Up down and around a bit in South West W.A

[OZDUCK]

I have posted a few photos of our trip in the South West of W.A with a visiting German friend in the "My Office" thread over the last month or so. Now I will add a bit of commentary and a lot more photos of some bits of W.A that many of you may have never visited. Be warned there are lots of photos of wildflowers to come.

To give some context, we first met her at the 2022 Berlin reunion of the German side of my wifes family. She and my wife are related via a shared ancestor sometime in the 16th Century. My wife always claims to be puzzled that people can't see the family resemblance between a tall, blond, blue eyed German and a dark haired Eurasian. We met her again a couple of times during our visit to the German Christmas Markets in November/December last year. She is a keen hiker and lover of all outdoor activities and we enticed her to visit W.A with offers of plenty of those sorts of things. She was able access enough annual leave to spend a month in W.A. Her first day in Perth was marked by probably the worst weather we have had all year. Rain, wind and storm were the order of the day.

Just a few photos in Perth before we head north.

Come to sunny Australia we said. Beautiful blue skies and calm seas we said. So off to sunny Cottesloe Beach for a PERfect scenic viewing.






The next day was a lot better and after lunch at at a boutique brewery in the Swan Valley for her to meet our family we had a bit of a walk along the Swan River at Victoria Park.

Optus Stadium and the Matagarup Foot Bridge in the background



We saw a cormorant just finishing off an afternoon snack. The lights of the WACA are in the background

 

[OZDUCK]

The next day we headed of to Geraldton via The Pinnacles

Our first stop was to pick up another 'cousin'. She is from the Sabah side of the family and her family connection to my wife is a common ancestor in Malacca around 1790. We loaded everything into my trusty 2005 WL V6 Statesman and headed off. Fully loaded it still gets around 8 litres per 100km sitting on 110kmh.



But not before confirming the overseas meme that kangaroos hop down every suburban street in Australia. She lives in the northern suburbs of Perth (Ellenbrook) and her large property backs onto 'The Vines' golf course.





On the way there we passed a couple of signs showing the Western Australia is beginning to realise that not everyone is a local.





There is now a pretty flash information centre and café at the park.



Normally you can drive a circuit of the pinnacles on a sand track. But on this day it had been closed due to the heavy rain over the last few days. It was still a pretty easy walk to see the sights.





The Indian Ocean is in the distance

 

[OZDUCK]

Pinnacles cont.









The Pink and Grey Galahs seem to have a liking for this area

 

[OZDUCK]

After leaving the pinnacles we had a quick stop at Cervantes to see the cray boats at anchor before stopping at Green Head for some lunch.







Then just south of Geraldton at Grenough we stopped to show our visitor the 'leaning tree'.





In Geraldton we stopped at a very nice and near new Air BnB. $519 for two nights for 4 people in 3 separate bedrooms.





St Francis Xavier's Cathedral Geraldton

 

[OZDUCK]

Sunset, again, from the HMAS Sydney Memorial above Geraldton.







And moonrise





The Big Marble

 

[OZDUCK]

While at Geraldton we did a day trip to Mullewa about 100km east of Geraldton to see the wildflowers.

Four trailer road trains operating to Geraldton harbour run at about 20 minute intervals all day long.



We stopped at the Mullewa Tourist Office and they gave us a good briefing on where the wildflowers were at their best and also warned us about some closed gravel roads.

The scenic drives are well signposted



Our first stop was at the Coalseam National Park. The recent heavy rain had knocked some of the roads about a fair bit.



The closed river crossing. I think the levels had dropped a bit since the closure sign went up. The 4WD in the picture on the other side of the river drove through just after this photo was taken.




There was plenty of evidence on the riverbank that flooding had occurred.



Our foreign visitor was going to hire a 4 WD for a 3 day farm stay north of Yalgoo in a few days time. She had not driven a right drive vehicle for some years and had never driven on gravel so I let her get some practice. She adapted pretty well - except for the old trick most of us seem to have with the wiper and blinker controls being on the 'wrong' side. I had to pull her up a couple of times at first for drifting to the right hand side of the road when coming out of a T Junction but she did pretty well. I shared the driving with her and my wife later in the trip and the only time I had to yell was at a big roundabout in Esperance when she looked left for oncoming vehicles rather than right.



Our first large scale sign of flowers

 

[OZDUCK]

There will now be a lot of photos of wildflowers

One of the spots recommended to us by the Mullewa Tourist Office was the small 'settlement' at Canna. There was some very useful information about where the best flowerings were to be seen. Unfortunately the dam road was flooded out.


















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[Major]

Any wreath flowers in this area ?

 

[OZDUCK]

Any wreath flowers in this area ?

We didn't see any but our visitor saw one when she had a few hours look around near to Mullewa on her return from the station stay. When we were in Canna, south of Mullewa, this sign said that it was too early for wreath flowers there. She took this the photo about a week after our visit to that area. I think they flower in a north to south pattern.

