FAMILY and TRAVELS 2014: WA Dryandra to Albany

10 & 11 Sep Dryandra Woodland

Drove 100km from Freemantle to Lane Poole Reserve, a popular camping spot with a variety of walks. Rain started before we reached there. Several walks were closed because of flooding. Continued on to our chosen camp site at Dryandra Woodland (164k from Perth). I knew that we could go on a night walk through a special native animal reserve tonight but not on Thursday, so we booked that and got details of camping at Congelin. Our luck turned when we arrived around 3pm in dry weather.

Eucalyptus astringens (Brown Mallet) & E. wandoo (White Gum)

Spent some time exploring orchids in campground with Amanda & Rick, the only other campers, keen to show us every flower.

Eriksonella sacharata Sugar Orchid

Caladenia barbarossa Dragon Orchid

Caladenia footeana Crimson Spider Orchid

Blue-breasted Fairy-wren

White-browed Scrubwren

Red-capped Robin

Scarlet Robin

Agrostocrinum scabrum Blue Grass Lily

Banksia nobilis

Banksia bella with its unusual foliage

Drosera barbigera

Drosera menziesii

Elythranthera brunois Purple Enamel Orchid

Grevillea petrofiloides

We broke away to look for birds before making early dinner. Had to be at some crossroads by 6:10 and follow sandwich board instructions to Barna Mia. Location of place is kept secret so nocturnal animals aren’t disturbed by drivers in daytime. By 6:20 we were ready to turn back when I saw distant headlights. Found ourselves in a procession of vehicles going ?? and hoped this was the route. Barna Mia building is beautiful, meant to resemble a burrow with stained glass wall outside and great mural of the animals inside. Our ranger guide gave an excellent powerpoint talk beforehand to the 20 or more mostly foreign tourists. We then left torches behind and followed red lights to 3 small teepees not far from the building. Three people including David each carried 2 plastic dishes of pellets and a small container of apple, pear and fungi cubes. We were led to sitting logs and watched a delightful suite of small native mammals eating. Boodies (Burrowing Bettongs) were plentiful and very active, hissing and fighting for food. Boodies are now live freely only on offshore islands. Woylies (Brush-tailed Bettongs) were hard to distinguish from boodies unless you saw the raised hairs on the end of their tails. Woylies live in a few small areas of WA and SA and are extremely rare. Both species weigh around 1.5kg and have head & body length 35 cm. Photos are taken from the internet.

Boodie

Woylie

We saw 2 hare wallabies, very shy and sweet with hairy fur. Bilbies darted in, filled their cheeks and went away to eat. Only one bandicoot, quenda, came. It sat quietly munching, ignoring the boodies running around. The tiny western bandicoot was the only ‘guest’ missing from the feast. Three uninvited guests, brushtail possums, turned up. The compound is designed to keep out all unwanted animals, but possums find a way in, are caught, tagged, released elsewhere and often return.

Late start on Thursday after a troubled night because of David’s leg. Drove to Dryandra Village where the caretakers gave us good info re walks. First walk was Kawana (mallee fowl symbol), 3.3km, a bit uphill. Stony, bare except for mallet and mallee until we came to a most unusual area with Shaggy Dog dryandras in bloom and many other flowers. Next walk, Wandoo, was supposedly 1km, 30 mins (wren symbol) which started at Old Mill Dam. Different – sandy, many drosera and daisies, but changed as we walked slightly uphill to poison pea country and became a one hour walk. Back to toilets and eating lunch in a shelter shed with interesting info about Lions involvement with this area, which began in the 1970s with the establishment of a camp for disadvantaged children.

Drove to Ochre Walk but David opted out after 1k of the 5k walk.

12 Sep Fri Albany

10 degrees when we set off in foggy conditions around 9am. Soon cleared to sunny day. Saw a black-shouldered kite near Wagin. Shopped at Katanning as unsure of destination until we checked computer for 2008 journey. Decided to go to Albany rather than Porongorup as we hadn’t been there before. Checked out other caravan parks before driving a bit further and settling into the Top Tourist at Emu Beach. Nice grassy site – saw Common Bronzewing and beautiful Blue-breasted Wrens as well as magpies and WW.

13 Sep Sat Albany

David slept well last night, no troubles with leg, thank goodness.

View over Thistle Cove

Torndirrup NP is the most visited NP in WA and we saw why – pounding seas on rocks and cliffs, sights such as Natural Arch and The Gap; beautiful beaches around every bend, most of them with warnings to fishermen (at Salmon Holes there is an anchorage point with lifebuoy for intrepid rock fishermen.
Frenchmans Beach had the best toilets, inside and out, we’ve seen, fit for a luxury hotel.

Frenchmans Bay

Grey butcherbird

Caladenia latifolia Pink Fairy Orchid

Salmon Holes

Misery Beach and Bald Hill

Isopogon formosus

King George Sound


Anthocercis viscosa

Coast near Natural Arch

14 Sep Sun Gull Rock NP

The 2,000 ha reserve is an area of exceptional botanical richness. It contains several species of threatened native flora and has the most significant remaining stands of scarlet banksia (Banksia coccinea) in the region.

Banksia coccinea