Today (13 September), we picked up the Buzz Bus! The campervan that will be our home for the next three weeks is very nice and with space to set up the lab to measure bees. After collecting the Buzz Bus, we drove to King’s Park in Perth where David and I met Ziggy, a researcher working at the Park studying the reproduction and population genetics of Australian plants. He had some great tips about plant watching and we had a ncie chat about the use of technology for studying pollinators. David and he work together in a cool project on a group of plants called Kangaroo Paws, and I learned that the Australian flora is particularly rich in bird-pollinated plants. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that bee pollinators will be hard to find! We spend the night in Perth, to prepare for the departure north the following day.
King’s Park is an amazing botanical garden. We spend way longer here than originally planned, but is impossible not to stop and admire the incredible collection of plants held here. Common and rare, small and enormous, the botanical garden has it all. My favourites include the baobab trees, the walking palms (Pandanus), and of course the beautiful views of Perth’s waterfront.