Memory of late partner blooms in sharing wildflowers

Memory of late partner prompts annual WA wildflower pilgrimage Leonie Aspin travels from New Zealand to Western Australia's Mid West each year as a kaleidoscope of colourful blooms emerges after winter rains. For months, she volunteers as a wildflower tour guide in Morawa, 360 kilometres north-east of Perth, in memory of her late partner,Ray Fraser, a former shearer who died from brain cancer in 2022. It was Mr Fraser who taught her about wildflowers during long drives around the region. "[Ray] would sometimes in the morning say, 'Do you want to go hunting for orchids?' and it was just like, 'Yes please,'" Ms Aspin said. "He was just the best in that aspect." Grief-stricken, Ms Aspin moved to New Zealand after Mr Fraser's death, before the lure of wildflowers brought her back. "It got to a point where I just missed the wildflowers, and it got to the point where I had to test my little heart again," she said. Ms Aspin now returns each year to continue their shared hobby, guiding tourists to carpets of blooms and pointing out the more understated, hidden gems. "I know he'll never be there again, but it just helps fill that little empty hole in my heart," she said. Loading...Ms Aspin draws parallels between her grief and the seasonal blooms. "We all have to get off the boat at some time, don't we? And just like wildflowers, well, it's a complete circle of life,"she said. "To see the red dirt transform after the rains into absolute colour; you can't explain it, you need to see it." Business behind the blooms Ms Aspin said tourists were starting to flock to the Mid West. "It's starting to amp up now, so it will only get busier, so the next month will be absolutely probably crazy,"she said. She said the annual influx was an important boost for the small communities scattered across the wildflower region. "People are going to need food, coffees, accommodation, obviously fuel," she said. "It just benefits the whole town." Tom Pilkington travels from Perth annually to see WA's wildflowers, this year making the four-hour journey to Morawa. He said the hospitality of the small town was a real drawcard, along with the abundance of blooms. "It's a lovely little place … everybody's really friendly and helpful," he said. "They're just over the moon with giving you information [about] which way to go." 'Other-worldly' scenes Carla Read and Ray Hatton also travelled from Perth, camping in Morawa while on a five-day journey to Lake Ballard. The pair said they had not done much wildflower touring before, but were considering making it an annual tradition. "I never used to understand the gold and green thing, and now driving here, I fully get it because everything is gold and green," Ms Read said. "Being in nature and seeing the flowers … it just takes you somewhere else out of who you normally relate to being. "It's just other-worldly really. "It's just that nature. The colour, freedom, the open skies, it's just beautiful, and the red dirt. I love that."