Thrill Of The Wildflower Chase

Sooner or later, every Australian should immerse themselves in the splendour of Western Australia’s wildflower season. Amanda Kendle ventures out into the wide pink, yellow, white and blue yonder.

- Amanda Kendle

‘Pull over! I see pink ones!”

My friend Dianne and I are on a long weekend road trip through Western Australia’s Golden Outback, and it’s August, the early days of the wildflower season. What began as a pleasant way to escape the city for a few days has become an obsessive hunt: searching for wildflowers now seems as serious as spotting game on an African safari, and as much fun, too.

The pursuit of ticks on our wildflower bucket list – multi-coloured everlastings, various orchids, unusual wattles, the rare but spectacular wreath flowers – has my eyes obsessively darting along both road edges as we drive, and I yell when I see a flower patch that needs closer examination. The contrast of colourful flowers with the striking red dirt and, luckily for us, a mostly blue sky, is so photogenic we both feel like award-winning photographers.

Western Australia is home to 12,000 species of wildflowers – more than half of these unique to the state – and like many travel-lovers staying closer to home this year, Dianne and I are exploring this region with fresh eyes. On the first morning, travelling north of Perth towards Dongara before turning east, even the paddocks of fluorescent yellow canola crops make us shout. When we reach Coalseam Conservation Park and see the fields filled with white and pink everlastings, our cameras go into hyper drive. Just north of Coalseam, we pick up the official Wildflower Way from Mullewa, and we spend the remainder of the weekend exploring its treasures all the way down to its end in Dalwallinu.