Watheroo
So it looks like John is having a two part Father’s day this year and part one was a day’s outing to Watheroo and surrounding areas.
Map of Watheroo
Armed with what looks like a hand drawn map of Watheroo given to us 6 years ago, by we can’t remember who, we set out for a day of discovery. We, this time around included Jamie and Naomi.
Land in the area was settled by James Oliver in 1851, the area was surveyed in 1871 and the name Watheroo was charted for the first time. Watheroo is a thriving farming Wheatbelt town, farming livestock and grain. The town was an original station on the Midland Railway Company railway line to Walkaway. The townsite was gazetted in 1907
Watheroo National Park is a national park 187 km north of Perth. It contains Jingemia Cave.
The park is mostly composed of sand plain country which supports populations of heath, Mallee and Banksia and a large number of wildflowers. Eucalypt stands can be found to the western end of the park. other species include the spinifex, wandoo and yorm gum. Some of the wildflowers found within the park include Kwongan, the Bush Cauliflower and the Scarlet featherflower.
The name of the park comes from the Indigenous Australian name of a nearby spring.
My alarm rang at 4:45 am, and we wasted no time to get out of bed. By my calculations, Watheroo was 2 and half hours away. We thought to leave by 5:30, and around that time we took off.
Soon almost to the outsides of Perth, we met with very dense fog.
The fog was widespread, it blanketed the country hills…
and its valleys.
We were in the Bindoon area, so we stopped in to the Bindoon Bakehaus. Naomi and Jamie had sensible breakfast. John and I not so much.
There is always so much to choose from. We need to come more often to try everything 🙂
Back on the road, fog was still a thing.
We eventually could see the fog lifting.
Maybe I am making too much fuss over the fog, but it’s such a rare thing in Perth. I know where I come from, it’s not so unusual. I enjoyed seeing the countryside with the fog.
Entering the Watheroo area, Naomi cited the first everlastings.
But they were up high! It would have been quite a climb. Tempting but there was a fence.
Some more everlastings along the road. (Mixed with weeds).
Oh I found a patch to photograph without the weeds!
Don’t mind a photo of the hanging acacias with the everlastings.
While we were stopped there. A butcherbird sang for us.
As my mom used to say, “That there was worth the price of the ticket.”
Our next stop we got to see our first orchids of the day. A nice bunch of cowslips.
Naomi spotted this gem: Caladenia discoidea – Dancing Orchid
Well I guess I am not in Kansas anymore, we had to stop let a herd of feral goats cross the road.
They soon scooted away.
Driving around Watheroo, we came across this patch of everlastings.
John sat me down to take a picture.
I couldn’t resist a shot of Jamie and Naomi intent on photographing the flowers.
We went for a short walk to Jingemia Cave.
In another stop, we found Elythranthera brunonis – Purple Enamel Orchid
and the Cyanicula gemmata – Blue China Orchid
Now as excited as we were with our orchid finds, we were very excited when Jamie found the Thorny devil! It was quite patient with us, we each had a turn taking photos!
In another location we got to see a cluster of spider orchids – Caladenia footeana – Crimson Spider Orchid
Based on its long ‘ears’, and our location, this could be a Pterostylis sp. ‘hairy’ – Hairy-stemmed Snail Orchid
Another look at the spider orchid.
Caladenia hirta subsp. rosea – Pink Candy Orchid
Soon enough, it was time to head back home…
The two eagle eyed youngsters in the back seat spotted an echidna crossing the road!
John and I are used to going on these adventures on our own, but it was really nice to have company. I learned it means two more sets of eyes to help find things too!
John was happy, he got to go through a lot of puddles. The current condition to the front of his truck.
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