Stirling Ranges to Esperance, Western Australia
Today was a long driving day, from the Stirlings to Esperance via Fitzgerald River National Park. Fitzgerald River is a good 100km from west to east, and we visited the flower rich western end, and the more rugged eastern end.
And I end up taking a good 300 pictures: this is a good day, including the plants that Chris describes as 'fugly' banksia and 'fugly' hakea. It's a mostly flower peeping day.
We couldn't wait to get out of our shaky little donga at Stirling Range Retreat, where every step rattled the ceiling florescent lights and tea mugs. At 7:15, we were on the road to the east, winding through wheatfields slowly growing saline after only fifty years of farming. You can see the white salt bordering some of the creek beds, but more often you can just see the stunted wheat, down low in the gullies. We didn't come to see pastoral scenes like that, though.
We came to see the flowers underneath the mallee trees. There were a few, but not the big carpets of solid color, nor the multitude around Albany or Cervantes. Mostly, we saw the same dozen flowers, and the occasional interesting shrub like a banksia.
Once we got to Fitzgerald River, things changed quite a bit. Suddenly, we started seeing strange new plants: Banksia baxteri, which I grew in the backyard for awhile, more Banksia coccinea, almost all flowering, and the Ugliest Plant of Them All: Hakea victoria. It's growing here and there. We also spot some Qualup bells (Pimelea physodes), native only to the park.
From the western portion of the park, we go north, then through the eastern parts. East Mt Barren is quite scenic, especially as it rises directly from the sea to a height of 500 meters, and there are curious Banksia speciosa around it. Chris pronounces it the Ugliest Banksia.
In Hopetoun, we stopped at a wildflower farm, then went into Esperance. Esperance is quite pleasant. I expected it to be windy and dusty, but it's fairly green and lush, with a shoreline of Norfolk pines lining the island-dotted bay. Off in the distance we can see Frenchman's Peak, where we're going hiking tomorrow!
Weird Wildlife Sighting
Nothing much, apart from the wildflowers!