Around Geraldton, Western Australia – Wildflowers, Shipwrecks, and Big Nature
Kalbarri National Park, Houtman Abrolhos Islands, and hunting wildflowers.
During a stay in Western Australia’s capital Perth, I decided to visit Kalbarri National Park and the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, farther up the coast than other places on my list. Turns out both are close to the small city of Geraldton. Why not stay there for a few days? It would save time going back and forth from Perth, and Gerladton would be another place with its own sights to see and new people to meet. Plus, it was wildflower season, and Western Australia’s wildflowers are renowned and plentiful up that way. See My gateway to the Abrolhos and Kalbarri – Geraldton, WA for more info about the town!
As soon as I had my sights on Geraldton, and planned to be car-free, I looked for local tours. A bit of hunting got me to locally owned Geraldton Bus Tours (GBTours), and I booked a day trip for Kalbarri and sights along the way, and another, wide-ranging wildflower tour. At the Geraldton Visitor Centre I also booked a flight to the Abrolhos Islands with Geraldton Air Charters. Geraldton Air Charters offers several itineraries, and I chose a fly-over with touchdown for a ramble and morning tea on East Wallabi Island.
Houtman Abrolhos Islands
Don’t miss the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, whether you travel there from Geraldton, Perth, or somewhere else. The islands combine exquisite beauty with world-class nature and a film-worthy history that includes the infamous wreck of the Dutch East India Company merchant ship Batavia in 1629, and the massacre of most survivors by deranged Company officer Jeronimus Cornelisz. Learn more about the Batavia here. Today, the waters around the Abrolhos are still pristine (so get there before the cruise ships begin stopping) with an abundance of marine, terrestrial, and avian life that’s covered in this Department of Fisheries booklet. The booklet also includes information on geology, history, shipwrecks, and today’s commercial rock lobster fishery.
Kalbarri National Park
Kalbarri is big nature – high coastal cliffs washed by the Indian Ocean, the Murchison River gorge, Nature’s Window (not that easy to get your picture without being photo bombed). Some of the trails we took are over rocks, and good shoes and caution are advised. We followed the long curve of the coast, stood high over the Murchison and made out the gray kangaroos lying in the shade way below, walked into fields of endemic, cottony-feeling smoke bushes. I liked the long day’s ride in GBTour’s outback-suitable van. It was the very beginning of the season, and the only other guests were two delightful sisters from Hong Kong. On a springtime Kalbarri trip there’s also the opportunity to see the park’s wildflowers. There’s more on wildflowers just below, but along with big nature, Kalbarri Park had masses of wildflowers, diverse in family, size, and color. Along the way, we also stopped at Pink Lake where we walked on the shore for a while. And when we stopped for an outdoor lunch in the little town of Kalbarri, I got my first look into a pelican’s gullet. It wasn’t on my must-see list but there it was.
Wildflower Hunt
Even if you think you’re not a wildflower fancier, it would be a shame to miss one of the greatest displays of wildflowers on earth. Western Australia has around 8,000 native plants and up to 85 percent of southwestern WA wildflowers are endemic and grow nowhere else. Once again, I went out with Geraldton Bus Tours, and with a small group that day we were able to get into the bush and look for the unique.
One location not to be missed is the Coalseam Conservation Park, between Mullewa and Mingenew. There you’ll find – yes – a visible coal seam, along with carpets of everlastings that make great cover photos on wildflower pamphlets. We had a bit of a ramble there, and while the everlastings are most attention grabbing, there are scores of other flowers. GBTours owner David was especially good at scouting out hidden species, and we stopped periodically to scout for, and find, the rare. I don’t recall the names of all the flowers, but I have many photos, and did bring home quite a few wildflower books should I be seized with the desire to identify them. Or perhaps I’ll just look at the books.
Murchison Shire
I have a lot of affection for tiny orchids and kangaroo paws, but my favorite was the wreath flower. Once again David knew the dirt roadsides in Murchison Shire where they flourish in disturbed, sandy soil. Being in Murchison Shire was itself an event of sorts for me. The Shire has a population of about 113, mostly on family-run cattle stations, in an area of about 50,000 square km (about 20,000 square miles). It’s remote, yet accessible, if that’s not a contradiction, and the wildflower hunt gave me the idea of a return visit to enjoy that remoteness, perhaps at Wooleen Station. One of the ways trip ideas form!
There are numerous guides to self-drive flower excursions, or you can go with the pros like I did.
Trip date: 2017, updated 2019.
