Entry 19 – 2026 – September – Wild Flowers – Western Australia.
We headed inland from Kalbarri, travelling into the “Wheat Belt Region.” It was promoted as “Wild Flower Country.” We travelled along the back roads, meandering through a country side covered by farmers crops. It was promoted as a region where wildflowers and everlastings abound on the roadside.
We did see patches of wildflowers road side. Mostly in sections of bush with no crops close by. We thought the wildflowers had been impacted by farming practices with modern day chemical usage.
Travelling along most roads and even more so on countryside back roads, locations to park safely are a rarity. It was nice to spot some wildflowers and manage to obtain a safe roadside park with our caravan in tow for some up-close viewing.
After two days of drifting about, enjoying the country side views we set base at the town of Mullewa. We chose to utilize the caravan park overflow area for self-sufficient setups. At $15 per night with access to the caravan park facilities, we thought it to be most acceptable. A week later there was a need to park up at a caravan park about 100 kilometres down the road at $59 per night we were back to reality.
Mullewa’s information centre was quite informative, providing weekly reports on the status of the local wildflowers. There were a few scenic drive options to view various areas with wildflowers. Some between 145-to-200-kilometre circuits. It was good having a safe location to leave our caravan and enjoy driving around the nearby countryside without the hinderance of towing a caravan.
Though we still needed to be mindful of hazards.
About 50 kilometres down the road was an area to view the rare and unique Wreath Flowers. Initially we questioned our sanity, driving quite the distance to view some flowers. Once we had sighted the flowers, we thought the effort to be worthwhile. They were a magnificent sight.
The Wreath Flowers were a couple of weeks away from expanding to their full size.
Down the road a bit was Coal Seam Conservation Park. There were several walking trail options. It was promoted as a location with a landscape full of everlasting flowers. These flowers are long lasting, self-seeding native annuals, returning year after year.
Canna was a location promoted with everlasting flowers and orchids.
It was an almost deserted town with visitors the only people about. The only information we had been provided with was to head to the closed shop where there would be a notice. Eventually we spotted a small black board displaying the only available information.
It required a bit of effort to orientate where these locations were. There was no A4 map displayed anywhere.
We located the church down a lane. There were lots of narrow tracks into the nearby bush. With about 30 minutes of looking and more looking we had spotted about 4 orchids.
At least we had seen some. We decided to move on, giving up on our orchid searching. We turned around to head out of the bush and almost immediately started to spot plenty of orchids.
On the outskirts of Canna, we spotted a faded sign displaying Old Camp. There were some magnificent displays of everlasting wild flowers. It looked like an inviting location to set camp.
Alongside of the Mullewa campground was The Mullewa Wild Flower Walk. It was a wiggly circuit over a distance of about 3 kilometres. We thought this walk amongst the wildflowers to be as good as any we had experienced in this region.
Another promoted Mullewa walk was the Hawes Heritage Trail. Hawes was the local Catholic Priest from 1916 – 1939. He designed and built the local church. It was an interesting walk. We were in awe, when we sighted the grandeur of the church and its interior.
To the rear of the church was the priest’s home. It was interesting viewing. Both buildings were 100 years old.
We did our best to support the small country town of Mullewa. There was a meal at the local sports club, another at the pub and a sandwich from a café. All sparsely occupied. The caravan park required bookings on line, with a couple of back packers from England responsible for maintaining the facilities. A conversation with these back packers showed they were paid for a few hours of work each day during the wildflower season.
It was another small country town, struggling for survival. We did enjoy time viewing the country side and a bonus of some beautiful wildflowers.
