Billiburning Rock

Billiburning Rock was our favourite out of the 4 rocks in Wheatbelt area that we visited during our 9 day holiday through the Wildflower Country and Wheatbelt. Being 35km north of Beacon (the closest town), it is a bit out of the way and thus less popular than other rocks. We were happy to have a lot of space for ourselves with fantastic views.

Camping

Billiburning Reserve has 3 camping sites, located at the base of the Billiburning Rock. The first one (Gecko Grounds) is an open space, suitable for large vans and caravans. To get to the second (Echidna Expanse) and third ones (Kangaroo Corner), you would need to drive around the rock, crossing a small section of the rock (10 meter section).

Driving to our camping spot

Each of the other two sites are rather small, enough for 4-5 campers each, offering the views of the rock on the left and the views of the bush with abundant wildflowers on the right. There is a drop toilet and a water tank next to it with non-drinking water between sites 2 and 3.

We stopped at Echindna Expanse site (number 2) which we shared with another camper for the first night and had it all to ourselves for the second night. The place being so serene, pristine and inviting that we did stay 2 nights there.

We climbed over the rock to take the pictures of the sunrise.

Then we climbed it again during the day. Later we marvelled at the way the rock looked when the setting sun was casting its last rays onto it, making the colours of the rock look warm and orange. When the sun set, the colours turned cold and blue.

Flora and fauna

Billiburning Reserve is home to many wildflowers.

It is a great spot to observe wildlife.

And of course, no camping experience is complete without a campfire under the stars!

Millions of stars and the Milky Way is what you see in the outback at night.

Everlastings, coal, paper planes and other attractions at Coalseam Conservation Park

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.

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.

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.

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 😀.

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.

Kids also played with freesbie and….. a shoe! Can you spot a flying shoe? 🙂

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.

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.

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.

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.

Stimson’s python