Shades of yellow

It was a very cold night again in Dalwallinu: only 3 degrees which is colder than a fridge. But the sun soon warmed up the day as I checked out of the Wheatlands Motel and set off on my travels north.

I am still fascinated by trying to get the perfect shot of the canola fields. A professional photographer NaturebyNathan has done it but I can’t match his.

My first stop on the wildflower trail today was the Mia Moon Reserve west of Wubin. There is another large granite rock with wildflowers all round it:

There were lots of yellow everlastings everywhere, but even though orchids were promised, I only spotted a small clump of donkey orchids:

By the car park were some useful information boards:

This flowering shrub was just where I parked my car:

It’s Hakea Recurva and very prickly. I also saw many more sundews, but these were more advanced than yesterday’s. This one was already in flower:

On the road again, I stopped briefly just before Perenjori at a siding known as Maya. Parked there was an ancient piece of machinery, adapted from a military tank for agricultural purposes. It allowed farmers to quickly clear the land for crops:

In the background is an ubiquitous grain silo. These are all the way up this road, which follows the railway line. When co-operative grain handling was introduced it transformed life for farmers. Previously they had to man-handle bags of grain themselves, which was back-breaking work.

I had lunch in the park in the centre of Perenjori and then called at the Tourist Information to ask where I could see the elusive wreath flowers. These used to be seen easily on the roadside, but so much road improvements have gone on that the soil has all been disturbed. I was directed to a quarry on Bowgada Back Road and found a little cluster of them all on their own:

I arrived in Morawa before 3.00 pm and found the motel all locked up: no check-in till 4.00 pm. What’s more there was no wi-fi! On the plus side I had a lovely hot shower and went to IGA to buy a weight-watchers curry to heat up in the microwave. Also staying here are three couples who decided to pretend they are camping and built a bonfire on the waste ground just behind: