2018-10-11 Perth

We arrived in Perth at dusk, collected our rental car and headed to Clare and Garry’s for a good chin-wag and a good night’s sleep. We spent the morning in a stroll to the local lake through the bushland (lots of wildflowers – spoiler alert – this will be a recurring theme). Perth is deservedly renown for the spring wildflowers. The timing varies a bit from year to year, and from North to South, but we seem to have hit a good spot with abundant flowers.

After lunch we headed to Kings Park, a highlight for the Perth visitor. Kings Park was established way back, and has a wonderfully diverse flora, and hosts the Botanic Gardens with a splendid collection. It’s changed over the years. This visit we found an area designed to interest children, with lots of twisty paths to several intricate elevated tunnel complexes made of triangular metal plates and tubes.

After a few hours there we decided it was time to head south to Clare and Garry’s country house in Balingup, our base for the next couple of weeks.

I’ve put a gallery of photos online at https://photos.app.goo.gl/g3aTE5Y8Myp7Mh4m6

 

2018-10-15 Pemberton

We took advantage of the forecast sunny weather to head south to Pemberton to explore the Jarrah/Marri/Karri forests. Though we were supposed to have sunny weather it remained mostly overcast, but it was dry so we didn’t complain. Just out of Manjimup is the “diamond tree”. This is a huge Karri with a tree-house at the top. There are a series of these made by the foresters as fire-lookout points. Access to the top is via a ladder of spikes that spirals slowly around the trunk. We clambered up 55 metres to the top, but, sadly, the trees have grown up around so the views were probably less extensive than when it was when the lookout was established. Heading south through Pemberton we visited Gloucester National Park. It too has a tree-lookout, though we didn’t climb it. Instead we wandered round the local circuit walks enjoying the prolific floral displays.

The Warren river National Park was very pleasant, with lovely forests and nice river views. Heading home we stopped at The Cascades. Hardly the most spectacular waterfall we have seen, but quietly pretty.

I’ve loaded more photos into an album at https://photos.app.goo.gl/sQTyQnoS44DJLJ3M9

2018-10-13 Balingup

Clare and Garry’s country seat in Balingup is a lovely house high on the hillside, with views over the township and valley. Free internet is just 5 minutes walk down to the Balingup Visitor’s Centre (Ok it is 10 minutes coming back up the hill, but exercise is good 😊). Alas, I have forgotten a crucial bit of computer gear, so I cannot directly download files from my camera chips to my computer. I worked out a couple of roundabout ways, slow and tedious, involving the other computer and wireless hotspots. Not clever. I must make sure I don’t forget next time.

Balingup is a pleasant town through which the Bibbulmun track passes. It has a petrol station and a few shops including a small general store, and a tavern down the side road for those so inclined. A couple of km south along the track is the Golden Valley Arboretum that boasts 1000 trees including 400 species. A couple of km north is the Racecourse Flora Reserve. Given the current rainy, overcast weather, we have enjoyed these local sights and spend some time with cameras snapping the flowers.

For more photos go to https://photos.app.goo.gl/p5NHKUERxGrVoycs8

 

2018-10-16 Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin

The day started with mist in the valley below us, and a clear blue sky.With a weather forecast promising dry and sunny, we decided to venture further afield. The Cape to Cape is one of the more famous walks in WA, covering about 120 km and boasting some spectacular coastal scenery.

We first headed up through Dunsborough to Cape Naturaliste, with some gentle coastal walks around Meelup Beach. Off the coast there we were delighted to see whales. Lots and lots of humpback whales. Some pods were waaaay off shore, but some were close enough to see more than a speck of spume when they blew. Unfortunately my shutter finger was a little slow – by the time we’d noticed a whale breaching, aimed and focused, the show was over. Sigh. Luckily fin waves and tail slaps were more prolonged so I got a couple of those.

Cape Naturaliste has a lighthouse that serves as a navigational guide along that very hazardous shoreline, and we took a lovely walk through wildflowers – lots and lots of wildflowers – to a whale lookout were we spend a while watching even more humpbacks in their annual migration.

We then headed south dropping in to Canal Rocks, and to Ellendale historic homestead (closed for maintenance so we only saw the outside). A km up the track is a small grotto where a spring pours out of a limestone cave. The nearby waterfall, we were advised by the warden, no longer flows. Apparently in this limestone country streams appear and disappear unpredictably.

