Wildflowers and not so Wildlife, a West Australian road trip

[TonyQ]

@@elefromoz

What a wonderful trip.

You have a superb range of wildflowers as promised in the title, but such a variety of wildlife.

From the UK it is great to see kangaroo and wallabies, and I have really enjoyed the large number of reptiles you have seen

And then the dolphins and the turtle - and the dugong. Excellent

[michael-ibk]

Agree with Tony, very enjoyable. Dugongs fascinate me - how great you´ve seen them.

[Atravelynn]

Hail to the Dugong! Tremendous marine life. I bet you wanted to charge into the water with that Olympus when you saw all those sea turtles, dolphins, dugong!

 

The black footed rock wallaby was well concealed.

 

Those Olympus cameras are the standard for underwater (that's not scuba photography) and shockproof. Thanks for the info!

[Zubbie15]

Glad you're continuing @@elefromoz. Quite impressive sighting of the turtle and the dugong!

[Alexander33]

@@elefromoz

 

It's been such a crazy few months that I missed this report until now. Glad you are continuing with it!

 

Karijini National Park looks just spectacular. The landscape and wildflower are stunning. Is September the prime time to go for the flower display?

[elefromoz]

@@Alexander33, sorry for the delay in responding, yes Spring is the time for the "best" mass displays, although various species flower throughout the year. We also have many spectacular Orchids which can be easily seen in the parks around Perth city (wild not planted) within remnant bushland at this time. Kings Park, probably our No. 1 tourist destination in Perth city, has a spectacular Wildflower display during Spring, showcasing the states species in a very nice setting overlooking the city and river from the top of the escarpment…oops, sounding a bit like a tourist brochure here

 

We left Shark Bay, stopping at Hamelin Pool to see the Stromatolites

 

 

 

A Boardwalk gave good access to the area, and protects the Stromatolites, for the Finches too

 

 

Along the way, we stopped if I noticed any new Wildflowers we hadn’t see to date

 

After about 375kms, we entered Kalbarri NP The Wildflowers were nearly at “peak” so enjoyed some lovely displays along the roadside.

 

 

This photo show the apparently "dreadful" soil that these plants grow in, just grey-white sand, yet every year after rain our they burst in all their glory

 

 

 

 

 

 

[xelas]

@@elefromoz

 

Lovely flowers! Excellent colours for the background I can see from my window right now ... 15 cm of snow has fallen over the night!

 

Nothing wrong with some tourism propaganda, the area surely merits it. BTW, do you take outsiders along on your trips ??

[elefromoz]

@@xelas, anytime you're passing this way! "15cm of snow"… here's a bit of sunshine to warm you up

Kalbarri is a very small town on the coast, with a pretty wild coastline. It’s a tourist, Crayfishing and surfing town. Behind the town is the river gorge terrain. We spent the day exploring the coastline

 

 

 

You can see a family of a dozen or so Dolphins in the top left corner

 

And Humpback Whale were dotted all along the horizon on their southerly migration.

 

Coastal Wildflowers in bloom

 

 

 

One of a pair of Kestrels, they certainly had a fantastic viewpoint from the cliff tops.

 

 

 

In the evening as the temperature dropped, we drove inland to the Gorges

 

 

 

 

Finally as we were driving back to the caravan park, we spotted one of the little critters we’d been looking out for, the Thorny Devil. Ferocious little chap? No, lives on ants only, lives up to twenty years and tiny!

 

 

A helping hand off the road, we could hear a car coming from behind us, so he doesn’t become roadkill.

[Zubbie15]

Thanks for sharing @@elefromoz - it's -14C this morning where I am, so it's nice to see flowers and sunny skies!

[Hads]

Great Photos Ele, all this is only a few hours from my home here in the Pilbara

[xelas]

@@elefromoz

 

Thanks a lot, your kind invitation is now noted in our "to go " list ! Relax, not already next year; although that part of Australia is on our list of places to go already from 2001 onward ....

 

The Thorny Devil is such a cute fellow!

[elefromoz]

Home in Perth was edging close again, we had just a couple more stops to make.

 

The first one was Lesueur NP, home to a huge diverse range of Flora. In the early 90s it was earmarked for coal mining development, public pressure and democracy in action saved it from that tragic fate. It’s a lovely quiet Park to drive through and enjoy the flowers, and do a bit of hiking if you fancy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our second stop was the “Pinnacles”, one of those places all the tourists go to but we’d never visited ourselves. These natural limestone pillars stand in their thousands, dating back some 30,000 years! I thought this was an amazing, un-real kind of place, and am surprised that George Lucas or Ridley Scott haven’t used it as a movie backdrop. We were the only one there early in the morning, what a bizarre, remarkable experience.

 

 

 

And so journeys end…..

[zimreef]

Thank you very much for posting details of your trip and the fantastic photos of flowers as well as the usual birds, mammals and reptiles.

 

Great spot of the thorny devil - would be great to see one at some point!

 

Having considered delaying our holiday to Australia scheduled for February/March next year to May to try to do the Gibb River Road, it looks as though we may delay it even further to try and take in some of this wonderful flora too.

 

Decisions. Decisions. But all good ones!

 

John

[RichB]

Your photos are absolutely amazing..Beautifull..I spend alot of time up in the NW of western australia and it is so beautiful especially in wild flower season..

[Thursday's Child]

I'm very late to this trip report but so glad I found it, it is lovely.

[Caracal]

I'm even later!

 

My visits to Perth have never coincided with wildflower season so I've thoroughly enjoyed this vicarious trip. What a dazzling display beautifully shown.

[elefromoz]

@@Caracal, you'll have to try and work it one time, plenty of places to see lovely displays, you don't necessarily have to travel that far. Some beautiful drives with wildflowers can be done as a day trip out of Perth or a weekender. Depends how much time you have.