Wildflowers, Lesueur National Park

It wasn’t a day for hiking one of the trails in the Lesueur National Park but we drove the 18km loop to see the early showing of wildflowers. 

The National Park was named for Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, a natural history artist aboard the Naturaliste on an 1801 expedition.  The French Government commissioned the sister ships, Naturaliste and Geographe to chart those areas of the coast of western Australia not documented by Capt. James Cook.  In the South West corner of WA and many features along the west coast bear the names of members of that expedition. 

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Low heath covers a large portion of the park and seeing the buds on these shrubs means getting low to the ground. While we visited during the winter months the number of flowering shrubs was staggering and the delight at stopping numerous times along the way to seek out hidden gems was worthwhile.

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All photos were taken on a Nokia 7.2 smartphone and with the exception of reducing the size of photos there was no need to edit. 

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We know there are some 12,500 flowering species in WA, 60 per cent of which are endemic to the state – and 775,000 visitors each year flock to take a gander at these blooms. They’re the quintessential Aussie battlers, digging their roots into WA’s sandy soils and thriving. With wildflower season upon us, take a look through the most captivating of blooms.

With thanx: National Geographic

Gratitude Moments:

• For Basil’s patience as I hopped in and out of the truck every few hundred metres around the 18km circuit
• The beautiful surprises of nature
• That the rain held off until we had completed the wildflower drive