Searching for Wildflowers in Southwest Western Australia

Two Weeks of Camping, Not Nearly Enough Time

September 2017

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Our trip to Southwest Australia was an offshoot of a trip to Papua New Guinea, and the dates for that were pretty much fixed. So we had to tack this trip onto either the beginning or the end of the Papua trip. Dona and I had talked about visiting Southwest Western Australia for some time, wanting to be there to enjoy some of the many crazy wildflowers for which it is known. We opted for the front part, which put us there in the second and third weeks of September. I don't know how to choose when to be someplace for wildflowers, since different species bloom at different times. Here's some information on when to visit Western Australia for wildflowers. In any case, we didn't have a lot of flexibility, but we figured we would "go with the flow" and enjoy what we found. We were hoping to see huge carpets of wildflowers, the kinds of scenes you see in all the tourist advertisements.

After leaving dry, smokey Montana we were happy to see smoke-free skies when we arrived in Perth. We spent a few days in town enjoying the botanical gardens, then headed north to Nambung and Lesueur National Parks; then drove southeast to the coast along the Southern Ocean to Stirling Range and Fitzgerald National Parks; then wandered along the coast and through the Karri and Jarra forests, returning to Perth via Wellington National Park.

Perth
Perth
Nambung National Park, the Pinnacles
The Pinnacles and
Nambung National Park
Lesueur National Park
Lesueur
National Park
Stirling Range National Park
Stirling Range
National Park
Fitzgerald National Park
Fitzgerald
National Park
The Coast
Southwest Coast
Walking In Trees
Walking in Trees
Leeuwin National Park
Leeuwin
National Park

Ngilgi Cave
Ngilgi Cave
Wellington National Park
Wellington
National Park