Fitzgerald River National Park is one of Western Australia’s largest parks but only comprises 0.13% of the State’s total area. Yet 20% of the State’s flora can be found in the park. It’s a ridiculously diverse region of the State where you can find 1800 species of flowering plants. About 60 of those species are found nowhere else in the world.
I’m still trying to learn why Western Australia has so much biodiversity but I think I understand the basic formula. You’ve got an ancient land which has been isolated for millennia where plants need to get amazingly creative in order to survive in harsh and dry landscapes with low soil fertility and a high frequency of fires. So TIME + ISOLATION + SURVIVAL MECHANISMS = AMAZING BIODIVERSITY.
Padma and I patched our leaky air mattress and set off on a six-hour drive last weekend to the southern coast for a camping trip in Fitzgerald River. We missed the height of the wildflower season but we were rewarded with a floral landscape that was just bizarre – alien in a way. There were still lots of flowers, I gave up trying to take pics as it was just too windy. Instead we hiked up to a East Mount Barren on a cool and overcast day and soaked up some dramatic views of the Barren Mountains and an alien landscape.
On the next day the clouds departed so took a hike on the Hakea Trail and crossed the Hammersley Inlet and walked along some stunning beaches which presented a mixture of hard packed white sand and shard-like rock formations.
Even though Fitzgerald River National Park is truly one of the natural wonders of the world, we were mostly alone in our enjoyment. Western Australia is the size of Western Europe and yet it only has a population of 2.7 million. With that kind of population density and with 20,000+ kilometres of total coastline (including islands) you can expect to find some solitude on some of the more remote beaches.
On the last day on our way home, we drove through the heart of the park on Hammersley Road. Google Maps kept insisting we travel east and hit the bitumen road through syphilization (Edward Abbey – Desert Solitaire – readers know what I’m talking about) but Padma and I chose the road less travelled and drove for 70 kilometres on a dusty unsealed road to experience the loneliness and vastness of the park. And we were rewarded … we only encountered one other car and drove for nearly two hours before finding any form of syphilization.
