Moora to Mingenew and lots of wild flowers

31st August 2014

We drove north with the idea of finishing in Mullewa for the day.  However, along the way we went into the information centre at Mingenew and two very helpful ladies in there said it wasn't worth driving further north as the flowers were early this year and we had mostly missed them!  However, they said there are still plenty to see to the east and west of Mingenew so we booked into the local caravan park and went looking in some of the locations they suggested.

Drifts of flowers on Depot Hill

This just goes to show how important local knowledge is as we would have bypassed Depot Hill because it didn't look promising from the road.  However, here we found beautiful drifts of daisies, everlastings and all manner of other flowers and shrubs too.  Truly spectacular.

The hill is so named as it was an army training ground during WWII.  A trench was dug, still intact, which was used for target practise.

WWII trench for firearms practise

Lots of orchids, most of which I can't find the names for.

Cowslip Orchid

Fringed Lily

After this we drove up Mingenew Hill for a great view of the little town.  There is a spring here so it was a very important watering point on the drovers trail in the past.

Perth to Moora

30th August 2014

Bright and early start this morning beginning with a big stock up in Coles as soon as they opened at 8:00. The caravan and car took up 4 spaces in the car park so we wanted to shoot through ASAP.

Our first stop was New Norcia, which is Australia's only monastic town.  However the rain was just as bad here so we only stayed for a cup of tea and to purchase a loaf of bread which the monks bake on site using flour they grind in their own mill; and very nice it was too.  I want to take photos of the wonderful Spanish influenced architecture so we are hoping for better weather on the drive south when we will pass through the settlement again.

Camp set up at Moora

We pushed on north and did eventually get out of the rain at Moora.  A bit grey but some blue sky.  We are staying in the Council run camp site which is very good and it has free washing machines and dryers!  This is a rarity and an excellent opportunity to wash and dry the soggy towels from soaking up yesterday's floods. John has now covered the offending vent with duct tape which hopefully will suffice until a  more permanent gutter can be fashioned.

Moora Town Clock

Everlastings in Moora

We had a bit of a wander around town, which is not very exciting so we will only stay one night.  Found some everlastings, but not in the wild, they were in a garden.  Hope to see the real wildflowers tomorrow.

Return to Perth - rain, and more rain

29th August 2014

Today we flew back to Perth after a relaxing month at home catching up with family, friends and the garden.

We will miss the grandchildren as they are such a delight.  Nicole kindly drove us to the airport, which was much appreciated.

Katherine (20 months)

The flight was late leaving Sydney [where it was still raining after 2.5 weeks of wet weather] but uneventful until we approached Perth.  The skies were leaden, pouring with rain and 30km winds so we had an exciting landing!

We picked up the newly raised caravan, which is now about 100mm higher off the ground and checked into the campsite, the same we stayed for our last 2 nights in Perth.

Joel (3 years)

Upon entering the van we were greeted with a floor awash with water and it took several minutes to work out where it was coming from.  In the pouring rain the outside vent of the rangehood was leaking.  Water was running off the roof and straight into the vent.  From there it was running through the base of the cupboards onto the floor.
Fortunately none of the storage contained anything that could not be dried out.  The sleeping bags were under the seats but luckily I had stored them in plastic garbage bags which had not leaked.

Anyway, poor John was out in the pouring rain drenched through despite a goretex raincoat and waterproof over-trousers.

Amelie (6 years)

Nathan (7 years)

Eventually we stopped the leaking by a combination of covering the vent with tin foil to deflect the run off and chocking up the van to make the rain run to the other side.  Then began the mopping up operation.  We still don't understand why it leaked like this as we have had plenty of torrential rain the in the past with no problems.