Western Australia is famed for its abundance of wildflowers.
Every spring, Western Australia blooms into colour. From city parks and gardens to large stretches of land surrounding Perth, our country is teeming with beautiful life. And with 12,000 wildflower specimens across the state, it’s easy to see how this is the largest collection anywhere in the world and yet take it for granted.
But there’s one place, just over a two hour drive from Perth, that celebrates the blooming wildflowers every November, and this year—yes this year—is going to be no different.
Take that, 2020.
From Friday 30 October to 1 November, the 15th annual Wildflower Festival takes place in Wongan Hills, a small country town located just 30 kilometres from Reynoldson Reserve where several varieties of Verticordia are in flower and up to 24 species unique to the Wongan Hills area grow abundantly. There are also seven varieties, commonly known as “featherflowers”, that call Reynoldson Reserve home.
Visitors to Reynoldson Reserve should take the Reynoldson Reserve Walk Trail to best see and explore the surrounding country.
On average, the walk will take visitors an hour to complete if they stop at the eleven interpretive signs as well as the two main boards depicting the history of the area. However, you will need to leave extra time to admire the flowers in all their colours, shapes and sizes and plenty of time to take photos of nature in its glory because to see 1400 species of flowers is going to take one long minute.
Although Reynoldson Reserve is open to visitors already, the festival kicks off on the Friday night with a “Sundowner” in Wogan Hills. Food and drink will be provided by the locals as well as entertainment on the opening night.
Saturday sees the day begin with a $10 Big Brekky before the market and food stalls come out for a spot of country shopping. The kids, both big and small, will be entertained by the onsite Fire Truck. A bus will run every hour on the hour (except noon) to shuttle visitors to Reynoldson Reserve so you don’t have to worry about the drive if you’ve decided to have a bevvie or two in town.
Guest speaker Sabrina Hahn, who you might know from her twice-weekly coloumn in The West Australian, will take to the stage twice on Saturday to speak to the budding crowd before a vintage car and motorbike display takes over on the Sunday.
For more information regarding the Reynoldson Reserve Wildflower Festival, check out the Wongan Tourism website here or scope out the festival poster here.
READ MORE: 5 Wonderful Perth Walks To Put Spring In Your Step
(Featured image: Russ Arnold)