Last year I wrote about the Nyoongar seasons here in the south western part of WA (see here). The concept of the six cycles of the year and their close connection with nature are a far better way of understanding the changing of the seasons in this part of the world than the traditional four season approach adopted by the European settlers. You can read more about the Nyoongar calendar here.
Djeran, which marks the start of “autumn” covers April and May. Here is an excerpt taken from the Bureau of Meteorology:
Djeran season at last sees a break in the really hot weather. A key indicator of the change of season is the cool nights that once again bring a dewy presence for us to discover in the early mornings.
The winds have also changed, especially in their intensity, with light breezes being the go and generally swinging from southerly directions (i.e. southeast to southwest). Many flying ants can be seen cruising around in the light winds.
Djeran has always been our favourite time of the year as the temperatures become milder and you can start to feel the chill in the air with the approach of the cooler months.
We headed down to the south west for a few days break at the end of March/early April. Apart from a bit of rain on our first day, we had glorious weather throughout our stay.
Since I’ve posted many times before about this special part of the world (see here for my South West Collection), here is a pictorial guide of our trip. We stayed at some lovely chalets (Wyadup Brook Cottages) a few kilometres south of the settlement of Yallingup. Our family, including our 2 granddaughters, joined us for a couple of days and it was the perfect location, slightly off the beaten track but still accessible to all the myriad attractions in the region. The cottages are all named after local flowers and we stayed in the curiously named “Pixie Mops” or, to give it its correct botanical name, “Petrophile linearis“
Our first day was the only one where it briefly rained but nothing like the winter storms we’ve been having here the past month or so (we’re now well into Makuru, the coldest and wettest time of the year). It fined up enough for a walk down to the beach at Yallingup. I always love the soft shades of sage green and muted greys along the south west WA coast.
We had a special belated lunch for my birthday at Cullen Winery, a perennial favourite of ours, which we have been visiting for many years and which I have blogged about previously (see here).
I did a short hike with our elder daughter along the Cape to Cape Track to a look-out point near Canal Rocks. The view was spectacular especially on a glorious almost cloudless day.
We came back to Canal Rocks (part of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park) on the last day of our trip. The wind was up a bit more than a couple of days earlier, but it was good to be able to walk out again on the wooden boardwalk, which has been reopened after sustaining considerable damage in wild storms in 2020.
Finally we couldn’t go back to Perth without stopping by for some sustenance at the Cape Lavender Tea House!
Copyright © 2023 Rosemary Thomas Le Chic En Rose
Le Chic En Rose 
I think splitting the year into 6 works much better. And getting away for an autumn break is a great idea. Especially if you combine it with a visit to a vineyard! Pixie Mops is a great name and a very pretty flower!
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Yes it works much better Jude so for example March is still quite hot and yet people complain it should be cooler as it’s autumn. It’s actually part of Bunuru (February and March) which is in fact the hottest part of the year! It does change towards the end of the month though as we come into Djeran. Early April is a wonderul time of the year for a trip down south. All the cottages at Wyadup Brook had native floral names and am sure you would recognise many of them!
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All looks beautiful – a great break!
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It was a lovely few days break Anabel! 🙂
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Busy, happy and healthy. You can’t wish for more, can you? As always I’m drawn to the coast, Rosemay. Stay well!
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Thanks Jo – it was a lovely break 🙂 Lots of winter bugs now doing the rounds here – Monsieur had Covid a couple of weeks ago (I was fine throughout) and our daughter, who’s a teacher, and grandaughters had some flu type bug. Everyone much better now 🙂 Have a lovely week xx
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Health does tend to overshadow everything. You have to stay fit to look after everyone else! Take good care, darlin!
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