My travels interstate and overseas (in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and New Zealand) have resulted in a set of sketchbooks and diaries, in which I recorded plants I found along the way.
In 2017, as we drove north from Ravensthorpe, through Lake King towards Hyden to see the famous Wave Rock, there was a blaze of bright orange along the sides of the road. Amazing.
I had to stop and draw this plant, of course. After buying a few books about wildflowers of Western Australia I was able to identify it as the Grevillea excelsior, or Flame Grevillea. Well named!
A bush walk in the Porongurup Ranges, north of Albany, provided another incredible wildflower experience. There were so many it was hard to decide what to look at first. One plant, Xanthosia rotundifolia, Southern Cross, really interested me because of its complex flower structure.
I had a go at drawing it, and it was quite difficult because it was such a complicated shape. It was also hard because I was crouching down low on the ground, shooing away the flies as I drew. These are the hardships of the field naturalist!