Well what a surprise, it rained loudly all night on the metal roof and continued in the early morning as we got ready. Despite our feast last night we squeezed some breakfast down and on Anne’s advice, despite the rain, we headed for our first destination of the Lesueur National Park to see the spring flowers.
I was on driving duty today after Colin had driven all the way up from Fremantle but I have to say this is no hardship as the car is quite powerful and roads are virtually empty. The route tot he park was on unmade-up roads but despite the rain they were in good condition. We then spent over an hour driving the 18 kilometers around a well made up one way road, stopping wherever we liked to get out and look at the flowers. The rain stopped and the sun even came out on occasion. I have never seen such a variety before and never been so totally clueless as to what they actually were. Anne has a book about flowers here and apparently some are orchids but not like any orchids we’ve seen before.
This is a montage of just a few of the flowers that we saw.
Afterwards we did a bit of a tour around places along the coast, first stopping at Green Head for views over the Indian Ocean - very choppy but it was sunny which was nice for a change. We also filled up with fuel - $1.29 for a litre so less than 80 pence! Then we continued down the coast towards Jurien Bay. Another popular coastal town (well very small town) with a lovely beach.
As we left Jurien Bay there was a police road block on the road ahead. I was waved down and an officer came up to the window and explained that as part of Australian policy they were routinely breath testing and would I blow into her machine? I have never done a breath test before and obviously I had not been drinking but there is that quick flash when you suddenly think - have I been drinking! I had not and passed with flying colours and we could go on our way! Another first for me!
Colin had noted down Lake Thetis as a place of interest as it has stromatolites rather like Mono Lake in California. I will be quite honest, they were not impressive and in my opinion looked rather like cow pats in the water rather than the 2-3 foot high ‘tufas’ in Mono Lake. We decided to walk right around the lake (it’s not very big) which is when I caught sight of our first Australian snake. I had no ides what sort it was but with some speed I got the Macro lens back on the get a few grab shots before it slithered away. I reckon it was about a foot long although Colin said a bit less and thinks I have fisherman syndrome “it was THIS big”!
Next onto Hansen Point for views over a distinctly grey and choppy Indian Ocean and the rain started to set in again. We saw another snake as we climbed up the wooden steps to the look out which was duly photographed with Macro. Finally it was down to Thirsty Point Lookout and then back to Amble Inn.
We had a pleasant evening chatting with a couple from Melbourne and another lovely three course meal.
FOOT NOTE: I ‘Googled’ the two snakes we saw today and checked my ID book. They look very much like Western Brown snakes... their bite can be deadly and often goes unnoticed until severe symptoms set in. I’m making a resolution now NOT to use the Macro again when photographing snakes and to stick to the telephoto. That ID did shake me up a bit!!
