To Mullewa:

We spent a couple more days at Coronation Beach and then headed to Mullewa which is wildflower country. We went via the scenic route up the Chapman Valley which is a fertile valley where there is a winery. We also passed acres and acres of more crops so the whole countryside is very green. Lots more wattle on the way and of course lots of other wildflowers- some shrubs and patches of everlastings. Every now and then you come across patches of low lying areas that are sandy and have very stunted growth here. I think the underground water must be salty as nothing much grows in these spots.

After a lovely drive we arrived in at Mullewa which is a lovely well presented little town with a very nice and reasonably priced caravan park. We discovered that some friends we had met up several times before were in this caravan park.
Mullewa is renowned for its wonderful wild flowers especially everlastings and the wreath flowers. The wreath flower is unique to this area and is found nowhere else in the world and cannot be propagated or grown from seed. It grows on disturbed soil so loves the verges of the road. It starts off green and then the flowers grow in a circle around the edge representing a wreath. There was a wildflower show on and we were able to see the wreath flower here.
Mullewa was a thriving town years ago but now most of the shops are closed down and there is only a very small supermarket which is also the PO. There is a service station and that’s it. However the town is very well presented and clean with a heritage walk, large recreational facilities, a big town hall, a lovely school and they are building a swimming pool. This was the parish of Monsignor Hawes who was the priest as well as an archlet. There is a beautiful church which he built here and for years he lived in very meagre accommodation so his parishoners convinced him to build himself a priest’s house. It was open for inspection and had all the original furniture in it. There is a walk which goes from the town hall to the church with plaques along the way explaining his life and amazing achievements with both his architecture and his energetic work in the community. What a contribution this man made to this district.


We also went for a drive to the scenic lookout where you could view the town and the picturesque countryside. I saw some spider orchids here. There are lots of wild orchids but they are quite hard to find as they usually occur under a bush and are fairly small. Fortunately the locals put a pink ribbon on the bush so you can locate them.


It turned very cold and overcast and the next day it rained nearly all day so it was an indoor day. The following day looked the same so we decided to go into Geraldton which is about 100 klms away. What a beautiful drive it was. All along the way the magnificent yellow wattle lined the road interspersed with purple, blue, white and red bushes loaded with flowers with a backdrop of green pastures and a grey fluffy sky. In Geraldton it was sunny and warm with some white clouds.
We explored the foreshore, bought ourselves some books to read, enjoyed a coffee, did the shopping and generally had a pleasant day. We arrived back in Mullewa we found out it had been cold and miserable and raining all day!!

Finally the sun peaked through so we went for a drive in search of the wreath flower. The information centre tells you where to go which is usually on a quiet country road. We followed the bitumen past lots of wattle and patches of everlastings until we turned onto the gravel and followed that along until we found the pink ribbon.
We found one just on the edge of the road growing in the gravel – quite amazing. There was another car there and we started talking only to discover they live at Gwandalan where Jenny and Doug have a holiday house and we visit regularly. It turned out they were good friends of J and D and were staying in the same caravan park as us. It certainly is a small world!!
That evening we had drinks with our old and new friends.
The next day it was raining and cold again. All the everlastings close up when it is overcast so we had another quiet day. That evening we had birthday drinks with our new and old friends, which was nice.

The first day of spring (my birthday) turned out to be rather cold with a few patches of sun.
Opposite the caravan park there is a wildflower walk which takes you on a delightful path wandering through large patches of everlastings

– pink, yellow and white carpets of colour spreading through the twisted trunks of the dead shrubs or yellow wattles and other flowering bushes.
Every now and then you spot the purple fringed climbing lily twisting its way up the branches of a shrub. If you are lucky you can spot an orchid underneath the bushes. There were some beautiful moss covered rocks along this walks with lots of round holes in them that fill with water after rain and often there are little caves formed that provides good shelter for the small animals. You can imagine the aborigines wandering around this area.
In the afternoon I had a game of scrabble with our neighbour but we had to be inside as it was very cold.
Finally it seemed to be fining up so we went for a drive to find some more wreath flowers. There was a beautiful old pub which is now a B &B as well as a coffee shop that had Devonshire tea. Of course we had to stop and we enjoyed a great chat with the owners as well as some delicious scones. Unfortunately we discovered the road to the flowers was closed because a road train had taken his heavy load on a short cut and managed to get himself bogged and churned up the road.
It was a lovely day and Sandy (next door neighbour) and I went on the wildflower trail again in the hope that the everlastings would have opened up some more and they were much better than the day before.
The next day was another beautiful day and we went on another drive to an old well and saw lots more everlasting flowers scattered all around the shrubs.
We continued on a country road to do a circuit but got ourselves lost so we had to turn around. These roads are just about devoid of traffic so there was no-one we could ask. We saw a couple of trucks near a big tank but no-one was around but there were lots of empty plastic drums and a bad smell of chemicals. Later on we saw a huge machine with spray out either side. It just makes you wonder how much chemical they put on our wheat.
We ended up staying a week in Mullewa which we really enjoyed especially as the last two nights were free.