Friday October 19

As previously reported, we left North Eneabba on Wednesday the 10^th and travelled across to the coast through Beekeepers Nature Reserve, another extensive area of heathland with masses of wildflowers.  The Nyangar people who once wandered through this open sandy country used the word ‘kwongan’ to describe it.  This term is now used for all areas of shrubby, treeless vegetation throughout this winter rainfall region of WA.

Once on the coast we headed south, through the small town of Green Head, where we stopped for a coffee and a walk at nearby Dynamite Bay.

From here it was only a short trip further south to Jurien Bay, driving between the vivid white and lime-rich sand dunes of the coast (many of which are mined for agricultural lime - can't let these resources go to waste!) on one side and the dunes of the ancient former coastline on the inland side, where more beautiful wildflowers adorned the roadsides.

Jurien Bay also has beautiful long white beaches and an array of reefs and island nature reserves close to the shore, which are vital protected breeding areas for seabirds and endangered small mammals.  Jurien Bay Marine Park, which extends from Green Head to Wedge in the south, protects a marine ecosystem containing a mix of temperate and tropical plant and animal species.  This is the only area along the western coast where Australian Sea Lions breed.

Our plan was to stay in Jurien Bay for six nights and use it for a base from which to explore the national parks and reserves close by.  Between visiting these, we planned to swim and lie on the beach, which we did for the first couple of days, after which it became a bit cooler and was less attractive, especially for me – the move from the warmer northern water to this more ‘temperate’ (more freezing I reckon) water has caused me to re-assess my commitment to regular swims.  Mind you, the colours are still brilliant and you can see why this area is called the Turquoise Coast.

Murray off for a swim.  The jetty was the m ost popular place for fishing - most evenings it was crowded with kids and familes hoping to catch a big tailor or mackerel.

On Thursday we took off on our first expedition, which was to Lesueur National Park.  This park covers 26,987 hectares and was finally gazetted in 1992 (had been recommended that a reserve be created in the 1950s), after public pressure rescued it from the long-standing threat of a coal mining development. 

It has an exceptionally diverse range of flora, with more than 900 different species – 10% of the State’s known flora and varies from salt lakes and remnant coastal dunes in the north-west through to laterite ridges in the east, which partly explains the range of flora.   Exceptionally diverse low heath, or Kwongan, covers a large portion of the park, whilst creek lines and low areas are filled with woodlands of wandoo, red-gum and banksia. 

                              It's one of nature's great paradoxes that the poorest
                              grounds support the greatest biodiversity.
                              Tim Flannery 'The Future Eaters'

Lesueur is within Australia’s only biodiversity hotspot and is one of the most important reserves for flora conservation in WA.  A biodiversity hotspot is a pocket which holds the greatest number of different plant, animal and ecosystem types.

An 18.5km one-way road takes visitors through the park and regular lay-bys provide opportunities to take photographs (by the score!) and enjoy the spectacular scenery - both geological and floral.  The threat of dieback is ever present and great effort has been made to keep it at bay, so visitors are asked to not stray off the roads and to walk only on the tracks, using the boot-cleaning stations provided.  Phytophthera (Cinnamon Fungus) affects this type of vegetation very badly and the thought of dieback in such a superb and important environment is just awful.

There are extensive walk trails at Drummonds, which take you around and up Mt Lesueur and also at Cockleshell Gully, which we enjoyed enormously.  Walking through vegetation this rich in species and colour is wondrous and we were astounded at how much our time with Allen at Western Flora has substantially changed the way in which we look at both the whole landscape and the flora. 

Will share with you some of the wonderful landscapes and beautiful flowers we saw, including a glorious little orchid which we spied tucked under the trackside vegetation.  When we read all the interpretive information at the end of our walk - as always, doing things back to front, we discovered to our horror that this orchid is classified ‘rare – on the edge of extinction’.  According to Allen, WA has the worst record in Australia for land clearing and species loss (the worst of the worst we should be embarrassed to know).

Mt. Lesueur from the walking trail.  It became a genetic island when ancient rivers eroded the landscape, separating Mt .Lesueur from the rest of the plateau.  Plants on this isolated mesa then changed in many ways and now 60% of the plants on Mt. Lesueur are different to those on Mt. Michael, only 1.5km away.



