Geraldton to New Norcia, WA
Today we finally head south... and again discover that most of the good
wildflowers in this part of the state appear to be just along the coast.
Some of the stuff we're seeing is pretty incredible. And there are no
places to really stay, either, so we end up staying in New Norcia, Australia's
only monastic community... in a hotel room directly above the pub. We're
actually surprised to hear Beck's Devil's Haircut playing on the jukebox
as we try to sleep...
Ouch. A glass of beer and a bottle of wine split between the two of us meant uneasy sleep. Time to go back on the wagon. The steak and mushroom pie was very tasty, though! After we purchased our horrible book purchases (some titles: The Bourne Identity, Economist Yearbook 1991, Megatrends, The World of Suzie Wong, and Richard Simmons's Autobiography) we headed up to Geraldton and got the new rear shock absorber fitted... and didn't have to pay, as it was under warranty! Yay!
Then it was one of those days where I looked at the map and said "I want to see it all!" We didn't have a place to stay, so I figured we can go down some of the roads marked 'flora roads' and see wildflowers, finally ending up in Wongan Hills, about 160km northeast of Perth. We drove through more wheatfields and sheep pastures until we got south of Dongara, and then we were back in heathlands. Heathlands don't look like much until you get out of the car and walk around and see two dozen strange wildflowers within ten feet.
We stopped four times for pictures, and each time I saw another good dozen species that I'd never seen before. One stop, about 10 kilometers north of Eneabba, we went through a huge area covered in Banksia hookeriana, with each plant throwing out a good dozen or three flowers. In between the banksias were little orchids and small curious plants. The other side of the road had burned in the last year, and was covered in small catspaws (or baby kangaroo paws), and yet more orchids scattered about.
About 30km south of Eneabba, we turned east towards Watheroo, but the flowers started giving out. It was just boring scrubland, and we were tempted to head back to the coast, but we couldn't figure out how to make it work: do we come up on a day trip later to those areas northeast of Perth? Or drive another 50km and see them now, even though we're tired. We finally just decided to say what the hell and head for Wongan Hills... along the way I tormented a blue-tongued lizard into giving me the tongue (picture to the left).
We didn't make it to Wongan Hills. The landscape changed, and more flowers appeared, along with tall trees that I think are jarrah; they're very odd looking eucalypts to be sure. About 4:30 we came to New Norcia, a Benedictine monk community that was founded 150 years ago, and decided to stay the night in the hotel. Maybe we should've known better; it was quiet until the locals showed up at 10pm and started up the jukebox and the pool table. Sigh.
It was an OK day, but also kinda frustrating in that the wildflowers are hit and miss. Maybe Wongan Hills will be different--it's a region of granite boulders and rainfall has been erratic; maybe they got some this year. We just felt like we've driven a lot, and seen lots of neat small things, but nothing outstanding. We're both kinda itching to get back to California, but don't want to miss everything that Western Australia has to offer... and frankly I think the both of us could use some downtime in a nice apartment in central Perth, where we don't have to deal with the hassle of packing up and driving somewhere all the time, and we can choose between lots of pleasant city things to do.
Comments
Western Australia is making me, at least, even a bit more homesick. It's more similar to California that other parts of Australia.
We're just about done. Tomorrow, we head to Perth for a few days to do city-things, which will be nice... a museum, maybe the zoo, certainly the botanic gardens, walking down the street peering at shops. Then we'll head down to the southwest and Margaret River and wineries and forests. And it'll be cool and wet. That'll be nice too.
But yes, we are a bit weary of travelling, of seeing new things every day, figuring out what to do every hour for the next day, planning for where to stay tonight and tomorrow. It's been a go-go-go holiday.
I think we both will enjoy going home and relaxing.
I think (in fact I know) I must have mentioned to you the maritime museum at Fremantle (about seven miles from Perth). I don't know whether it's your thing but they have a large section of the hull and other wreckage including the cannons of the Batavia there, a Dutch trader wrecked in 1629 off Geraldton. There was a dreadful mutiny, cannibalism, despite which the captain managed to sail back to "Dutch East India" with his log intact. Well worth a look.
Yes! And it's now in pre-production as a major motion picture, directed by Paul Verhoeven of Robocop (and Showgirls) fame!
Are you being serious?? Ooerrr, I think you are!
I went to New Norcia just to see the old Spanish bells in the church tower (when I was doing a bell phase); I think they were made in the late 1600's or early 1700's. I climbed the tower on a really dodgy ladder to get to them, and found them to be round and rusty and Spanish.
Glad you are having a better time with the wildflowers (didn't I tell you they were purty??), but I would be far more homesick than you are by now.