After such a wonderful time in the Stirling Ranges last year – more particularly Mount Trio bush camp – we went back this year for a slightly longer stay and had just as wonderful a time. This year we have again had relatively late rains but they have been more prolonged than last year including a warm wet October. The result being the wildflowers were amazing and the camera got a real workout. We have tried to select some of the best images below so you can share our wonderful holiday experiences:
An early start meant brunch at our usual stop in Boyup Brook before the last
leg to Mount Trio Bush Camp. With the annex to sort out the camp set up
took a mere hour or so:
The camp ground hadn’t changes much (thankfully) remaining gimmick free
as it only has a camp kitchen, toilet/shower block, communal fire place and
a pong table:
The 1km’ish nature trail right off the camp ground was ablaze with flowers and
many hours were spent searching for orchids:
On the first walk Moo spied a goanna, something we didn’t get to see last year:
The ground was full of paper daisies and button flowers, to Moo it felt like one
big fairy garden:
All the outdoor activities had it’s down side, one being the cleaning of Moo’s feet:
On Lisa’s birthday we went off for our first hike, which Lisa chose Talyuberlup:
The walk was a bit of a slog until we reached the rocky peak:
From a ledge there was the final ramp to the top”
Lisa wasn’t too keen on that bit so stayed on the ledge (if you can spot her):
Moo and I went on up the last scramble and took in the view:
On the way down we appreciated even more so all the flowers that we didn’t
really take notice off was we had trudged up with our heads down:
On the road home we helped a bobtail lizard off the road, but we wasn’t very
happy about it:
Lisa spent the afternoon tucked into a book, happy as a pig in pooh:
She was so engrossed in her book that she didn’t even notice a goanna that
was just a few meters in front of her:
The camp owners John and Margot kindly lent us some walk and climbing
books so we could explore some of the lesser advertised walks (we also did
a bit of kid share as their daughter Maddy came to play and Moo also went
to their house to play):
One walk we plucked from their books was up Red Gum Hill, a short but very
colourful walk and much more relaxing on the legs than Talyuberlup:
The top was more rounded with no rocks but no less beautiful, and abound with
even more flowers:
Some of which were incredibly striking, and worthy of a prickly walk through
thicker bush to get a closer look:
Back at camp we had brought games and books to keep us occupied during
the wetter times and evenings, we were all tucked into various stages of Harry
Potter books and for games Moo even started to learn crib:
In the second week some friends came to stay, and have a rock climb:
So for two days I managed to get out for a climb, and in usual style this meant
getting up before the sun to make the most of the daylight:
To get to the base of the climbs involved a walk of an hour plus, mostly up
steep bushy country. The big day was a 250m’ish climb up the front face of
Bluff Knoll. The climbing is more like Alpine climbing with lots of blocks, ledges,
loose stuff and interesting route finding:
The climb took five hours to reach the top, and we were ever bit as beat as
Ryan looks in this image:
Part way down on the walk down we bumped into Lisa and Moo who had been
watching us as we had finished off the last bit of the climb:
On the drive back Lisa had a close encounter with a Tiger Snake:
Having almost been run over he wasn’t too happy, his flattened head told me
to stay well back. After a while is calmed down and slithers back into the verge:
On our last day we fancied a more relaxed walk so went to the nearby
Porongurup Range to walk up Castle Rock, being a wetter area the flowers
seemed even thicker:
The hour’ish stroll through amazing colours led us to the rocky top:
The last bit was up a ladder to a glass sided, see through floored look out.
Lisa breathed in deep and also went up but only briefly:
Then Moo, Ryan and myself went for an explore, mostly we followed Moo
through narrow gaps and caves:
It was great fun but some were so ridiculously narrow only Moo could get through:
After our play we found Lisa and had a nibble under the balancing rock before
the walk down:
That night we watched the sun set on our last day:
In the morning Lisa got her last holiday fix of Harry Potter (she got through two
books and started a third while we were away!), and I went for a last look at
the flowers:
When I got back Moo was just getting up and was very excited to be heading
home to see her rats:
We managed to pack up most things before the drizzle came, then a stop at
John and Margot’s for a cuppa and chat before we hit the road home:
For those that haven’t had their photo fix yet here are a few of the orchid (many I didn’t see last year), flower and fungi images I took round the camp site:
Not sure but this may be an orchid cross between a white spider and zebra orchid:
This being a zebra orchid:
And this being a white spider orchid:
There were also tiny Leek Orchids:
Moo particularly liked the pink dwarf orchids:
Having a mix of weather allowed me to get a great variety of images:
The paper daises were prolific creating blankets of pink, closed in the morning:
Then magically opening up every day:
The pink carpet was interspersed with many other flowers:
If you looked even deeper there was another ‘layer’ of flowers underneath:
Lisa made a passing comment about how amazing the fungi were as they
forced there way out of the ground, and that got me taking images of these to,
I have no idea what were all are so will leave you to enjoy the images:
If you have made it this far down and are still concentrating we will now enlighten you as to why we chose the email title we did: John rightly so corrected us by telling us we are no longer going on camping holidays as what with our pop up caravan, side annex power and water site we are really glamping (or glamour camping for those that didn’t quite make the connection).
Sandbagged 