We camped the night at the Conto Road campsite at Cape Fitzgerald. Here the coastline is dominated by outcrops of hard gneiss rock pounded by large swells from the Southern Ocean. Very spectacular.

In the morning we spent an hour or so on the rocks admiring the pounding surf before heading south again.

 

 

 

 

Our route south took us through the Booranup Karri Forest. The forest here is dominated by 100 year old Karri. Some of the trees were huge. We took a walk for a few km into the woods following a track which we discovered later was the route for a Cape to Cape mountain bike race to be run the following day with 1200 competitors.

By lunchtime we headed down to Augusta, munching a pie at the local bakery before the final stretch to Cape Leeuwin. This cape is a low, windswept rocky promontory with a lighthouse to guide ships round the rocky reefs.

Our return trip took us via the Donovan St Bushland Reserve 2 km north of Augusta where we spent an hour or so finding orchids and other wildflowers. All very very nice.

Then it was time to head back to Balingup.

As usual there is a gallery with lots of nice photos (at least I think they are nice) at https://photos.app.goo.gl/8CqUvNbMtFRVPFLv8

2018-10-18 Balingup, Greenbushes and environs

Friday: According to the track notes, there is a rare stand of wandoo trees a couple of km north, along the Bibbulmun track, so we headed out to find them. We drove to where the road crosses the track to save ourselves a slog through town. The forest here is full of wildflowers. We even found a small patch of kangaroo-paws. We recall them as being common in the bushland round Perth back in our Uni days, but they seem rare now outside gardens. We pottered along photographing orchids and other gems, found the wandoo (not a huge stand of trees that we could see, but pretty), then headed back to the car.

After perusing the map we decided to head east to the Grimshaw-Greenbushes road and thence to Greenbushes.

Greenbushes is a community about 10 km south of Balingup. It has long been a mining town. In the late 1880s tin was discovered and alluvial tin mining commenced. A contaminant of the tin ore was tantalite. In the 1940s commercial uses for tantalum were established and the tantalite from Greenbushes was sent to international markets (among other uses tantalum is used in electronic components, notably capacitors and some resistors, and in steel alloys for a variety of uses). Later Spodumene – a lithium containing mineral, was identified. Nowadays Tantalum and Lithium are the major products of the ongoing open cut and underground mining operations.

Around Greenbushes the mining company has invested heavily in rehabilitation of the old alluvial tin mining works, and there are extensive tracks through the bush and around various dams. Despite the signs proclaiming the value of the dams for waterbirds, we saw not a dicky bird. But we did find lots of wildflowers to photograph so we were happy.

On Saturday Viola, an old school friend of Jill’s, and her son Phillip came by – by chance they are in south-west WA at the same time as we are. It was great to catch up and we have spent the afternoon and Sunday exploring the local bushland again and finding lots more to photograph.

The local Balingup community put on a festival at the local arboretum, with band etc on Saturday afternoon. Alas, with the showery weather there were few people there. Apparently last year it was sunny, and there was a crowd filling the park with picnic rugs covering the slope and festivities late into the night. We feel sorry for the organisers. We left the paltry crowd and explored the arboretum instead (until it started to rain again).

Since the bush around here is full of wildflowers we happily spent Sunday meandering along in the forest with our cameras. Orchids are abundant, though we are having trouble putting specific names to some of them. There are so many sorts of spider orchids etc. However that does not stop us having fun taking their photos. Besides the orchids there are lots more. I am giving my macro lens a thorough workout.

You can see the results of my photographic efforts at https://photos.app.goo.gl/qaABbLqnD61EVJow9

2018-10-22 Cape Naturaliste

Today we headed back to Cape Naturaliste. It was a good chance to show Viola and Phillip some whales and some different vegetation before they headed back to Perth.

With good fortune the forecast rain held off, and we had a very nice day wandering along with our cameras finding beautiful blooms.

Although there were lots of whales, mostly they were far offshore. I think I managed to photograph a Blue Whale – long smooth back with a tiny fin way back from the head. See what you think of the photo (enlarged version in the gallery).

