Ellis Brook Valley Reserve is recognised as the richest wildflower location in Perth Metropolitan area. It is home to over 550 varieties of spring flowers.
Wildflowers at Ellis Brook Valley Reserve
The best time to visit the park is during spring when most of the widlflowers are blooming. It can be very hot in summer and sometimes the park is closed during hottest time.
One of the most fascinating wildflowers in Ellis Brook Valley Reserve for me was Drosera. It is the plant that loves insects and insects love this plant :). Drosera (or Sundews) capture and digest insects using their long tentacles with a sticky gland on top. These droplets look like dew glistening in the sun (hence the name Sundew). They are very pretty to human eye, and attractive to insects. The glands also produce enzymes to digest the insects. How creative nature can be!
The reserve is home to a lof of birds, including splendid fairy wrens, cockatoos and honeyeaters.
Walking trails
Ellis Brook Valley Reserve is also an excellent hiking place. There are four hiking trails of various length and difficulty. Reserve also has picnic facilities with bbqs, picnic tables and toilets.
Sixty Foot Falls trail is the most challenging but definitely worth the view. It looked quite magnificent in September with the water flowing at the waterfall.
Location
Ellis Brook Valley is located on Rushton Road in the suburb of Martin, in the Gosnells region and is half an hour drive from Perth.
Wreath flowers (the scientific name is Lechenaultia Macrantha) are very rare and unique flowers which only grow in the Mid-West region of Western Australia. They flower between August and October, depending on seasonal rainfall. These circular shape low lying plants grow on sandy soils, often on the side of the road. One of the biggest displays of wreath flowers can be found near Pindar, east of Mullewa (mainly along Pindar-Beringarra Road). Tourists go there in big numbers, cars lining up, just to see these beautiful flowers, which grow there on the side of the road.
It was my dream to see these unique and unusually shaped flowers. So, I planned a trip around the Wildflower Country, which included visiting Coalseam Conservation Park,Depot Hill near Mingenew and Mullewa. We parked our car on one side of Pindar-Beringarra Road, following the directions from the Mullewa Visitor Centre and then walked across, through a small patch of bush to the parallel road to find the wreath flowers. The track was very picturesque by itself – especially the combination of blue Native Cornflower (Brunonia australis), yellow Waitzia acuminata (Orange immortelle) and orange Bush Pomegrante (Cheyniana microphylla). That place is full of colours, shapes and is just pure delight.
A 12km drive northwest of Mingenew in the Mid West region of WA is a magnificent reserve of Depot Hill. It is a wonderful place to spot many wildflowers all year around, but especially during wildflower season. Pink, orange, yellow, white, purple, violet – this place was full of colour when we visited it at the end of September. A stunning display of wildflowers in their natural environment.
Depot Hill is also a place of historical s significance. Following the bush trail all the way up through the reserve, you will find World War II Army Rifle Range with one remaining bunker there.
The bush walk was easy and very pleasant. Allow minimum 30 minutes for a return walk, but if you are a wildflower or photography enthusiast, you’ll probably spend a lot more time in this beautiful reserve – tranquil, yet very alive and vibrant.
If you are wondering where you can stay while visiting Depot Hill, we recommend camping at Coalseam Conservation Park, which is also another stunning place to view wildflowers.
Located 33km north of Mingenew, Coalseam Conservation Park is best known for its stunning display of wildflowers, especially everlastings, which are best seen in August-September. Even though we missed the prime time of the wildflowers blooming by about 3 weeks, due to work and study commitments, we still enjoyed what was left of them. In fact, there is a certain beauty in the dried everlastings – maturity combined with beauty of gold.
Cephalipterum drummondii Pompom head Podolepis aristata with insectOrange immortelle Waitzia acuminataRhodante chlorocephala Pink white everlasting Rhodanthe chlorocephala Pink white everlastingWaitzia suaveolensThysanotus tuberosus Fringed LilyYork gumYork gum with ants
Coalseam is also rich in history and geology. It is the site of the first mined coal deposit in Western Australia, and exposed bands of coal seams can still be seen. The coal there turned out to be of not high enough quality to mine profitably, so the mines was eventually closed and the reserve became Coalseam Conservation Park. The part of the reverse near Johnson Shaft was turned into Miner’s camp ground.
Old Mine Shaft site
Camping at Coalseam Conservation Park
There are two campgrounds at Coalseam Conservation Park. We stayed at Miner’s camp which was very popular when we arrived on 25 of September, just at the beginning of school holidays. We were lucky to get one last out of 25 spots at around 4pm in the afternoon. Our lovely and friendly camphosts collected our money ($11 per adult, $3 per child – prices back in 2021), car registration and other necessary information. For those fees we enjoyed a spacious site to park our 4WD and caravan, beautiful views all around, clean drop toilet, company of the neighbours and communal fire every night. I would imagine this place looks absolutely stunning during the peak of wildflower season but it still looked very pretty even at the end of the season.
Miner’s Camp at Coalseam Conservation Park
Not just the wildflowers
With 3 days to stay at Coalseam, we had plenty of time to go for numerous walks around. Going for a walk is not only a relaxation, exercise and leisure, it is also an opportunity to explore the area and see the beauty and extraordinary around us…. like the beautiful tapestry of the spider web .
Tapestry of the spider web
Kids found their own entertainments during our stay at Coalseam. One of the new fun games they discovered was building and shooting paper rockets. Some of the rockets flew as high as 60 meters up! What a thrill! Thank you, Daddy Brian for teaching the kids this fun activity.
Can you fly a paper rocket 60 meters high?
Kids also played with freesbie and….. a shoe! Can you spot a flying shoe? 🙂
Have you found where the shoe has gone? 🙂
The night skies in the outback are dark and full of stars. It is such a relaxing and rewarding experience to look at the Milky Way and spot occasional stars falling.
Night skies at Coalseam Conservation Park
Lookouts and walking trails in Coalseam
There are a few other things to see and places to visit apart from wildflowers in Coalseam Conservation park. 2km away from the Miner’s camp, there is Irwin River Lookout. An easy 500 meter loop walk to the cliff edge provides spectacular views over the Irwin River.
Irwin River Lookout
Below it (you would need to drive back and around to reach it) is River Bend, where you can view the banded layers in the cliff above. It is a nice picnic spot with bbq and toilets.
River Bend
Seeing a snake is always a little bit terrifying but also exciting! After all, it is an opportunity to see it in their natural environment. We saw this Stimson’s python (also known as Children’s python) on our way to Irwin River Lookout, about 2km away from the Miner’s campground.
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