Lesueur and Stockyard Gully National Parks

17th July 2014

We visited 2 fantastic national parks today.  Lesueur NP is a bio-diversity hotspot with many species of plants growing within the 27,000 hectares known nowhere else on earth. Some like the one pictured only grow within a tiny area of the park where the soil and micro-climate are just right.

Djanda flowers in Lesueur NP

We were fortunate as the wildflower season is just starting and there were many drifts of different colour blooms.  I have been photo cataloging all the flowers we come across during our travels and in a 2 hour walk today I photographed at least 30 different plants.

Kwongan heath, Lesueur NP

The park is a kwongan heath community. Kwongan is an indigenous word describing the diverse range of flora and fauna in the area. Within the park are several mesas, which are flat top mountains that have resisted the erosion of the surrounding areas.  We climbed to the top of Mt Lesueur which was cold and windy but had wonderful views.  From here we saw wedge tail eagles soaring on the thermals.

Mt Michaud from Mt Lesueur

After this we ventured on a 4WD sand track to Stockyard Gully NP which is a series of limestone caves.  In between the caves are steeply sided gullies, which are collapsed caves.  These gullies were used by stockmen as a natural stock yard to contain the cattle and sheep they were droving down to the coast.  The cave we walked through was about 300 metres long and pitch black in the centre.  No water at present but it can flood after rain.  The trees around the gullies were filled with hundreds of screeching Carnaby's Black Cockatoos.

Entering Stockyard Gully cave

Whilst in the area we came across some guys also exploring the caves.  Turns out one of them is a sky diver from Jurien Bay who knows my sister Jane [and her husband Del] who lives in England! Small world indeed.

Bay at Green Head

We finished off the day driving to the coast at Green Head and climbing up a coastal lookout.  There are a series of very pretty bays around the headland with unusual wave patterns due to the underlying rocks.  The bays are formed by eroded limestone ridges.