Perth and Nearby

Toodyay

19 – 21 September 2018

Where to next? We headed west towards the coast, and hopefully, warmer weather. After lunch in Merredin, which had a terrific car park suitable for lots of caravans and long vehicles, right opposite the shops, we decided that Toodyay sounded like a nice spot. We had met someone from there many years ago, so had heard of it. That seemed like as good a reason as any to go there.

There were lots of eye catching wildflowers by the side of the road.

We were so happy to be able to see drifts of wildflowers after being told by many people that we'd be too late.

Western Rosella. My first WA endemic for the trip.

We found the perfect caravan park, in a bush setting, with lots of bird life, friendly locals and heaps of flowering plants. Naturally we decided to stay two nights. Mick spent most of the time wandering around the park with the camera and was rewarded with photos of three new birds for the trip.

Another new bird for me; Carnaby's Black Cockatoo.

Rufous Treecreepers were common around the caravan park and posed obligingly.

A nest building Striated Pardalote.

This bird came almost too close to focus on.

Another new bird; Western Thornbill.

Tree Martin

Grey Shrike-thrush

We went into the town for coffee and visited the op-shops, coming out with a haul of very reasonably priced books, and also visited the Christmas Shop.

The Christmas shop.

It’s a nice little town, and one we would happily stay in again. While we were there, our mate in Perth suggested that, as we were so close, we should visit. Being a long weekend, and the start of the school holidays it seemed like a good idea, so after 2 lovely nights in Toodyay, off to Perth we went.

Perth

21 – 24 September 2018

We set off for Perth, headed for Kings Park to spend some time there at the Botanic Gardens. After getting lost in the park looking for suitable parking, we found a nice picnic area and had lunch. We eventually found the bus parking area where we were told we could park with the trailer and walked the short distance to the Botanic Gardens and their wildflower display. We killed a few hours in the park, and then headed over to another spot Mick had heard about – Herdsman Lagoon.

Kings Park

Perth city and the Swan River from Kings Park.

Eucalyptus flowers

A drift of spring flowering native flowers.

Native flowers at King's Park.

Black Swan cygnets

Australian Wood Duck

Freckled Duck

Australian Shelduck male

Australian Shelduck female

Glossy Ibis

Dusky Moorhens

Little Egret

Nest building Great-crested Grebe.

Full frame Great-crested Grebe

Blue-billed Duck

Musk Duck

Over the course of the weekend, as well as spending time with friends, we made a number of visits to Herdsman Lagoon, as well as Jackadder Lagoon and Lake Monger. All are known birdwatching spots.

Herdsman Lagoon is an iconic Aussie birding location. Many waterfowl that are usually very shy can be seen close up around the lagoon. This is because of its location in suburban Perth and the constant human traffic in the surrounding park. Australian Shelduck are usually unapproachable but I was able to get full frame shots of the male and female. In many areas there is lawn right to the waters edge allowing a nice low point of view. My favourite place on the trip so far! Mick.

After an early morning visit to Herdsman we shopped, fuelled up and tidied up the car ready to hit the road again on Monday morning, taking our chances with the school holiday crowd. We called a couple of caravan parks on the coast north of Perth, but most were full. We did get a booking at Leeman, so that’s how we decided where to stop next. We had booked a campsite at Cape Range National Park near Exmouth for 1 October so had a week to fill in.

Leeman

24 – 25 September 2018

We made our way out of Perth via the Indian Ocean Drive and called in to a number of the places we had hoped to stay at. We thought it was worth checking them out for the trip back this way. We visited Lancelin, Cervantes and Jurien Bay. All look like great places to stay – out of school holidays. We found a quiet spot for lunch at Thirsty Point at Cervantes – the rest of Cervantes was very crowded and there was no parking for the trailer close to the beach.

Cervantes. A beautiful day for our drive north.

The jetty at Cervantes.

We arrived at Leeman, and it was not as crowded as the places we had visited on the way, perhaps because it’s smaller and the beach isn’t as beautiful as some. We went for a short walk on the beach near the caravan park, but there didn’t seem to be much there. Only when we were leaving in the morning did we see the parks and walks further north along the beach.

Leeman. Some of the beaches we visited were covered in dead seagrass.

While we were in Leeman we rang to try to get a place to stay in Kalbarri. We lucked out as the caravan park had just had a cancellation. Good timing.