Alan & Lyn's Huge Adventure: 29/9/19 Off & running again

Back and running again after spending 3 glorious weeks with this little lady and her parents , before we dropped them off to start their new adventure - living overseas !! She consumed most of our time and energy - we had a ball !!!

We visited a few places , playgrounds , beaches etc . This sculpture is at Cottesloe South Beach and is very striking .

After a tearful goodbye to Justin , Taylor & Isla , we stayed with Emma for another week before heading off to get to some warmth - we had to get the jeans & jumpers out of storage so we could keep warm - even had to wear shoes & socks !!

Before we left we took Emma & Pepper for a drive down to Lake Clifton - south of Mandurah - it's only about 1 klm from the ocean , but it is fresh water . In this lake are Thrombolites , actually the largest lake bound reef of them in the southern hemisphere . They are prehistoric organisms and are still thriving here . There's a walkway that takes you out above the lake and you can see them in the nice clear water - they look a bit like a coral reef .

After there we headed down to Preston Beach , the drone came out for a fly as well - you can see the lake system behind the dunes .

Further down the highway and we were back in Bunbury . They've developed the shore front near the dolphin discovery centre , plenty of grassed areas , playgrounds etc and another amazing sculpture - it looks awesome from a distance and incredible to see how it's been put together .
The second photo shows how it's been constructed .
The sculpture is of a local indigenous leader .

Leaving the city behind us , we headed north again , not along the coast this time , but inland for a change . Heading up through Bindoon & Moora we stopped at Mogumber Showground for the night - it was a $6 donation to camp there - we had it all to ourselves . We parked in a nice spot beside some grandstand seating - there was supposed to be bull riding on the following weekend - according to a sign , we didn't see any activity to suggest it was still happening though .

There's a reserve next door , so we went for a walk later and found quite a lot of wildflowers , here's a selection of them .

This one is extremely small , all the flowers would be covered by a 5 cent coin .

I know , these aren't flowers , they're seed pods and nothing special - just looked good .

Some Kangaroo Paw were in isolated spots .

This one is a Donkey Orchid

This is Geraldton Wax

After a very quiet night , we packed up and headed further north , stopping at Carnamah . Near the information board at the park were some interesting trees & shrubs .

We headed up to the lake lookout , and were astonished at the size of the Yarra Yarra Lakes - it stretches for over 30 kms and is part of a much larger catchment system . It doesn't flow until there's a major rain event in the catchment area - 41,800 square kilometres of it .
The crop in the foreground is Canola - it has already flowered and is now going to seed . There's still some flowering on the far side of the lake .

We decided to stay here for a couple of nights so we could have a bit of a look around . After setting up we drove around to Macpherson Homestead just out of town . The local historical society have restored the homestead , replaced the roof and generally tidied it up . This is the verandah , and at the end of the verandah we got the biggest surprise . Now anyone that has a plant called Jade , usually growing in a pot near the front door , will be amazed - check the 2nd photo .

This is a Jade plant - more like a tree !! it's trunk , yes TRUNK , is about 45cm thick - normally it has a stem maybe 3-5 cm thick , this one is HUGE .

This plant grows everywhere in this region .

There's also a display of old vehicles and farming equipment , ploughs , seeders & rakes .

We visited the lake again , this time with the drone , making for some interesting photo's .

Carnarmah is right in amongst wheat & canola farming country , we headed through some of this to Mingenew next day , then did a round trip through Morawa and Perenjori before coming back to Carnamah . There were quite a few opportunities to check out wildflowers in some of the local reserves we went past , but first here's a few drone shots . The first is amongst some canola fields - these ones still had some flowers .

These 2 are part of the Yarra Yarra lakes system just out of Morawa - salt lakes and claypans .

Further down the road to Perenjori , we pulled over at a nature reserve and had a bit of a look around - the flies were horrendous , just as well there were some flowers ! Not as many as usual -apparently it has been pretty dry & warm out here as well .