In 2018, Lillian Hancock, a PhD student from Brown University, Frank Obbens (W.A. State Herbarium), Andrew Mitchell (link) collected Calandrinia (Montiaceae) in Western Australia. Over a 10 days, mostly camping, we travelled ca. xx,000 km, finding many species and enjoying the magnificent W.A. landscape and wildflowers.
We travelled from Perth to Mullewa, Murchison, Gascoyne Junction, Minnie Creek and Lyndon Station to the Great Northern Highway. Thence south to Exmouth, Vlaming Head and Cape Range NP. Returned to Perth via Carnarvon, Hamelin Pool, Steep Point, Northampton and the Indian Ocean Drive. The pink line marks our route. Click on map to expand the size.
We marvelled at the Shark Bay stromatalites …
The Expeditoners stromatalitising at Shark Bay (Hamelin Pool). From left: Joe Holtum, Frank Obbens, Lilly Hancock, David Mitchell
A Pre-Cambrian seascape
the wildlife indicate otherwise!
Stromatalites in the wild
…and in an aquarium
A landscape that has witnessed many dawns and dusks
…we stood on the westernmost tip of the Australian mainland (Steep Point) looked to Africa and found a CAM species at our feet…
The Expeditioners at Steep Point
Where exactly?
Lilly about to back-flip into the Indian Ocean
No wonder wrecks were commonplace
CAM plants at Steep Point!
…we traversed landscapes of varied hues, following sealed and unsealed roads…
Tropical towing and tumble-weeds
Rain was not a common occurence!
The creamy sands of Exmouth Gulf
The red sands of the desert’s edge
One of us didn’t have grey hair!
…camping in the scrub and by the sea…
Camping in the scrub
Camping on the beach (Dirk Hartog Island on the horizon)
Luxury accommodation – ranger station, Cape Range NP
…finding fossils, spitfires, desert ants, mysterious tracks and even a monotreme…
A fossil crinoid from an ancient reef
‘Spitfires’ – sawfly larvae (Perga affinis) on a euc
It’s cooler underground
Tracks
Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)
…botanising unfettered across desert plains and dunes, spinifex, heathlands, woodlands, scrub, cultivated lands and rocky promontories…
Joe Holtum's Science Site 