More photos in the gallery at https://photos.app.goo.gl/8TyFeoCAa6ZXfHst7

 

2018-10-23 Balingup & Bubbulmun Track

Today is a rest day. I took the afternoon to explore part of the Bibbulmun track to the North of town. Heading along the valley bottom it is clear that there are lots of dead and dying trees along the stream. This seems to be a common phenomenon around this corner of Australia.

As I headed up the hill beside the pine plantation I found a very obliging bobtail lizard. Rather than run away, it hung around, happy to hiss and wave its tongue at me. Actually it only opened it’s mouth if I held my hand over it, which made getting photos a bit of a challenge – my arms were not quite long enough to wave over the lizard whilst simultaneously holding the camera to frame the lizard. I did my best.

Further up the slope I found a shiny beetle.

 

 

 

 

By the time I reached the plateau, wandered the track for a couple of km and photographed some ferns and some Drossera (sundew) it was time to head home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As usual there are larger photos in a gallery at https://photos.app.goo.gl/5N8emGiyvppreGd8A

2018-10-24 Stirling Ranges, Denmark and the Southern Forests

We packed our tent and headed out early, driving east en route to the Stirling Ranges for a couple of days in the bush.

As usual we got distracted by nature parks on the way. Winejup Reserve wasn’t too exciting, but Farrar nature reserve just outside Kojonup had some nice open forest with lots of wildflowers.

The lady in the Kojonup visitor centre directed us to the Myrtle Benn Flora and Fauna Reserve just on the edge of town. This was named for a progressive teacher who used the area as an outdoor classroom through the 1960s. Here we found an abundance of wildflowers including some very pretty kangaroo paws (Jill was complaining about the paucity of kangaroo paws in our travels to then and was very happy to find some here).

Then onwards down the Albany Highway to Cranbrook where we detoured through more flora reserves. As we drove on, we started to find large ants running across the dashboard – more and more – I finally found a nest of them in a fold of my trousers where I had folded them into my socks, and in the space between my sock and the ankle space of my boot. I must have picked up some hitch hikers when I was snapping a pic of an ant nest.

After a somewhat disappointing view of the Ranges from the Sukey hill lookout (not very high, and too much vegetation for clear views) we headed east to the Stirling Ranges. This range is made of ancient metamorphosed sandstones and shales (1-2 billion years old) and thrusts up to over 1000 m peaks (not much in the global perspective, but when the surrounds are as flat as here, they do stand out.)

We took the Scenic route along Stir-ling Range Drive, a small gravel road through the centre with some nice views from vantage points along the way.

At one of our stops we were delighted to find a legless lizard pretending to be a snake. It was beautiful, and a rather uncommon find.

With our frequent stops along our route, it was close to sunset be-fore we reached the end of the road.  We snapped photos of the evening sun shining past Mt Toolbrunup, before we turned into the camping ground and set up for the evening.

Next morning we set of for a climb of Mt Toolbrunup, about 600 m climb from the car park.  Unlike last night, we could not see the peak – low cloud shrouded the slopes, but we anticipated it would burn off through the morning and we would get nice views by the time we got to the top.

The track started off gently, with woodland wildflowers, climbing through rockier areas with sandstone marked by fossil ripple marks, before hitting a steeper section of scree slope. Then steeper and steeper – the final bit was a scramble up among the rocks and cliffs surrounding the peak.

We arrived at the top to howling winds and 360 degree whiteout.  We hung around, sheltering in the lee of rocks, for a while, getting occasional breaks showing hazy mountain ranges beyond. Eventually we had sufficient breaks to give us a reasonable 360 degree view so we snapped some panoramas and headed down. Going down was slow but somewhat less tiring than heading up. By the time we reached the car we both had legs telling us we had climbed a mountain.

After a quick lunch we decided to head to the Porongorups, a smaller range just south of the Stirling ranges. We expected to find nice nature walks here, but when we got there and consulted the maps the majority of the tracks headed up to the peaks. We decided to give more mountain climbing a miss and explored some of the lower tracks where we admired some of the huge Karri trees.

From there we drove out to Mt Barker township. Another fruitful visit to a visitor centre directed us to a wildflower photo exhibition at the local sport pavilion, where we whiled away an hour enjoying the photos.

