Phil and I needed to go to Perth on business but we ended up with part of a week before hand with no engagements so we decided to drive down to Margaret River on the way to Perth to visit Phil's oldest daughter, husband and three children. The youngest is 6 months old and we had not met her yet.
We stopped in Lake Grace on the way so Phil could buy an expensive piece of quiche. He admitted that it was pretty nice after he complained about the price. Meanwhile I couldn't resist the opportunity to get out of the car and take a few pictures on main street.
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| Corymbia ficifolia |
These used to be Eucalyptus ficifolia but were reclassified a few years ago. From what I understand the main difference between a eucalypt and a corymbia is that eucs have separate budcaps which fall off to reveal the flower. With Corymbias the top of the bud opens up and reveals the flower. This tree is very popular because of its showiness. It comes with white or red flowers also.
Somewhere between Lake Grace and Dumbleyung we stopped to look at a rare patch of bushland forgotten between the fields of cultivation and the road. Found these really interesting plants. No idea what most of them are.
Perhaps something in the Lamiaceae family
This might be Melaleuca cordata
This was a pretty neat Banksia. I walked right past it at first and didn't see the flowers hiding down at the base of the shrub. Vegetatively it really doesn't look like a banksia and I would never have picked it as such without the discovery of the flowers.
This is the shrub in total
View of the road and the patch of natural bush along its flank.
Friday morning in Margaret River and everyone has gone to school and work except us tourists so we drove out to Prevelly to see the Indian Ocean. It is wonderful and the air is beautiful. No end of entertainment out there watching people: local surfers, overseas tourists, and hippies living out of their combi vans.
Great waves but this was a relatively calm day by MR standards
To the left an interesting wattle with triangular shaped leaves and to the right something in the Asteraceae family.
A nice mounded Pimelea in the middle. Flowers have faded.
Odd looking weathered limestone down by the waters edge.
Here it is from a distance. It looks like sand and you would think it was soft but I walked across it without changing its form in any way.
Retreating surf
Jewels of the sea left behind on the rock.
I have no idea what these things are. The beach was littered with them. They looked like sea urchins but the protrusions were soft like a pom pom. They are only about a quarter of an inch in diameter.
Tiny sea urchin next to the pom pom thing.
I am forever fascinated with sea vegetables.......
I found this creature which was dead but it looked a bit like a trilobite. I hope Anastasia can tell me what it is.
New Holland Honeyeater getting nectar from a Grevillea flower.
These bird pictures were taken at the Riverview Tourist Park where we rented a chalet. It is a lovely place only four blocks from downtown Margaret River but it is right on the river so I like to walk down to the small riverfront and watch these beautiful ducks and photograph the pristine looking forest on the other side of the river. I don't know why but I have always loved landscapes with large standing dead trees. I think it reminds me of paddling through the rivers and wetlands as a child in Algonquin Provincial Park.
A Purple Swamphen.
This is looking up the laneway at the Chalet Park.
A close up of the flowers on the creeper in the previous photo. Phil couldn't remember what it was called even though he used to sell them years ago in his garden centre.
Lacy delicacy of the grevillea flowers which are a great source of food for birds, bees and aboriginies.
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| Overpowering Hibiscus flower |
Early morning moochers
Saturday afternoon at the beach. The surf was so wild where we took photos yesterday that even the surfers weren't in the water. We came around to the cove at Gnarabup where it is a bit protected so that our grandson could boogy board. The only other people in the water were these crazy people who attach themselves to these things that look like parachutes. they get the parachute in the air andthen they run down the beach and jump onto a surfboard that has foot loops and off they go across the surface of the water. I think they look a bit like shark bait dangling from a line.
Grandson and friend bobbing along ontop of the pontoon.
The surf is ok today! Here's the thumbs up.
Dead gum leaves and buds
Phil and I stopped by at the famous Bussleton jetty which recently reopened after extensive restoration. Because the West Coast only had Fremantle harbour as a usable harbor in the old days. This jetty was built out into Geographe Bay which is a very shallow bay. I think at one time it was considered the largest jetty in the southern hemisphere. It is nearly 2 km long.
Beautiful foreshore at Bussleton.
I love the massiveness and clean look about these Morten Bay Figs.
These characters like to sit up high and poop on the tourists.
The foreshore at Dunnsborough is very different. They have preserved the dunes and then set back between the dunes and the city is this park which is protected by dense Peppermint trees.
It has been so dry here that the sedges on the town side of the dunes have dried up and died.
View south looking at the Headlands of Cape Naturalist
The lighthouse out at Cape Naturalist
You really lose the dimensions in photography sometime. This walk was very high above the water. Fishing boats looked like white dots from up here.
A very strange bush tomato with Phil standing behind for scale. It's a Solanum something or other.
Perhaps Eutaxia myrtifolia
This coastal promintory has seen recent fires. We walked through this dead forest of large Banksias.
this was our cute little Chalet. I really enjoy staying here. We had our own little kitchen and verandah. My last photo in Margaret River before heading off to Perth. And I realize that I didn't even take any photos in town. Maybe next time.
