Mullewa, Wildflower Country

Another day trip from our camp at the Nanson Showground in Nabawa.  This time we're going inland to Mullewa on the eastern side of the Chapman Valley.  After about 45 minutes driving through farmland we joined the Northern Loop, on the Wildflower Way.  There are plenty of well marked interpretive sites along the way.




We stopped at the Noondamurra Pool on the Greenough River for morning tea and watched the waterbirds.

At the Bindoo Nature Reserve we stopped to take more photos of wildflowers.  Its amazing that whenever we stop to take photos we see so many different plants in flower, growing in the sand.  The everlastings were like a carpet of yellow and white flowers.

 We drove past the plantations which have been established as part of a carbon capture program.

The Waterfalls was a watering hole for the stock, wagons and coaches that passed through this area.  There's not much water there at the moment though.



We stopped off at the Mullewa Information Centre with its display of everlastings and red kangaroo paws in flower.  The priest-architect Monseignor John Hawes lived in Mullewa and designed a number of churches in the Chapman Valley, several of which are heritage or National Trust listed and are open to the public. 






From Mullewa we travelled south into the Coalseam Conservation Park.  The Irwin Lookout provides great views over the park and river.




After lunch at the Mingenew Bakery, recommended to us at Mullewa, we made our way west to Dongara on the coast. The Leander Reef is named for a  ship which got lost on its way to Geraldton and foundered on the reef.  The obelisk was erected in 1869 and it has several plaques including one to the HMS Beagle which surveyed much of the west coast and another as a memorial to fishermen who have drowned.