Wallaman wildlife 2024

We visited Wallaman Falls in Girringun National Park again last week. It hasn’t changed much since previous visits in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2022. Those links will take you to all the general information about the falls and the camping area so I won’t repeat it here.

misty falling water
The foot of the falls

The biggest differences this time were seasonal. All our previous visits were May-June and here we are near the end of October. The creek was still running well so the falls were as good as ever but the flowers and wildlife were somewhat different.

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The Coral Coast – and stromatolites

We turned west from Perenjori to hit the coast at Leeman and followed the coast down to Wedge Island before swinging east to New Norcia, looking for a better sense of WA than just the wheatbelt could offer. This was, after all, out first visit to that enormous state.

Leeman to Wedge Island

The coast is dotted with beachside townships, primarily holiday destinations for Perth folk and, I have to say, rather generic. But ‘generic’ isn’t bad at all when it includes crystal-clear waters, white sand beaches, boat ramps for the fishos, and clean comfortable camping grounds.

foreshore and boar ramp
Leeman foreshore

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Alligator Creek Falls

View of Alligator Creek
The Falls are somewhere up there…

We’ve been visiting Alligator Creek, a section of Bowling Green Bay National Park, for years (see previous posts). Sometimes we have walked the kilometre or so upstream to Cockatoo Creek and talked about going all the way up to Alligator Creek Falls.

That walk is 8.5 km each way, though, and the signs suggest 5 – 6 hours return, so it takes enthusiasm and planning. The right weather too: a large part of the track is in full sun but there are three creek crossings, so it’s good to avoid the hottest weather and any time the creek might be too high. But I finally got there a few days ago.
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Bladensburg in winter

Bladensburg National Park, near Winton, was very dry when we visited in mid July, so most of the wildlife which could move elsewhere had done so and few plants were in flower. We saw lots more roos and wallaroos than when we visited in October 2022, but fewer birds (and no budgies at all!) and insects.

Birdlife

‘Fewer’ doesn’t mean ‘hardly any’, however. White-plumed honeyeaters were all around and we also saw galahs, ringneck parrots, yellow-throated miners, whistling and black kites, white-faced heron, sacred kingfisher, spotted bowerbirds, zebra finches and more. (This link will take you to my photos of them on iNaturalist.) Even the spinifex pigeons, which had taken us days to spot on our previous visit, wandered into view several times – near Skull Hole, near Scrammy’s Waterhole, and along the road between Bough Shed and the Homestead. Our most memorable sightings were the quail and bustard.

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Smedley’s Hill

From Castle Hill or Mt Stuart, Smedley’s Hill looks like a bump on the western end of Many Peaks Range on the northern edge of the Town Common. On the ground, it’s more challenging and more interesting. The views from it are spectacular – looking along Shelly Beach towards Maggie, or north to the Palm Islands and Hinchinbrook, or up the coast.

footbridge, creek, hill
Smedley’s Hill from the footbridge

I’ve been visiting the Common for years but had never tried to climb the hill. When I did, yesterday, I realised that it wasn’t the simple rounded shape we see from the south but a ridge running east-west (continuing, in fact, the line of Many Peaks) linked to a smaller peak to its north, right above the sea.

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