Spread the love
Post Views: 0

West Australians are being encouraged to get out and explore one of the greatest flower shows on Earth, with Western Australia’s 2020 wildflower season underway.

A selection of guided and non-guided tours are available across the State, in line with seasonal blooming periods – which started in the State’s Pilbara and is now continuing into the Mid-West, Gascoyne, Goldfields and Wheatbelt.

After a slower start to the season, several species are now starting to appear in these regions following recent rainfall, including WA’s unique orchids, banksias, everlastings, wattle and wreath flowers.

Located a 4.5 hour drive north of Perth, Mellenbye Station manager Shelly Bogdan is hopeful that the carpets of white, pink and yellow everlastings will soon be in full bloom for guests visiting the historic working cattle station, which offers a mix of accommodation – from a central homestead to cottages, cabins and campsites.

“Visitors get most excited about the fields of everlastings and the wide vistas of colour. It’s a very special experience to see wildflowers in bloom,” said Shelley.

“Sometimes you look and think, there’s not much out there, then a few days later, suddenly there’s colour everywhere.”

In the State’s Coral Coast, visitors to Lesueur National Park will find a number of its 900 species starting to flower; while other wildflower hotspots in the region include Coalseam Conservation Park, famous for its everlastings, and Pindar and Mullewa for the rare wreath flower.

By September, the season will reach Perth’s botanical gardens, nature reserves and national parks, including the iconic Kings Park and Botanic Garden, which showcases around 3,000 of WA’s 12,000 species of native flora – 60 per cent of which are found nowhere else on Earth.

During the month of September, the annual Kings Park Festival will celebrate the wildflower season with a range of activities, including guided walks and native gardening sessions – or visitors can join GoGo Active Tours on a wildflower bike tour or The Hike Collective for a High Tea and Guided Hike through the park’s hot spots.

GoGo Active Tours’ Matt Baldock is looking forward to launching the specially guided tours and showcasing Kings Park’s thousands of wildflower species in a unique and informative way.

“Guests will travel along remote paths and difficult to reach areas of the Kings Park bushland where they will see everlastings and wildflower groves, tree-lined avenues and views of the city skyline, all from the comfort of an easy to ride touring bike,” said Matt.

WA’s wildflower season will then sweep through the South West, finishing in November. One of just 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world, visitors will find more than 8,000 unique varieties of wildflowers in the region’s forests and coastal heaths; including the Stirling Range, Torndirrup and Porongurup National Parks, and along the iconic Cape to Cape Track.

Wildflower enthusiasts can track where and what wildflowers are blooming across the State via the WA Visitor Centre’s interactive online Wildflower Tracker, which also gives users the opportunity to contribute their own photos and flower recordings.

A wide selection of wildflower self-drive trails are available to travellers, in addition to organised tours with a range of tourism operators such as GoGo Active Tours, The Hike Collective, Luxury Outback Tours, ADAMS Pinnacle Tours, Casey Australia Tours, Busaround Tours, Down Under Discoveries, Out of Sight Tours, Two Feet and a Heartbeat, and Wildflower Safari Tours.

A selection of Aboriginal tourism operators also offer guided walks on Country to discover local flora during the Noongar Kambarang season – the season of birth. Guests will discover how the six seasons of the Noongar calendar influence land usage and the native bush tucker and medicines available.

Visitors can time their trip with one of the many wildflower events that are happening across the State, including the Kings Park Festival (September), Nannup Flower and Garden Festival (August/September), Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show (September), and Esperance Wildflower Festival (September).