View the spectacular colour of Australian wildflowers
There are more than 12,000 species of wildflowers in WA, making it the world’s largest collection. It’s a staggering sight to behold, especially when you consider 60% of Western Australian wildflowers are found nowhere else on Earth. What’s more, you can enjoy their glorious carpets of colour and curious blooms for six months of the year, as the season begins in June in the north, and sweeps down the State to finish with a flurry on the south coast in November.
Wildflowers & Orchids
The Southern Forests region is known for it's biodiversity with more than 2500 species of plants including over 100 terrestrial orchid species. Peak wildflower season in Pemberton is mid-September to late October, Northcliffe and Windy Harbour have a longer season from mid-September through to November. Flowering plants can be found all year round.
Best Locations
1. Pt D'entrecasteaux/Windy Harbour - Consolidated limestone cliffs overlaid with sand at Pt D'entrecasteaux provide a perfect habitat for coastal heath wildflowers and orchids - late winter/early spring look for displays South Coast Spider Orchids, Blue Fairy Orchids, Curled-tongue Shell Orchids, Snail Orchids, Parrot Bush, Bull Banksia, Basket Bush, Cockies tongues, Bearded Heaths, Cut-leaf Hibbertia and Melaleucas. Karri Cowslips, Pink Fairy Orchids, Zebra Orchids, Cherry Spiders, Broad-lipped Spider Orchids, Donkey Orchids, Flying Duck & Hammer Orchids, Pimeleas, Cutleaf Hibbertia, Granny's Bonnets are common in the sheltered dune systems behind Windy Harbour from mid-September to mid-October. Fire-dependant orchids can be found after recent summer fires.
2. Mt Chudalup - numerous granite sheets and monadnocks can be found in the area between Northcliffe and Windy Harbour. In late September Mt Chudalup & granite sheets bloom with beautiful displays of Verticordia, Melaleuca and Bearded Heaths. Mossy swards become a carpet of Pink Petticoats, everlastings and after a fire, Pink Bunny Orchids. The edges of the granite are a wonderful place to search for Karri Spider Orchids, Donkey Orchids, Leek Orchids and Pterostylis orchids. Be careful not to trample any plants in this fragile ecosystem.
3. Boat Landing Rd/Donnelly River - This area represents a great display of wildflowers that can be found in jarrah forest on the Swan Coastal Plain - a wide variety of Peas and Bearded Heaths, Banksias, Adenanthos, displays of White Clematis and Native Wisteria. Check swampy fringes for Albany Pitcher Plants and in autumn look for Hare Orchids near Goblin Swamp. In spring Cowslips, King-in-his-Carriage, Narrow-lipped Hammer and Flying Duck Orchids are common near Goblin Swamp.
4. Greater Beedelup & Warren NP - the old-growth karri forest around Greater Beedelup and Warren NP have a magic of their own. Delicate Lobelias and Scaevolas line the waterways. The wet forests provide a habitat for colonies of Spider, Helmet and Midge Orchids. Look for Tree Hovea, White Clematis, Karri Flame Pea, Water Bush, Soap Bush, Hibbertia, Tassel Bush.
5. Gloucester NP - Another location to find beautiful displays of karri wildflowers in October, at their best after a fire. Cutleaf Hibbertia, Tassel Bush, Native Wisteria, Coral Vine, White Clematis.
6. Yeagarup - The jarrah forest between Lake Yeagarup and Yeagarup Dunes is worth walking from mid- September through October to see beautiful displays of Bearded Heaths, Cutleaf Hibbertia, Common Brown Pea, Bird Orchids, Snail Orchids, Karri Cowslips, King-in-his-Carriage and Flying Duck Orchids. If you have a 4WD the patch of forest between the dunes and the coast is a good spot to look for Zebra Orchids, Blue Sun Orchids, Donkey Orchids, Karri Cowslips, Pink Fairy Orchids, Coral Vine, Parrot Bush, Native Wisteria, Common Brown Pea and Bearded Heaths. In winter through to spring look for Curled-tongue Shell Orchids, Banded Greenhoods and Snail Orchids.
Bioregions
The IBRA divides Australia into 85 separate bioregions and 384 sub regions, based on lithology, geology, landform, and vegetation. Twenty-six IBRAs are represented in Western Australia
Warren Bioregion
The Warren bioregion is described as dissected undulating country of the Leeuwin Complex and Albany Orogen with loamy soils supporting karri forest, laterites supporting Jarrah-Marri forest, leached sandy soils in depressions and plains supporting paperbark/sedge swamps and Holocene marine dunes with peppermint (Agonis flexuosa) woodlands, in a moderate Mediterranean climate.
An overview of the region: a floristic survey of the Tingle Mosaic, south-western Australia:
Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 79(4), December 1996
The Management plan of the Shannon and D'Entrecasteaux provide an overview of the landforms and the flora.
Shannon and D’Entrecasteaux National Parks Management Plan No. 71 2012
Point D'Entrecasteaux / Windy Harbour - D'Entrecasteaux National Park.
Point D'Entrecasteaux has spectacular coastal cliffs, a scenic drive, a beautiful sunset lookout, walk trails, beaches, mobile sand dunes, vast coastal wildflower heaths and pockets of karri are all part of the scenery overlooking Salmon Beach, Gardener and Tookulup.
