Jerramungup | Miles To The Wild

I knew it was a longshot but had to give it a go anyways. Fitzgerald River National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 419 kilometres southeast of Perth. It was once one of the last two remaining habitats for Western Ground Parrots but recent surveys have failed to locate any here, leaving Cape Arid as the last remaining habitat.

FRNP can be approached via Albany and Bremer Bay in the west, Jerramungup and Ravensthorpe in the north and Hopetoun in the east. The only accommodation inside the actual park are campgrounds. If you want a roof over your head, you will need to stay in one of the towns just outside the park border. Most of the roads within the park are 4wd track only but the Hamersley Drive from Hopetoun is suitable for normal cars.

There is a nice picnic ground at Four Mile Beach with beautiful sea views. Culham Inlet is a good spot for water birds. A full bird list can be found here. Fees are payable at the unmanned entrance via an honesty box. You pay and tear off a receipt to display on your window.

The southern portion of Hamersley Drive is a sealed road that winds along a beautiful part of the coast between the park’s eastern boundary and Hamersley Inlet. This drive will take you to all the main recreation sites in the south-eastern corner of the park: Four Mile Beach, Barrens Beach, Barrens Lookout, East Mount Barren, East Mylies, Mylies Beach, Cave Point and West Beach. – See more at: http://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/fitzgerald-river#sthash.GZi9Iv2e.dpuf

I didn’t get very many shots here but here’s a few!

After leaving Two People’s Bay, we still had quite a ways to go, about 260 km until the stop for the night in Ravensthorpe. It was inevitable that we would have to answer the “call of nature” at some point. Luckily the point we chose was Jerramungup, just north of Fitzgerald River National Park!

After visiting the roadhouse, I heard a different sort of “call of nature” that I hadn’t heard before but it was vaguely similar to the Pygmy Parrots in Nimbokrang last year. Right across the street was a park full of flowering gum trees – perfect parrot food so my hopes were high!

Drawing closer and peering up into the branches, I was thrilled to see tiny little Purple-crowned Lorikeets! They had eluded us in Albany and Stirling Range so I was so grateful to finally find some!

We hung around the park just enjoying the antics of the cute little lorikeets when all of a sudden they took off en-masse, flew around the area a couple times so I could get a few photos in, then disappeared into the bush for their nightly roost. What a treat to see these little guys so unexpectedly!