Rare sight in the middle of dirt road amazes Aussies as 'countryside lights up'

The photo of tufts of pink wildflowers emerging from the rural road has caught the attention of locals and tourists.

The dirt road in WA's Kellerberrin Shire with the dozens of pink wildflowers growing in the middle.
A photographer was 'cruising' along back roads in WA's Kellerberrin Shire when she stumbled upon the striking pink wildflowers. Source: Facebook/Christine Chandler

A woman was “cruising” along a dusty red “back road” nestled among patches of golden fields when a sudden flash of colour ahead brought her to a halt.

Emerging from the dirt in front lay dozens of bright pink wildflowers growing in two almost perfectly straight rows. The “amazing” sight prompted the photographer to jump out and capture the moment, creating an image that would leave thousands of other Aussies in awe.

The “absolutely stunning” image, taken in Kellerberrin Shire — about 200km inland from Perth in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region — has left locals and tourists alike gushing after the woman posted it online last week.

“Just beautiful this time of year travelling around and seeing all the wildflowers,” one person commented, while others shared their own photos of natives they had spotted on their travels.

The state’s wildflower season — which runs from August to November — has been more striking than previous years, conservation biologist Steve Hopper told Yahoo News on Thursday.

Every 10 years, presumably due to the amount of winter rain, the “countryside lights up”, he said.

The tufts of purplish-pink flowers growing in the middle of the dirt road are actually a native succulent named disphyma crassifolium, otherwise known as round-leaved pig face, “which is a bit unusual in Australian deserts”, the professor explained.

Dozens of wreath flowers on the side of the rural road in Pindar, WA.
Wreath flowers growing along a 100m stretch of road in Pindar, in rural WA, attract up to 10,000 tourists a year. Source: Helen Ansell/Supplied

Only five per cent of the thousands of varieties of wildflowers seen in WA are succulents, which have “adapted to inland red soils” and “pretty hard dirt” roads, he told Yahoo. Their seeds are dispersed in the wind or by birds.

The state’s “unique” native plants — such as the “incredibly rare” wreath flowers that come alive on a 100-metre stretch of dirt on Beringarra-Pindar Road — attract thousands of tourists from around the world.

“We know based on current statistics that about half the wildflowers found in Western Australia are found nowhere else on the planet including eastern Australia,” Professor Hopper said.

Learn more about wildflowers found in the Golden Outback.

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