 

[OZDUCK]

Finishing off the flowers around Mullewa

 

[OZDUCK]

In Mullewa we had a quick look at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church . It was built by the same architect who designed the Cathedral in Geraldton. Not only did he design this church but he shaped the stone blocks and laid them himself. We were lucky as the church was being locked op but the Parish Priest gave us a quick guided tour. The main house at the station, Melangatta, that our German friend stayed out was the only secular building he designed. He is quite famous in W.A

Biography - John Cyril Hawes - Australian Dictionary of Biography

 

[OZDUCK]

After Geraldton we headed off to Kalbarri via the Pink Lake (Hutt Lagoon)





My wife captured some nice cloud reflections here



Kalbarri in the distance



That first night we went for a sunset cruise offshore. The cruise boat is similar to the cray boats used up here.



You have to pass through a fairly boisterous river mouth at Kalbarri.

(From our last visit)




This trip



The plan is to stick close to the channel markers for about 300 metres and then make a sudden 90 degree turn seawards. Most of the time the boat idles along at about 10 knots but when entering or leaving the river mouth the skipper guns the engine and it fairly scoots along.





This is a video of us entering the river mouth - it was quite exhilarating.

 

[OZDUCK]

The ocean was pretty lumpy at first and I was worried about my wife who has a predilection to sea sickness but she handled it well. Unlike a poor teenage girl who spent much of the trip lying huddled up on the deck. It was 2 hour trip. We were served some warm home made Lobster Moray on board.

We saw numerous whale spouts but the whales never got quite close enough to be sighted. The same boat had donea whale watching tour that morning and apparently they had lights of sightings of whales breaching etc.

Looking back at the river mouth with Kalbarri in the background.



Jakes Point a popular surfing spot and a National Surfing Reserve





There were plenty of onlookers on the sea cliffs. We would be there a couple of days later







Some gratuitous sunset shots. The trip certainly earned its title as a Sunset Cruise.

The two 'cousins'

 

[Flyfrequently]

Great sunset shots @OZDUCK

 

[Disco]

The ocean was pretty lumpy at first and I was worried about my wife who has a predilection to sea sickness but she handled it well. Unlike a poor teenage girl who spent much of the trip lying huddled up on the deck. It was 2 hour trip. We were served some warm home made Lobster Moray on board.

We saw numerous whale spouts but the whales never got quite close enough to be sighted. The same boat had donea whale watching tour that morning and apparently they had lights of sightings of whales breaching etc.

Looking back at the river mouth with Kalbarri in the background.

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Jakes Point a popular surfing spot and a National Surfing Reserve

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There were plenty of onlookers on the sea cliffs. We would be there a couple of days later

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Some gratuitous sunset shots. The trip certainly earned its title as a Sunset Cruise.

The two 'cousins'

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Good sunsets and weather. Has Kalbarri township recovered from the storms of a few years ago? They lost quite a few public buildings and accommodation options.

 

[OZDUCK]

Good sunsets and weather. Has Kalbarri township recovered from the storms of a few years ago? They lost quite a few public buildings and accommodation options.

It seems to have mostly recovered but there are still a few obvious remnants like the destroyed Bird Park.

 

[Disco]

It seems to have mostly recovered but there are still a few obvious remnants like the destroyed Bird Park.

Shame about the Bird Park but good to hear the rest is restored. They had some lovely walks through the National park at the tops of the Red Bluff.

 

[OZDUCK]

We made two trips out to the gorge in the Kalbarri National Park. The first day we had a general look around and on the second day we dropped our German friend off so she could do a multi hour hike on one of the trails. Unfortunately a couple of the trails she had thought of doing had been closed because the heavy rain had caused a rise in the river levels and caused the trails to be closed.


The entry fee for a car driven by a Senior is $10 per day - $17 for non-concessional. Because we intended to visit a number of national parks I had bought a yearly pass.

Some views around the Skywalk










Me with a death grip on the railing. If the whole thing falls my grip on the rail is not going to me a lot of good but any little bit of assurance helps. At least these skywalks have a 'solid' section the middle of the walkway so you don't have to look into the void. There is also open mesh for those who are not affected by heights as much as people like me



Other views around the park







An emu on the move



The fossilised footprints of an arthropod preserved in Tumblagooda Sandstone - I assume the sandstone will be of more interest to some on here than the footprints

 

[OZDUCK]

Nature's Window at The Loop





The other friend who travelled with us is a talented amateur artist and she spent a fair bit of time doing sketches of the area for future works. While we waited for her my wife volunteered to use other visitors cameras to take photos of them in front of the 'window'. She must have taken about 30 photos of couples and singles.



Our German friend setting off on her walk




The three birds roosting in the treetop by the river are young Ospreys

 

[OZDUCK]

And now for something completely different - wildflowers!