Coalseam

If you can only visit one spot to see wildflowers, it must be Coalseam Reserve. I had heard of it before, but never known exactly where it was. It’s rather off the beaten track, but well  worth making the effort. I drove west from Morawa towards Mingenew and then made a sharp right towards Coalseam. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the whole trip was a landscape photographer’s paradise. The bitumen road into the reserve got narrower and narrower till it petered out entirely and gave way to gravel. Fortunately this had been graded recently and there was only one water crossing to contend with. My first stop was the Irwin Lookout.

You walk along the cliff edge to see the River Irwin down below. There are carpets of everlastings all around. 

Next stop in Coalseam Reserve was Miners Camp. This is the site of the original seam of coal after which the reserve is named. It didn’t prove to be productive as a coal mine, but has proved its weight in gold as a tourist attraction. It’s possible now to camp there overnight if you are self sufficient.

Poor quality coal from the mine shaft, top left.

Conglomerate lumps of rock near the river bed.

I had my picnic lunch with some people on a day trip from Geraldton. They come every year to Coalseam and said that this was the best they had ever seen it.

I dragged myself away finally as I wanted to reach Geraldton in time for a walk along the seafront before the sun went down. After checking in at the Ocean Centre Hotel, I set off towards the Port for a change and walked along the Esplanade Jetty. This is a fairly new development opened in 2014. At the end is a telescope pointing at some rocks where sea lions bask in the sun.

Looking back to my hotel from town beach.

There were two sea lions basking on the rocks but only visible through the telescope.

Three tug boats on standby in the harbour.