Melaleuca species (?) which created an absolute picture around the beginning of the walking trails around Wilson Lookout.  More examples of flowers changing to red after pollination.

Anigozanthus manglesii (Green and Red Kangaroo Paw)

Anigozanthus manglesii

 

 

Banksia attenuata (Candle Banksia)

Patersonia occidentalis (Purple Flag)

Gastrolobium polystachynus (Horned Poison).  These plants contain naturally occuring 1080 poison and were the reason so much of the heathlands in this area were never cleared for grazing - stock simply turned up their toes!  Native animals have developed an immunity to the poison.  More stuff we've learnt!

Another Gastrolobium.

Kunzea species (?)

Leschenaultia biloba - a superb blue, which stands out like a beacon amongst the heathland vegetation.

Isopogon dubious (Pincushion Coneflower).  Astoundingly, this plant was cultivated in Europe in the early 1800s.

Another Verticordia species - more colour changes!

Wandoo (a eucalypt) woodland in a valley of clay where there is access to a deep aquifer.  Few pockets remain outside parks, but they are critical habitat for Carnaby's Cockatoos, Galahs and a range of parrots and owls.

 

The walk up to Wilsons Lookout.
 

Copse of Marri (Corymbia calophylla), which provides food for a wealth of invertebrates, birds and mammals.
 

Dryandra sessilis (Parrot Bush - Boojak), the very prickly foliage of which provides sanctuary for small birds.

Not sure what this 'grassy' plant is, but the flowers were beautiful.
 

Pink Enamel Orchid we think!

Thelymitra stellata (Star Sun Orchid) - the close to extinction one!  Isn't it just superb?

Cockleshell Gully - Macrozania and Smokebush

Alogyne wrayae (Lilac Hibiscus) at Cockleshell Gully.

Smokebush and Grass trees on the sand plains

Looking across to the laterite ridges

Friday became one of those ‘days to remember forever’, as we went snorkelling with some of the Sea Lions I mentioned above.  A local dive company (although to Murray’s disappointment, the now-owners are less interested in the diving, so he wasn’t able to organise a trip out to the reef) runs charters out to one of the rocky islands on which they breed.  Going on to the island itself is strictly prohibited, but we swam a little way offshore in very shallow water and waited for the Sea Lions to join us, which they soon did – about 20 arrived at high speed.  One minute it was just us and then there they were, darting everywhere.



Leaving Jurien Bay
 



'The' island

Jurien Bay and its immediate surrounds is the only major breeding area for Australian Sea Lions on the western coast of the country and about 800 live here.  These are a fraction of the population which existed prior to European settlement and which was largely wiped out during the nineteenth century.  Interestingly, female Sea Lions breed only on the island on which they were born and equally interestingly, the males swim up from the Perth area to mate and then swim back.  Sadly, the number of Sea Lions is not increasing and they are the rarest in the world (more for us to be proud of).

Luckily the ‘underwater’ camera is still working so Murray got some great shots of these beautiful animals as they zoomed around us, twisting and turning in all directions.  Every now and then, one would just sit on the bottom and look at you.  As they swam under us they would often keep turning so that they kept eye contact – it was quite amazing and even though it sounds soppy, it made me feel quite ‘goosy’. I know that it is very easy to read way too much into these things, but it was very obvious that the Sea Lions were very deliberately interacting with us (luckily there were only about 12 of us snorkelling that day) and playing, especially with Mitch the young boat skipper who, being young and agile, was really tearing around with them.  Even for Murray, with his wealth of diving experiences,  this was a very special time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday we drove north again to visit Stockyard Gully, which is in rough limestone country covered in low heath. A small stream in the gully drains the surrounding low sandplains and flows west through the coastal limestone belt, disappearing into a series of subterranean caves.  Some of these caves have collapsed, forming a rocky gully and it is this gully through which we walked, passing through one large cave which is still intact.  As caves go it wasn’t especially interesting – dark enough to need a torch though, so the kids who were there with their parents were having a great time in the dark.

Trusty tour guide with torch at the entrance to the cave.

A trip south to Badgingarra National Park was Sunday’s excursion.  This is another rich wildflower area and the flora of the park’s low hills and sandy valleys includes banksias, hakeas, grevilleas, smokebush and eucalypts, one of which is the now-rare Eucalyptus macrocarpa or Mottlecah, which has the largest flowers of any of the eucalypts. Unfortunately though, it was not flowering, so I am going to cheat here and use a photo of a flower on a Mottlecah which I subsequently took in Kings Park in Perth - better for me to cheat than for you not to see this gorgeous thing!
 