The people there directed us to a flora reserve just down the road where, we were told, some keen locals had marked various orchids with name tags. What a great idea. We pottered around there for another hour or so, finding name tags (often with orchids that were past flowering, but also many with fine blooms). We also found some unmarked orchids, so we patted ourselves on the back for our vigilance and took lots of orchid photos.

By then it was late afternoon. We consulted the maps. Alas both Googlemaps and OSMAnd indicated that we would not arrive at our intended campsite at the Warren River until 6PM which did not give us much time to dawdle en route. After a rethink we decided to detour via the Parry Beach camp site on the south coast – only an hour drive. However as we drove through Denmark we recognised the town and realised our good friend Liz lived here. So we popped in to say hello and ended up, thanks to her fabulous hospitality, staying for the night. Liz also solved one of our puzzles. Around Greenbushes we had found some strange vegetative remains that we could not work out. It turns out they were the remains of an invasive weed Watsonia. Liz was very familiar with it – she has a field infested with the plant over her back fence.From Denmark we went west along the south coast highway before cutting up into the Southern Forests. There are some lovely forests here, though we were a little depressed by the failed opportunity – most of the lookouts and attractions had minimal information boards telling of the nature. There were quite a few on the forestry history, but tales of the exploitation of the forests really did nothing for us. We’d much rather have signposts explaining the various ecological communities, telling the age/height/diameter of key trees (the big-karri, for example, has a carpark and boardwalk in its name, but no information about the tree itself!).

In the forest we drove past the Swarbrick Art Trail off the North Walpole Rd. The displays here try to capture the sense of the environmental battles that eventually resulted in the protection of many of the forests here. There is only a short walk, but the forest is nice and some of the artworks are thought provoking.

The road from there wends through some nice forest then we headed up the Western Highway to Shannon National park for a loop through more forest.

We camped the night at Shannon National Park campground. Not were we ideally would have chosen, but there wasn’t time to head on before sunset. The campsite is centred on the disused forestry camp, so the environment was far from pristine. However there were lots of Western Gray Kangaroos on the grassy areas.

After breakfast it was off to see more forests. We enjoyed the drive, marvelling at the sudden changes in vegetation – presumably changes in geology, soil, drainage, fire frequency etc.Of course we spent more time hunting orchids too. We were especially pleased to find a hammer orchid – the only one we found. There are over 400 species of orchids in the South West of WA, so we were having some problems sorting out which was which. We came across two very nice collations of orchid photos and identifiers http://orchidswa.com.au/ and https://chookman.id.au/wp_orchids/. If you need to identify any orchids, especially from WA, these are great resources. I’ll be going back through my photos trying to key out which is which once I find some free time.Our return trip to Ballingup took us along the Blackwood River valley. It was clear here that the trees along the watercourse of the river and tributaries were dead or highly stressed, whilst nearby trees further up the slopes were fine. We suspect that salination following the long drought, possibly with some sulphuric acidification from muds exposed to air, have caused the problem. A book we bought in Augusta had some data on salt in the Blackwood river. It had risen from relatively fresh water in the early part of this century to over 5 g per litre in 2003-2004. We assume it has got higher with the drought, but we have not been able to find more recent data. Here is a photo of the valley of the Tanjerup Brook. It serves as a reminder that the beauty of this area is contingent on good stewardship of the land, something our political decision makers are ignorant of and are failing at.

Here is an annotated gallery of photos for your enjoyment https://photos.app.goo.gl/y4ZgL6kmo6qAoRjL8.

2018-10-27 Balingup final days and Perth

After our long circuit in the last few days, we took it easy, enjoying the birds using the birdbath outside the window and hunting flowers and other nice things in the local reserves.

After tidying up, we locked up and headed north to Perth for our final night.

En route we dropped in to see Leschenault Peninsula Conservation Park, a narrow spit of land 11 km long just north of Bunbury. The beach was fairly boring, but we had fun with some bobtail lizards and wildflowers.

 

In Perth we enjoyed chatting with Clare and Garry and family, had fun photographing their felines, and enjoyed a few hours with Greg, a good friend since our PhD days, wandering the nature reserve and streets of Dianella, munching a delicious lunch, and meeting some of the characters in the local market, before it was time to head to the airport and depart.

 

As usual there is a gallery with more and bigger photos

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mtaDcRPvoYUgJce56

That’s all for this trip. Hope you enjoyed the saga.