Kings Park bushwalk

September is THE time to visit Kings Park when the wildflower festival takes place. On Sunday our bushwalking group went on a circular walk and tried to get off the beaten track. Every man and his dog was there!

This is a favourite view over the Swan River towards South Perth. In the foreground is the Old Swan Brewery where JL had his office when he worked for Multiplex. On nice days we had a picnic lunch when he walked up the steps into the park.


These freesias are everywhere: they are technically weeds but continue to colonise large areas of the park:




We stopped for coffee at the Zamia Cafe. (Some of us had brought our own, knowing there would be a massive queue).





Lots of Everlastings.




We had lunch near this sign advertising the photography competition. From a distance it looked like a donkey orchid printed upside down:

It turned out to be a rare dancing orchid.

Camino stories

Paul Genoni (2011) The pilgrim's progress across time: medievalism and modernity on the road to Santiago,Studies in Travel Writing, 15:2, 157-175, DOI: 10.1080/13645145.2011.565580

Recently I came across this scholarly journal article which reviews books about the Camino. There are 42 references. It only deals with published works up to about 2008. These are pilgrim authors “with pens, not IPhones” and some are slightly disparaging about “non-reflective, lightly edited versions of diaries apparently kept while on Camino”. That is an accurate description of me and my blog! However, my bookshelf contains many of the works reviewed:

It’s important to reveal first of all that I know the author, Paul Genoni. He was my supervisor years ago when I studied at Curtin University, but this was before he or I became interested in the Camino. Secondly, he has never actually walked The Way. There are indications of this in that he doesn’t know the difference between a credencial and a compostela and also by his continued references to refugios as opposed to albergues. But we won’t hold that against him!

An expert in literary criticism, he examines the books in detail. One aspect is looking at the motivation for pilgrimage. One theory is turning one’s back on modernity, even a rejection of modern life in the nostalgia for the past. For me, I spend a lot of time looking at historic buildings, especially Romanesque churches, on the Camino. Born in England, but now living in Australia, I really miss seeing medieval history all around me. But I don’t reject modern life as I need a plane to get there.

He also considers the issue of what makes a “true pilgrim”.  Is it the undertaking of an arduous journey, walking every step of the way, carrying a backpack, staying in dormitories? I used to think this at the beginning, but as I get older I sometimes take a bus, I use a baggage transfer service and I stay in hotels, even Paradors occasionally. I don’t walk more than 15 kms a day if I can help it. I read that medieval pilgrims normally walked 14 kms in a day and that the more affluent people rode on horseback. They were all cared for in monasteries and other religious establishments along the way and didn’t have to worry about accommodation as we do today. There were hospitals en route for them - but remember, they had to walk home again, unable to jump on a plane at Santiago Airport. For security, they mostly walked in groups, and probably had a lot of fun, as described in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

The feeling of austerity as an import aspect of pilgrimage is discussed. For me, this meant that I only had what would fit in my backpack and I wore the same thing every day. This made life easy and an immense change for someone with an overflowing wardrobe at home! The austerity made itself felt when I couldn’t go shopping in the main street of Leon. Buying anything was out of the question because it would have to be carried. What is not mentioned is the common adage “the Camino provides” and the expectation that “Camino Angels” appear when you need them: and they do. There are examples in my blog: I was once helped across a fast flowing stream that I was too afraid to cross on my own. 

I could go on, but I won’t. I’m not really a reviewer, but I felt that this one was worth mentioning!

Christmas Rock

The plan for Sunday afternoon, and the final scheduled activity for the weekend, was an easy walk to Christmas Rock. Easy or not, but to someone who is definitely in the Spanish habit of taking a siesta, it was hard to get going. However, the weather was still fine, so I set off with a good grace.

There were several wildflowers we hadn’t seen before, some unique to the area:

Clown Orchid

Vanilla Orchid

Some of my photos could be sharper, I know, but I only carry an iPhone and it’s a bit hit and miss trying to focus on tiny flowers and not the background.


Particularly interesting to me, and a complete change of topic, was this unique way of gathering water. Christmas Rock itself covers a wide area. Local people realised that rainfall could be harvested, instead of allowing it to go to waste. They formed stone barriers at the edge of the rock and these led into channels. I wonder if JL knew about this; as a young civil engineer it was his job to find ways of installing a water supply to small regional towns.

This was a beautiful walk altogether. We then made our way back to the caravan park, just down the road, for a cup of tea or a beer. The park itself has lots of native plantings, including this hakea just outside our door:

Quandong and its fruit

Val's car at sunset outside our cabin

We had a great weekend: many thanks to Viv for all her organisation and to Chris and Robyn for checking out everything in advance. Let's do it again!

Wongan Weekend continued

Saturday night was a communal dinner for all participants. It was held in the local hotel, where a few people had motel rooms as they booked too late to get into the caravan park. We had been asked to select our menu in advance to aid the kitchen in serving so many people at once:

I chose deep fried barramundi: beautifully cooked with chips and salad:

On Sunday morning we were up and about early and drove to Gathercole Nature Reserve. Amazingly, the weather was fine with no wind: the forecast had been entirely wrong!

The walk was not too strenuous today, as it was mostly flat. One of the most interesting plants I saw was called Resurrection. In summer it dies right down and turns an orange colour when the surface of the bare rocks gets up to 50 degrees in the hot sun. At the first drop of rain, it can resurrect itself and quickly spring into life with tiny white flowers:

More about this plant

We came across a strange rock formation, split down the middle:

Orchids were everywhere:

… and lots of other flowers that we spent the evening identifying since our TV wasn’t working:










Back to our cabin for lunch before setting out again in the afternoon for another expedition.

Wet Wongan

The weather forecast for the entire weekend was rain, rain and more rain. All night long we could hear it raining on the roof of our cabin at Wongan Hills Caravan Park. It was also blowing a gale. Saturday morning dawned and it looked thoroughly miserable outside. We didn’t want to get out of our nice warm beds. (I had slept with two duvets on!)

On the agenda regardless was the Mt Matilda walk trail. We drive north For 15 minutes to the trail head and assembled there for a 10 am start. It was cold and windy, but amazingly not raining:

Everyone was in wet weather gear with boots and sticks. The group set off at a fast pace in order to get warm; it was definitely too fast for me as it was uphill and very rocky underfoot. There was a choice of the entire walk to the top of Mount Matilda or the shorter walk to the Gimlet Gully Floral Loop. Val and I chose the latter with three others.

We stopped to look at an abandoned mallee fowl nest:

Later I saw a stuffed mallee fowl in the Visitors Centre.

A lookout, with the ubiquitous canola crop in the distance. The Visitors Centre had a display about canola, showing its dry state before harvest, which is in November:

(Ignore the woodcarving on the right).
We saw lots of canola planted this year, since there was not much rain at wheat planting time. Canola is more tolerant of dry soil.


After this I started taking lots of photos, as there were wildflowers on all sides. This is a place known for its biodiversity (rather like Mt Leseur which is on the same latitude, but with different geology apparently).

Gimlet Tree. 

I had never heard of this tree before, but Google tells me: “a species of eucalyptus that is endemic to low-rainfall areas of the Wheatbelt”. Scientific name: Eucalyptus salubris.

Sundew.





This pink shrub is beautiful and in full flower just now.   It is very similar to another one, but with different leaves:

Gimlet flower.

Grevillea petrophiloides. “Pink pokers.”common name. When young the fruits exude a sticky caustic fluid which was used by aborigines to score the flesh prior to rubbing in ash which resulted in permanent scars.

On a dead tree, a fragile piece of lichen has managed to cling on to life.

Puff ball fungus.