When Padma and I planned our two-month Northern Hemisphere Friends and Family tour, I made sure we’d be back in time for the Western Australia wildflower show. As I discovered last season, Western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot for its flora. The first wildflowers start blooming in July and reach a climax in September … but in a state the size of Western Europe the flowering dates vary greatly.

Regrettably, I’ve been chained to my desk since we returned four weeks ago and I just haven’t been able to get out to see what Mother Nature has been up to. But there’s a nature reserve 800 meters from the house so I dashed up there last Friday between rain showers just to see what’s blooming and dust off the camera gear.

It’s all starting to happen and the early bloomers are out. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to explore this great state a bit more in the next couple of months and find a few flower species that eluded me last season.