Wildflowers in Stirling Range National Park

Beginning each spring in Western Australia's Stirling Range, a fabulous carpet of wildflowers unrolls, including types found nowhere else on earth. July to October is peak flowering season.  With this in mind, Magi decided it would be our first stop in our Southwest Australia holiday.  Heading south from Perth on the Albany Highway Sunday morning at 6 A.M. we traveled through fields of wheat and canola as well as sheep and cattle farms.  In Kojonup we stopped for breakfast and then on to Cranbrook where we headed east to the Stirlings.  From the Valley below, we got our first glimpse of Mount Trio and Bluff Knoll.  Continuing on we traveled the red gravel road through the heart of the Range stopping to hike the various trails into the bushland.

The profusion of wildflowers  owes much to Western Australia's geography. Separated from other parts of the world by ocean to the west and desert to the east, the Southwest region of the state nurtures a widely diverse flora, retaining primitive forms and evolving new ones. Some 1,500 species have been identified in just the Stirlings, with new ones being discovered each year.

Throughout the Stirlings, one can see evidence of the fires that sweep throughout Western Australia during the arid months.

And those are just some of the many wildflowers we discovered in the Stirlings.  No wonder so many people from all over Australia come to view the wildflowers in Western Australia.....they are just gorgeous!

Photos by Magi and Bob.