Two Days in Dryandra

There is a lot to see in and around the village. With Kevin in charge, no minute of the day will be left unaccounted for. This is the schedule he wrote for us:

Kevin Coate, who’s agreed to be our main leader, has sent the following info:

DBCA at Narrogin have arranged for the WANC to be given an exclusive tour over Barna Mia on the 10^th of October.  I have indicated to them we to expect at least 14 members.  There will be no problem should there be more.  I have forwarded to the WANC office their confirmation of this event with times etc.

On the 9^th after checking into the Lions Village and setting up at the camp ground, all meet at Old Mill Dam near the settlement (time to be notified) for orientation and drive to Lol Gray picnic area.  Here we will walk the 3.5km Lol Gray Loop through Kwongan Heath (wildflowers are looking good).

Evening spotlighting will be either from Old Mill Dam or around Congelin Dam.   If camping, I recommend Gnarla Mia as mosquitos at Congelin camp site are very prevalent even during the day.  Gnarla Mia has an interesting walk and numbats, echidna and woylie are being recorded around the camp ground.  Caretakers there are Debbie and Andy.  There are 37 caravan sites and eight tent sites.  NO camp fires are allowed.

On the morning of the 10^th the plan for the club is to do the 23km drive along the Darwinia Drive starting from the Old Mill Dam.   If people are willing to share vehicles there is more chance of seeing animals ( I have room for 3 and will have a large icebox box to put eats in).  There are a number of interpretive stops with plenty of interest for everyone.  A side track toward the end of this drive with good bird life and a good chance of spotting numbats is an optional extra but the vehicle will need a high clearance – as in four-wheel-drive.  A picnic lunch needs to be taken and we will have this at Contine Hill picnic area – a fantastic venue with panoramic views out over forest and farmland (A thermos of hot water for tea or coffee would be useful). Two walks are available here.  It has been arranged for Peter Lacy from DBCA to arrive here and he will provide us a run down on what is happening in Dryandra and answer any questions.  A lovely clean stainless steel gas barbeque is also available for anyone wishing to barbeque a few sausages or chops.  I have been assured it will be charged up with gas.  After leaving Contine Hill the plan is to go to the Congelin camp ground and do the 1.6km circular walk (birds and botany).  Evening – 6.30 Barna Mia.

Take a breath. Can we really do all that?

One of the cabins with its own rainwater tank.

Kevin demonstrates a Powder Bark Wandoo.


Red Leschenaultia.

Poison Bush.

Kevin made sure we didn’t miss any wildflowers which were prolific.

The stony track, with lots of loose gravel, was a bit of a challenge. I had left my stick in the car back at the village, in my rush to accept a lift in a 4WD.

Says it all!

Beautiful Verticordias.

Smoke Bush blowing in the wind.

Most of the Nats in the group were familiar with the proper botanical names, but I can only cope with the common names!

To be continued…..

Dryandra

I’m on a short visit to Dryandra with the Nats Club. It’s about 2.5 hours drive Southwest of Perth. It’s a woodland village far from anywhere else and I was worried about finding my way here as I’m really bad at navigating. I was here  two years ago and Google Maps took me down a gravel road. I was going too fast and braked suddenly and found myself skidding off the road and damaging the underneath of my car.  This was not good. The insurance company decided my car was a write off. I didn’t think it was but what could I do? Anyway this time,  I got here safely. I think we have four cabins reserved for us. They are surrounded by kangaroos: as I have my early morning cup of tea, I’m just watching two of them pretending to fight, just outside amazing .

We are lucky to have Kevin Coate leading the expedition. Yesterday afternoon he led us up and down and roundabout on a 3.5 km trail, (hard going underfoot) but we saw many,  many wildflowers which we would have missed without him. 

There is hardly any signal here . I’m standing in the middle of the kangaroo field trying to post this. Photos later!

Spring

The weather is so changeable at the moment. One day it’s above 30 degrees and the next it’s down to 17. This morning it’s pouring with rain. Our swimming pool heating has just been turned on, so I managed a swim on Monday and Tuesday. The herb garden is looking good. I’ve planted rocket and spring onions and a new neighbour has put in lots of basil. A few people go overboard and think it’s a vegetable garden. Someone planted water melon seeds, which will creep everywhere and look untidy.