 

No idea what this is, but what a beautiful colour.

Hakea obliqua

Eucalyptus macrocarpa (Mottlecah)
 

Up the breakaway.

From the top of the breakaway looking back across to Badgingarra.

Both Grass Trees, Xanthorrhoea reflexa and Kingia australis grow here and whilst both have similar clusters of long, slender leaves and trunks built up from the accumulation of leaf bases, Kingias have ‘drumsticks’ or flower stems which are knobs on short stalks and smoother trunks and Grass Tree flowers are on long spikes.  We had not known about Kingias and were very excited when we found a couple with flowers on the slope of the lateritic breakaway we clambered up during our walk.

A burnt Grass Tree trunk showing the accumulation of leaf bases.

A Kingia, with its 'drumstick' flower stems.

Grass Tree flower spike.

 The excellent notes for this walk prepared by the Badgingarra Community Association told us that the Grass Trees grow about 1 - 1.5cm per year without fire (which we knew), but can grow up to 10cm in a single burst after being burnt (which we didn't know). Amazing

A dung beetle hole, in which kangaroo poo is buried. 

We discovered yet another fascinating thing about the plants which are specially adapted to survive on these white sands with little nutrition – many use bacteria or fungi associated with their root systems to extract nutrients or turn nitrogen from the air into fertiliser.  How incredible is that?  The more of these astounding things I learn, the more incredulous I am that life on earth evolved and survives at all.

On our return journey we stopped at Coomallo Creek Nature Reserve.  Before we even got going on our walk we enjoyed the sight of a little flock of Yellow-rumped Thornbills, which were hopping all over the place collecting insects from the low foliage of the beautiful white-trunked Wandoo eucalypts.  Sadly they were way too fast for photos! 

One of the stands of beautiful white Wandoo.  Seeing such a large area of tall trees was quite a novelty!

 

Yet another beautiful banksia - Banksia scabrella (Burma Road Banksia)
 

Hemiandra species (Snake Vine)

 
Our last visit was to Cervantes and the Nambung National Park on Monday.  The Pinnacles Desert in Nambung is one of the major natural attractions in this area and even though we knew a little about it, we were hugely surprised by the extent of the sandy desert in which the limestone pillars occur.  Apparently the Dutch sailors who first spotted the Pinnacles from the sea before European settlement thought they were seeing the remains of an ancient city!

There is still no consensus about the geological origins of the pillars, some of which stand as high as five metres and were formed some 25,000 to 30,000 years ago.  One theory argues that they are the eroded remains of a sand dune layer in which ancient plant roots formed a weak cementation of calcite within the dunes.  The other theory proposes that the pillars are the calcified remains of trunks from an ancient forest buried by sand during a period of intense storms.  Over time wind and water eroded the material between the calcified moulds, exposing the pinnacles.  It was really interesting to read that no absolute understanding of the origins yet exists, as we have come to expect that everything we see will have a scientifically-based explanation.

Either I have managed to shrink Murray or these pillars are very tall!

 

Galahs and other hollow-breeding birds will use existing holes in the pillars or dig into softer areas of limestone to create a hollow. 

Could pick the windward side!

 

 

What a difference the appearance of the sun makes to the colours!
 

 

Not sure what this one is, but is was really lovely with the rain drops sitting on the petals.

Tuesday the 16^th saw us retracing our steps down through Cervantes along the Indian Ocean Drive towards Perth.  We marvelled once again at the huge white sand dunes which still dominated the coastal landscape and called in to a couple of the towns along the way.  This certainly is a most beautiful coastline, made even more stunning when the sun is out, as the colours are even more intense.

Sand dunes, Wanagarren Nature Reserve.

Lancelin

We arrived in Perth about midday and found the caravan park without too much difficulty (thanks to the GPS – we have become quite unused to lots of traffic over the past five months!).  Our plan is to have a week here, doing all the touristy things, before starting the journey east.  This certainly feels like the beginning of the end, although that is not a bad thing – we have had the most wonderful time, but are both looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone now.

Will try hard to update the blog before we leave Perth – more honourable intentions which so often seem to disappear into the ether once we get busy being tourists!