Having lived in this area for close to fifteen years you would have thought we would have hunted out the local spots to go for a wander. However, there are still a few places left for us to explore, one being Wellington National Park. I have climbed here, way too many times, in fact it is probably the crag that I have been to the most and my number of trips would likely be in the triple digits:
However, neither Lisa nor I have really explored the park and we kept hearing about some great walk trails. But… they are certainly not well advertised. When we first came over from Alice Springs there was nothing, and even now it is hard to find information out about them. There are a few boards up at the park but they are not overly informative, and there is limited information online with only a couple of the marked trails being noted:
So yesterday we finally went out there for a wander, we had in mind to hike the Silka Trail and approximate 10km loop walk. The reason being that information as available for this one online, and Lisa isn’t all that keen on just winging it. It was very different from our wander earlier in the week, the landscape was filled with tall Jarrah and Marri trees. The understorey wasn’t thick but there were lots of Cycads and Grass Trees, formerly call blackboys until that was deemed too racist:
The Cycads remind us of Alice Springs. With thick leathery leaves, too tough for any animals to gnaw on. As the first image shows there were lots with seed cones forming, and these plants are reputed to be the oldest seed plants about. Also out were plenty of flowers and so once again it was not a fast walking pace, the place was littered with Karri Cowslip Orchids (the second image). Distinguishable from the more common Cowslip due to the flower growing on a long stem:
I’m pretty sure the second orchid image is of a Blue China Orchid, and these too seemed to be plentiful. In fact I thought they were all the same until we got home and I started to look at them in more detail at noticed the differences. Maybe I need to take my field guide out with me, but if I did that we would walk even slower:
For a good chunk of the walk we could hear the majestic Red Tailed Black Cockatoos, gentle cawing above. As the image shows there were young about and the parents were feeding them. We stopped for a bite to eat early on, which gave us a bit of time to sit and watch them. Hoping to get a glimpse of the flash of red as they fanned their tails open:
We managed to see the bright red, but the images I got were not that fabulous. So instead, as I scoured the area, you instead get an image of a mushroom coming out. It feel it is a little late in the season for them but I always like seeing fungi so had to stop and lie on the ground to get a good look. And above I am taking an image of the water drops decorating a web, in which you can make out the entrance to the spiders home:
The day before Lisa and I had been in town and due to the prospect of getting out walking more often I started to think about getting a new lens for my SLR camera, possibly a macro for close up images. But I decided not to get one yet, and am glad of that as today I took out my waterproof point and shoot camera that I use for snorkelling. This has a macro setting and it was the first time I used it, needless to say I don’t think I need to bother with the new lens for my SLR:
I am pretty happy with the image quality of the above Jewel Beetle. I took a few more that were equally good. One was of a moth that had the same stunning colours when you looked at it from the right angle, but from other angles it just looked a dull dark brown. The treasures kept appearing and the next one was a Pink Fairy Orchid, the white flora tips are what makes me sure I have got this one right:
I only found one of the above orchids, but the next one was a little more common. This was the one that I was confusing with the Blue China Orchid, but it is obviously very different, and I’m still a little embarrassed to admit I didn’t notice it while we were out. This one is a Silky Blue Orchid the speckled patter and more upright column, as well as pale colour being quite different:
I found a few of these, and on one I noticed a tiny spider on the back of one of the petals. It crawled out into full view allowing me to get some great images, testing what I found out to be the battery guzzling macro setting a bit more. I’ve had a quick look on Google but don’t think I have a hope of finding out the name of the spider, which was only half a centimetre in size:
Seeing this walk was a little long we came prepared with snacks and, better still, a hot flask of tea. Just over half way round we stopped for a cuppa, and soaked in the silence of the forest. We only came across one other group, and we knew they were out as we saw them head off. Not that we are completely antisocial but we decided to walk the loop in the opposite direction to them:
The first half of the trail was on lower ground, near but never close to the reservoir. The ground was mostly dry and in summer this place would heat up like an oven, with not a drop of moisture to spare so the amount of flowers out was a little surprising. The second half of the walk was on higher territory and felt even drier, the narrow path of before became more of a fire track as it went up and down the gentle hills:
In this are there were also Banksia trees with their very distinct and ornate cones, but the taller Marri and Jarrah trees stayed with us for the whole hike. As we approached the magically 10,000 steps Lisa was waiting for her Fitbit to congratulate her with a display of fireworks, but due to me wanting to get an image of her technology she missed the chance and there is also no image, she might have had a little moan:
I can’t complain though, as she carried the pack for the whole walk. I did offer but she feels that she isn’t doing as much exercise at the moment, so considered that this would help her out in getting a bit fitter. Now I mentioned the Grass Trees before, well they were also in spring mode, but they do not flower every year. There were lots that were and the flowers were coming out on some of the tall spear like spikes:
The small spiny flowers were poking out from the spike, and these are known to produce a lot of nectar that attracts insects and birds alike. Some had several spikes, and not all were standing tall and straight. Instead woven into curves and at times coils. It was in the last few kilometres that we got a few vistas, with no soil covering the granite rock here the tall trees were not able to grow:
As we made our way back under the trees we came across a clump of Little Pink Fan Orchids. The dorsal sepals, or in more understandable language bottom two petals, are joined which is one of the features that gives it away. There were not many of these ones about, and in truth I thought that this would be the last variety I would find as Lisa’s Fitbit was indicating that we should be close to 13,500 steps and the 10km mark:
All of a sudden I gave Lisa a scare when I spotted something on the side of the track and jumped across her path. She was probably thinking it was a reptile most likely a snake, but today it had been overcast and quite cool with even a bit of drizzle. So it was not a scaled friend but a Wallflower Donkey Orchid, one of my favourite orchids to find and on this walk it was also the last:
As we trudged along the final part we noticed rusted barrels, which I swear would have been a still in the days when it was an illegal it have alcohol. Our very last find was an old banger. Left here to rust away, which will no doubt take many decades and by the look of it its been here a great many already. We made it back to our car and the Fitbit told us we had walked approx. 17,000 steps and a little over 10.5km, a great walk and we will come back to experience the other trails another day:
Sandbagged 