Western Australia wildflower trip 08/2018
10358-2_0052_13A
I am uploading lots of flower shots! This was a most spectacular drive to the Miners camp (a camping ground in the Coalseam Conservation Park with huge meadows of spring flowers on either side of the road. I have never seen such a spectacular sight! As far as the eyes could see it was green with flowers everywhere.
We arrived at about 4pm and had to hunt for a camping spot for 12 tents, two swags and a small area for the kitchen set-up. This camping ground is very popular at this time of the year and early arrival is advised as spots can not be booked.
Though, I since have been told that it is not always this lush and green during the wild flower season, depending, of course, on adequate rainfalls.
Short history of the Coalseam Conservation Park
In 1846, three British explorers, the Gregory brothers, Augustus, Frank, and Henry, set out to travel the area around the present-day town of Mingenew. They spotted something that looked like a coal seam on the banks of the Irwin river. When this discovery was reported, there was great excitement and the area became the site of the first mined coal deposit in Western Australia, and was declared as a coal reserve. The government hoped that the coal they found could be used as fuel for the colony.
After decades of small-scale mining, it was discovered that the deposits’ coal was too soft to be mined at a large scale, and the plans of building a huge mine were abandoned. However, a combination of the reserve status and the harsh topography protected the natural fauna and flora of the area from being cleared for wheat and sheep farming. Today, the site is the Coalseam Conservation Reserve which protects an area of botanically diverse kwongan heath, in the midst of farmland. While it looks dry and forbidding in the heat of summer, in spring a spectacular show of wildflowers transforms it to a wonderland of diverse color.
For more information:
www.atlasobscura.com/places/coalseam-conservation-park
Tour operator:
www.coateswildlifetours.com.au/
FILMPROCESSING, PRINTING, SCANNING
Rewind Photo Lab, Broadway, Sydney
Western Australia wildflower trip 08/2018
10358-2_0052_13A
I am uploading lots of flower shots! This was a most spectacular drive to the Miners camp (a camping ground in the Coalseam Conservation Park with huge meadows of spring flowers on either side of the road. I have never seen such a spectacular sight! As far as the eyes could see it was green with flowers everywhere.
We arrived at about 4pm and had to hunt for a camping spot for 12 tents, two swags and a small area for the kitchen set-up. This camping ground is very popular at this time of the year and early arrival is advised as spots can not be booked.
Though, I since have been told that it is not always this lush and green during the wild flower season, depending, of course, on adequate rainfalls.
Short history of the Coalseam Conservation Park
In 1846, three British explorers, the Gregory brothers, Augustus, Frank, and Henry, set out to travel the area around the present-day town of Mingenew. They spotted something that looked like a coal seam on the banks of the Irwin river. When this discovery was reported, there was great excitement and the area became the site of the first mined coal deposit in Western Australia, and was declared as a coal reserve. The government hoped that the coal they found could be used as fuel for the colony.
After decades of small-scale mining, it was discovered that the deposits’ coal was too soft to be mined at a large scale, and the plans of building a huge mine were abandoned. However, a combination of the reserve status and the harsh topography protected the natural fauna and flora of the area from being cleared for wheat and sheep farming. Today, the site is the Coalseam Conservation Reserve which protects an area of botanically diverse kwongan heath, in the midst of farmland. While it looks dry and forbidding in the heat of summer, in spring a spectacular show of wildflowers transforms it to a wonderland of diverse color.
For more information:
www.atlasobscura.com/places/coalseam-conservation-park
Tour operator:
www.coateswildlifetours.com.au/
FILMPROCESSING, PRINTING, SCANNING
Rewind Photo Lab, Broadway, Sydney