay in 1699 due to the abundant shark population. The French also laid claim to the Great South Land here in 1772, but as we know the Brits had claimed the Colony for Mother England in 1770 when Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay. A long time after, in 1858 a Captain Denham chartered the whole of Shark Bay; in the1860's the pastoralists settled; in the 1870's the pearling industry established. The pearling industry died off at the turn of the century and has now been re-established off Monkey Mia with tourism and fishing the main industries today. A little geography lesson in addition to the history, Steep Point on the southern side of the bay is the most westerly point in Australia.

I enjoyed an interesting and informative couple of hours learning about the natural and cultural features at the Discovery Centre . My favourite little Aussie, who I had never heard of before, is the Sand Hill Frog and he looks just like a frog who has been covered in sand. He also lays little white pearl eggs in the sand - no tadpoles for this little fellow. He is very special along with a multitude of other threatened species. Two thousand Bilbies have recently been released on the Peron Peninsular which thanks to an intensive programme is now safe from feral foxes and cats who once threatened their existence. Shark Bay qualified for World Heritage Listing in 2008 and is in good company with places such as the Great Barrier Reef, Galapagos Islands and Grand Canyon. There are only twenty sites world wide satisfying the criteria of Natural Beauty, Earth's History, Ecological Processes and Biological Diversity.

Bottlenose Dolphin Mother & Daughter

We visited Little Lagoon an almost perfect blue circle nestled in the sand dunes, which was once land locked before the sea inundated the area several thousand years ago. Other amazing places here include Shell Beach and as the name implies, it's made up of trillions of tiny shells heaped in piles up to 10 metres thick. In Hamelin Pool, Stromatolites which exist in hyper saline water are found and are the only living marine fossils in existence.

Dolphin Feeding at Monkey Mia

We missed the ritual morning feeding of the Bottlenose Dolphins at Monkey Mia on our first visit but a mother and baby came into shore (must have seen the disappointed look on my face) and it was just so special watching them swimming in the crystal clear shallows. There are thirteen dolphins who come into the bay daily for feeding which is strictly supervised to ensure the animals survival in the wild. I am told there are 1500 dolphins and 1200 can be identified through the markings on their dorsal fins. Dugongs feed on the abundant seagrass meadows found in the bay and manta rays and turtles make their home here as well.
Sea Lab 1
My other favourite experience here was to sail on the catermaran, Aristocrat 2, from Monkey Mia out to the Blue Lagoon Pearl Farm pontoon known as "Sea Lab 1" for a tour. This is a family owned operation and it was fascinating to watch a demonstration of how the cultivation, seeding and harvesting process produces pearls. The Pinctada Margaritifera (black lip pearl shell) oyster is the species farmed here in the cooler waters to produce the black pearls. The colour of the completed pearl is cultivated from the outer rings of colour on the inside rim of the pearl shell. Not all pearls are perfectly round and the odd shapes are known as Baroque Pearls.

Inside of Pearl producing Oyster

We were in good company at Monkey Mia with A Current Affair filming the "Farmer wants a Wife" farmers feeding the Dolphins; Jamie from the Pearl Farms has been one of the farmers in the current series. Women's Weekly and Women's Day were doing stories as well.

So much more to see and do than we can experience and I would say to anyone who plans to visit, take it all in, it's such a special place.