August 15th.

We awoke this morning to the chatter of a flock of Carnaby's Black Cockatoos, sometimes known as the Short-billed Black Cockatoo. They are a large black bird with white feathers in their tail. They are endemic to south-western Australia. (Note the blue sky..I have cheated with this photo!!)

Black Cockatoos

The day was fine so we hurried off for a walk...only one hour through the bush, and we returned to our rig just in time to miss the first shower of rain. Since then it has been raining and blowing most of the day.

We have come further north to the Mt Trio Bush Camping Park which is just outside the boundary of the National Park. We are safe here from large falling branches and any minor flooding ..as well as this we have internet connection. It is a pretty park which we hope to explore further if tomorrow dawns fine. The evening is certainly cold so we are glad of our warm rig. In fact there has been snow forecast for the higher peaks of the Stirling ranges.

August 14th
What a wonderful day we have had! Firstly Robert Fergie took us for a walk across his property taking in the three preserved bush areas. We found many new trees and flowers. What a treasure having natural bush preserved in this way and right at 'your back door'. There were even some early orchids to be found.
We were so lucky to have the time to examine the leaves, buds, flowers and fruit of so many new types of eucalypt trees.
Heather and Robert certainly proved to be 'perfect' hosts.
We left Kendenup late morning and headed for the Stirling Ranges. I cannot explain in words the pleasure and peace I felt as we drove through this lovely area. The flowers were wonderful..banksias, hakeas, grevilleas, eucalypts and many,many varieties that were new to me. Despite the weather being cold and windy we walked a little to get closer to all the bush. What a really pleasurable day.
Tonight we are camped in the northern area the Nataional Park in the Moingup Spring Camp Ground. We are very glad to have a warm rig to spend the night in.

View of Stirling Ranges from Fergie's home

June with beautiful roadside Banksias 

August 13th

After camping near Lake Corycup we awoke to the calls of young lambs and grey butcher birds.
This was the last night on the Holland Track. It has been an interesting and challenging trip.
The last 30 kilometers we travelled on well made roads through farming country. The wheat crops look wonderful as do the canola crops. Bushy roadsides still created a lot of interest.
At last we came out on a bitumen road a short distance north of Broomehill. The journey was over and we did feel a sense of achievement despite the fact that there was one section of the track we could not travel because we were told it was closed. It has been difficult to find out whether the track was closed or not. The north section of it was so muddy that it should have been closed to traffic as vehicles only worsen the condition. Once we had committed ourselves it was nearly impossible to turn back and there were no other tracks available to turn on to for better conditions.

Southern entry to Holland Track

Late morning we arrived in Katanning to do washing and to visit Woolworths Super market.
We had arranged to visit Heather and Robert Fergie late in the day. They live near Kendenup with a magnificent view of the Stirling Ranges. They own a small farm with 3 wonderful fenced bush areas.
Robert works with Western Australian timber making the most beautiful furniture.
Heather teaches at the local Primary School. They cooked dinner for us and we had a fun night together.
EC was parked at their front door so we were able to watch the sun rise over the silhouette of the
Stirling Ranges.

August 12th

The roads have been a joy today...smooth gravel roads, some bitumen which still follow the Holland Track as closely as possible. The roadside bush has still been varied and interesting with Grevilleas, Hakeas, Eucalypts and many more. We were lucky enough to see a wonderful broad leaved eucalyptus tree, with a glaucous appearance on stem, nuts and leaves. I wonder whether it will dye silk fabric!!

We are actually travelling through the 'Wheat-belt' of WA. The wheat and canola crops look fabulous so I hope the remainder of the season is kind to farmers. The whole area has had good rains. The crops stretch over very wide acres bright greens and bright yellow of the canola flowers.

The Lincoln Ring-neck parrot is very bright green in colour and has been crossing our path in pairs, fours and flocks..a great change as we have seen few birds.

The weather is cold with snow forecast for the Stirling Ranges. We have camped very close to the Holland Track near a salty lake in Chinocup Nature Reserve. It is quite sheltered and we have a clean wire fence to hang our washing on.

Eucalypt Tetragona commonly known as the Tallerack Gum

August 11th

A little more rain in the night. Today we travelled 40 km in 4 hours..what a slow trip. The bush, again, was varied and lovely with many flowers of every variety. The water holes were even deeper and seemed more slippery. The Prado and EC have both performed well. We did tow the Prado and trailer for a short distance because the Prado became stranded on a middle bog hump. Everyone has become weary of water and bog holes. Eventually we came to the main Hyden/Norseman Road.
It is hard to explain the variety of bushes, flowers and trees...some we can identify but most we cannot..a beautiful 'toothbrush' Grevillea was easy to find today. We also found a wonderful small eucalypt mallee tree with deep maroon coloured long flower buds on it. John did a search on his Euclid computer program and was told there are 47 other eucalypts with the same style flower bud.. He actually narrowed this particular one down to 'Eucalyptus Incerata'. Some blooms were showing..beautiful cream delicate flowers.

A brief visit to Wave Rock was enjoyed but very commercial and different from what we have been through!!
Beth & John have now departed west and we have come south. We plan to meet again in a couple of weeks.
We are camped in at Flat Rock Nature Reserve some distance south of Hyden and surprisingly there is internet connection.

EC going through mud holes..taken by Beth in the Prado

June at Wave Rock

August 10th camped near Mt Holland

Travelling today has been slow due to all the water holes we have had to negotiate. Some were very deep and others very slippery. Because of our excellent drivers we have not had a bogging incident. We only travelled 85 km for the day of 6 hours driving.
The bush still continues to amaze us all with variety and colour. Quite a few areas have been burnt,
some areas have low bush, some areas are dominated with flowers. We have seen a number of lovely wattles and some new eucalypts to identify.
Desert areas often have dead acacias which have dried and look much like woven baskets. They have inspired me to stitch. During the last few days we have seen more of these 'acacia baskets'.
The weather is fine, cool and windy this evening.

Dead  'Acacia basket' near a small bog hole 

A small piece of textile art inspired by an 'Acacia Basket'

August 9th

Because we had very heavy rain last night we decided to spend the day at this camp amongst the beautiful Gimlet Salubris Eucalypts. Their trunks are a magnificent deep copper in colour. Some of the trunks are quite fluted. I really love them and hugged quite a few!! Exploring this bush at leisure h

as been a pleasure.
We have had no further rain and the road and camp ground have dried out considerably.
Tonight I am cooking 'Casserole Australis' in the camp oven. It is always a fun meal with dumplings on top!

Coals on top of Camp oven

Beautiful fluted trunk of the Gimlet Salubris