floral extravaganza

The West Coast's floral extravaganza has to be one of the natural wonders of the world.

Every year experienced on the semi-desert West Coast, an unimaginably vast number of flowers (depending on the amount of rainfall)daisies, vygies, mesembreanthemums, sparaxis etc, etc, etc,) have about five minutes to sprout, bloom, set seed and die.

It's the sheer numbers of them and the fact that they do this so enthusiastically on this strip of coast only about 200kms long and less than 100kms wide, that invites people come from all over the world to experience this marvel.

A combination of geography, limited rainfall, natural selection, soil type, climate and inaccessibility are the reason that the flowers are able to produce this amazing kaleidoscope of colour and bounty each year.

The only mystery that remains is how they manage to do this without any help from mankind, while in urban gardens - with sprinklers and manure and loving attention from gardeners - they only manage a half-hearted show.

Nodding carpets of white and orange and mauve and pink blooming in the middle of such harshness that seem to go on as far as the eye can see are a wonderful reason to travel to this area and are a profoundly moving, if not life-changing experience

The best illustration of this is a story concerning a visitor from New Orleans in the USA who arrived in the flower fields a few days before Hurricane Katrina struck and washed away her home, her history and everything she owned. She stood, in the middle of the flowers, tears pouring down her face, and – gesturing around her - said to her guide: “I might have lost everything, but I will always have this.”

Below this sere ground lies another sort of unimaginable richness – minerals and gems. It is almost as if the earth glows with the light from the treasures beneath. You don’t believe that the earth glows? Drive through this part of the country in the early morning or early evening and you will be able to see the shining land for yourself.