Perth’s own Alice in Wonderland
Alongside a freeway, a highway and right across the road from a residential area, how could this garden be such a secret? It has been sweeping across social media for the last few months with posters refusing to share the location and even going as far as to send people on a wild goose chase.
Being the goose, I was sent to two other wetlands before I found this one and was surprised to see it bubbling with activity when it was ‘suppose’ to be such a secret! Lovers holding hands, couples with their dogs, teens and a mother with three little girls dressed up as princesses holding mushroom props, I had arrived during peak hour.
Wild vines took over everything, crawling up trees, covering parts of the ground, creeping over fallen branches. This secret wonderland would be perfect for a film set. Maybe a Perth version of Alice in Wonderland?
See Also: Perth’s Secret Garden Wonderland: A private or public place?
The heavy rain we have had lately has made this wetland swamp very… well wet and swampy. Making it a little magical and wonderful especially with the birds filling the air with their songs. Unfortunately the area was quite heavy with litter; cups, paper, chip packets, chocolate wrappers and thongs (as in footwear) were wedged in the mud everywhere. Even though you feel quite isolated standing amongst the wild vines, you can still hear traffic and children yelling from the oval less then 100m on either side and the entire ‘wonderland’ smelt like an animal farm.
Ankle deep in mud, I didn’t get to explore all the way in because I neglected to bring gumboots or togs. Some parts were so water logged you could swim in it. This secret wonderland is the Careniup Wetlands at Careninup Lake in Gwelup, City of Stirling. Careniup is a Noongar (Indigenous Australians who live in the South-West corner of Western Australia) name for a nearby swamp which means ‘a place where the bush kangaroo graze’.
Here is a very short video I took.
DIRECTIONS!
The coordinates to the opening of the garden are: -31.860481, 115.795600
For Perth's Secret Garden Wonderland location via @tweetperth Please fill in contact form on http://t.co/2jTcwmx30U pic.twitter.com/azMHHh70Lr
— Myra Peggy Rose (@myrapeggyrose) June 18, 2015
Here are some more photographs:
In my next article
Important things we have learned from our Mid-Term Exams and how to ACE your WACE!