Crown does beautiful decorations, appropriate for each season:

Over in Como, the bottle brush is dropping its “blood on the ground”, joined with the wisteria:

Both have climbed too high and will have to be lopped. A neighbour has complained.

The three baby moorhens in our pond at Burswood have been reduced to two. I keep checking on their progress:

Dalwallinu to New Norcia

In quirky accommodation, you meet some interesting people at meal times. Yesterday, I spoke to a woman who works for the Department of Agriculture and drives around the most remote parts of the State. Her job is to interview farmers about the size of their flock and the expected size of the grain harvest. This happens every year to help the Department in its forward planning.

At breakfast this morning, I chatted with a man who was absolutely covered in tattoos. There was literally no space left on his body for any more! He was born in the UK in Stratford on Avon and one of his most prized tattoos is of Shakespeare. When he migrated to Australia, he was shocked that hardly anyone recognised him:

He told me that this one on the top of his head was really painful when the needles went in! His job is in Pest Control and he goes around spraying for all kinds of pests. He actually lives in Como, not far from C. We might call him in for our rat problem: they eat all our figs, stripping the tree bare before we can get any.

Driving home this morning, I made a stop in New Norcia, Australia’s only monastic town. It was founded in 1846 as a Benedictine community. Once it was a thriving religious establishment, but now there are only 6 monks left. They make money from renting out accommodation of various kinds, including camping sites. I spent some time in the Museum and took these photos:

His travelling trunk: he made frequent trips back to Europe to raise funds for his venture.

Here he is sitting on the trunk in his cell.

Dalwallinu

The Old Convent is a strange place to stay. There are 11 rooms in the main building, with 3 shared bathrooms. Nobody likes this arrangement, which is why they are so cheap ($100 a night). That’s OK, but my room is too near the dining room and cooking smells permeate the corridor at night and hang around all day: not cabbage, but frying. It’s like living in a Fish and Chip Shop! You get what you pay for!

My little cell had a splendid TV, but the workings of the remote were a mystery to me and I had to summon one of the waitresses to help. She was a lovely Irish girl who was as mystified as me, but managed to fathom it out in the end. I was finally able to watch the ABC news. Tonight they are serving roast lamb, my favourite, so I’ll give it a try.

Today has not been much of a success in my hunt for wildflowers. Driving north was not enjoyable because of all the road trains travelling in both directions. You have to pay attention to give them enough space. When there is an oversized load with a pilot vehicle, you have to pull off to the side altogether. In the end I turned back to Dalwallinu.

Here are some of these monsters parked at Wubin and Dalwallinu:

This is a shot of the Old Convent this morning:

… and the old train station late in the afternoon:

After eating this roast lamb, I forgave them all the cooking smells!

Wongan to Dalwallinu

The caravan park has suddenly become full of A-Frame caravans, which fold down into camper trailers. They are part of a club, staying here for a week. As I was taking a photo, one of the owners (a woman on her own) invited me inside to have a look:

The bushwalkers were all leaving this morning to go back to Perth, but I was heading north to Dalwallinu. First, though, I wanted to fit in a visit to Christmas Rock, a nature reserve just on our doorstep. It’s interesting, in that the huge area of rock has been converted into a catchment to collect all the rainwater that falls on it. Originally, this water was needed to supply the tanks of steam engines passing through the townsite (steam engines need water to produce steam!)

Fields of everlastings came into view during the final part of the walk.

Then it was on to Dalwallinu to The Old Convent, where this fierce looking cat was guarding the entrance:

Rica Erickson Reserve

We didn’t join the bushwalking group on Sunday. I was keen to attend the Nats Guided Tour of the Rica Erickson Reserve, which is about 45 minutes drive back in the direction of Perth. From there, C could get a lift with one of the other participants in order to go back to work on Monday. Afterwards, I drove back to Wongan Hills so that I could have a few more days looking at wildflowers.

Everyone said they had never seen the Reserve looking so good. There were orchids on all sides and many other flowers as well (more than you could point a stick at, as the saying goes). J was in charge of the outing: she is a qualified botanist and is writing an illustrated guide to the wildflowers of this area. There were others in the group who were also expert at identifying what we found, including some locals who had met J before, when she was doing her research.

J telling us all about the Reserve 






A strange fungus (poo ball??) which sent out spores when I tapped it with my stick:


 After exploring for 2 hours, we set up our chairs in the sun and had lunch.