I just returned from Fitzgerald River National Park on the south coast of Western Australia. The other day I climbed to the top of East Mt Barren and saw this view. After walking over a saddle, a long wave of stone rose up before me. It’s titled schist and quartzite and has beautiful ochre colours and patterns. It felt like a Martian landscape walking among these stones.
Royal Hakea was named after Queen Victoria (Hakea victoria) but there’s nothing more alien to the softness of the British countryside than this deeply veined botanical apparition from the Antipodes.
Another day the clouds came over and the temperature dropped. I still swam in the ocean though – I needed to as I’d just walked down from the top of Mt Barren and although it doesn’t look that far, its a few hours down some pretty steep walking routes and then a road which winds around from the other side of the mountain.