On Saturday morning 7 October, 15 eager people met in Lesueur National Park for an excursion to see the wildflowers and hear Professor Hans Lambers explain about Australia’s old geological history, the geo-sequence of the dunes, and our vegetation’s clever adaption to the poor soils and harsh climate. Wish you could have been there! The weather was perfect: overcast but dry, the blooms were at their best after the recent cold spell and rains, and the company was very inspiring. No plant or animal went unnoticed.

Those of us who had taken accommodation at the Apex Camp in Jurien Bay were driven around in Betsy, a tour bus kindly donated for our day use by Kassandra from Jurien Bay Adventure Tours (above, T. Marwood.)

Our group had opted to start early so we could stop at different places before arriving at our advertised meeting point. We saw the Lesueur Southern Cross flower (Xanthosia tomentosa) in full bloom, Darwinia speciosa and D. sanguinea, Adenanthos signorum with flowers and extra-floral nectaries, Anigozanthos humilis and A. manglesii to name but a few of the local favourites. We decided to walk the Gairdner Walk trail after morning tea, where noticeable species in flower were: three Isopogons (Isopogon dubius, I. sphaerocephalus, and I. linearis), the Graceful Honeymyrtle (Melaleuca radula), three Feather Flowers (Verticordia hueglii, V. ovalifolia and V. pennigera), and two Enamel Orchids (Elytranthera brunonis and E. emarginata). After we got back from the walk and had lunch, we travelled in convoy to Cockleshell Gully with short stops to look at the massive flowering of Hakea psilorrhyncha (below, J Keeble), the grand display of Scholtzia laxiflora and the native hibiscus Alyogyne hueglii before heading to the look-out to take in the view of Mt Peron in the distance. We returned to our camp late afternoon, happy with the splendid floral displays we’d seen.

The next morning we ventured out to Smoke Bush Reserve along the Jurien East Road to see some other lateritic kwongan species such as Sphaerolobium medium, Banskia prionotes and Isopogon asper. After morning tea, we visited Phoebe Reserve near Badgingarra where we did the Verne Westbrook walk hoping to see some orchids. It was either too late or they haven’t had enough rain as we didn’t see any but the everlastings were out in drifts of pink and white and yellow and the Pink Dryandra (Banksia carlinoides) was showing its two colours: cream with a pink centre. After lunch we visited Moore River National Park where we found another smokebush species (Conospermum acerosum) and an interesting native bee-fly with a brown body and thin black stripes. It was a very rewarding weekend. I was glad to have the Hi Vallee Farm Field Guide with me as it was very useful during this trip.

Jolanda Keeble