Explore the D'Entrecasteaux National Park, a wilderness strip hugging Western Australia's south coast for more than 130 km between Augusta and Walpole. This 4WD paradise is 20 minutes from Pemberton, 10 minutes from Northcliffe and four to five hours from Perth. It extends inland for between five and 20 km lying 8 km from Northcliffe and 40 km from Pemberton.
Remoteness and pristine natural beauty are features of D’Entrecasteaux National Park.
Consolidated limestone cliffs overlaid with sand at Pt D'Entrecasteaux provide a perfect habitat for coastal heath wildflowers and orchids - late winter/early spring look for displays South Coast Spider Orchids, Blue Fairy Orchids, Curled-tongue Shell Orchids, Snail Orchids, Parrot Bush, Bull Banksia, Basket Bush, Cockies tongues, Bearded Heaths, Cut-leaf Hibbertia and Melaleucas. Karri Cowslips, Pink Fairy Orchids, Zebra Orchids, Cherry Spiders, Broad-lipped Spider Orchids, Donkey Orchids, Flying Duck & Hammer Orchids, Pimeleas, Cutleaf Hibbertia, Granny's Bonnets are common in the sheltered dune systems behind Windy Harbour from mid-September to mid-October. Fire-dependant orchids can be found after recent summer fires.
DPaW D'Entrecasteaux National Park:
Mt Chudalup: D'Entrecasteaux National Park
A significant landmark in the south of the wild and isolated D’Entrecasteaux National Park, Mt Chudalup offers a great walk and fantastic views over the surrounding landscape and out to the coast . A huge block of granite, Mt Chudalup is known as a monadnock, which is a large isolated hill above a generally flat plain.
Numerous granite sheets and monadnocks can be found in the area between Northcliffe and Windy Harbour. In late September Mt Chudalup & granite sheets bloom with beautiful displays of Verticordia, Melaleuca and Bearded Heaths. Mossy swards become a carpet of Pink Petticoats, everlastings and after a fire, Pink Bunny Orchids. The edges of the granite are a wonderful place to search for Karri Spider Orchids, Donkey Orchids, Leek Orchids and Pterostylis orchids. Be careful not to trample any plants in this fragile ecosystem.
Boat Landing Road, Donnelly River - D'Entrecasteaux National Park.
This area represents a great display of the wildflowers that can be found in jarrah forest on the Swan Coastal Plain - a wide variety of Peas and Bearded Heaths, Banksias, Adenanthos, displays of White Clematis and Native Wisteria. Check swampy fringes for Albany Pitcher Plants and in autumn look for Hare Orchids near Goblin Swamp. In spring Cowslips, King-in-his-Carriage, Narrow-lipped Hammer and Flying Duck Orchids are common near Goblin Swamp.
Goblin Swamp:
The ancient paperbarks of Goblin Swamp gives it a mystical feel. Alongside Carey Brook the site is timeless, is specatacular at full moon and thee is a myriad of wildflowers along the walk from the camp sites off Boat Landing Road.
DPaW Campsite Carey Brook next to Goblin Swamp.
Beedelup Falls - Greater Beedelup & Warren National Park.
The cool misty understorey of the towering Karris houses an enchanting world of mosses, ferns and wildflowers complete with its own waterfall.
The old-growth karri forest around Greater Beedelup and Warren NP have a magic of their own. Delicate Lobelias and Scaevolas line the waterways. The wet forests provide a habitat for colonies of Spider, Helmet and Midge Orchids. Look for Tree Hovea, White Clematis, Karri Flame Pea, Water Bush, Soap Bush, Hibbertia, Tassel Bush.
Yeagarup Sand Dunes - D'Entrecasteaux National Park.
Join a half day eco 4WD tour with Pemberton Discovery Tours (wildflower tour in season) departing daily and traveling through the Yeagarup Dunes; the largest land locked sand dune system in the Southern Hemisphere, through giant sections of old growth Karri forest to the mouth of the Warren River in the Warren & D’Entrecasteaux National Parks.
Book through the Visitor Centre. Pemberton Discovery Tours
Want to do a guided walk through the dunes? Options include day walks, overnight walks and full moon experiences. Andy Russell from Pemberton Hiking and Canoeing Company is your experienced guide.
Book through the Visitor Centre. Pemberton Hiking and Canoeing Company
Book your tour through the Pemberton Visitor Centre: Tel: 08 9776 1133 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.:
Book your tour through the Northcliffe Visitor Centre: Tel: 08 9776 7203 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.:
You can also self 4WD drive or drive a 2WD to Lake Yeagarup then walk into the dunes, camping is available at Department Park's and Wildlife's Leaning Marri Campsite at Lake Yeagarup. Pack a picnic and use the DPaW shelters at Lake Yeagarup in all sorts of weather.
If you are keen to self guide 4WD or walk into the dunes from Lake Yeagarup, talk to the Visitor Centre staff and obtain a map of the area.
The Jarrah forest between Lake Yeagarup and Yeagarup Dunes is worth walking from mid- September through October to see beautiful displays of Bearded Heaths, Cutleaf Hibbertia, Common Brown Pea, Bird Orchids, Snail Orchids, Karri Cowslips, King-in-his-Carriage and Flying Duck Orchids. If you have a 4WD the patch of forest between the dunes and the coast is a good spot to look for Zebra Orchids, Blue Sun Orchids, Donkey Orchids, Karri Cowslips, Pink Fairy Orchids, Coral Vine, Parrot Bush, Native Wisteria, Common Brown Pea and Bearded Heaths. In winter through to spring look for Curled-tongue Shell Orchids, Banded Greenhoods and Snail Orchids.