Blooming Invisible

It's nothing like the tourist brochures out here on the wildflower trail. The promised expanses of everlasting daisies are a riot of brown, the crippling drought postponing, if not canceling, their show. Here and there a scarlet burst of desert pea catches the eye, and the soft orange of the acorn banksia glows above creamy white smokebush along the road, but this season's wildflower hunt demands a little more effort.

The Kalbarri National Park, cut by the gorges of the Murchison River, borders the North West Coastal Highway. It contains more than 800 wildflower species, but they're...