The theory was for Lisa and I to head up to Wellington National Park for a wander, overnight camp and then hit a second walk tomorrow. But plans change. It was not that we were put off by the fact that it had bucketed down the night before, the forecast from this morning onwards looked great. It was due to Lisa being hit by a migraine, and despite being laid out all day yesterday it was sadly still persisting today. She was however determined to get out, so dosed herself up with painkillers as we hit a coastal path:
As can be seen above evidence of the rain the night before was about, and for the first half of the walk the sky above couldn’t seem to make its mind up. That said the cloud cover, when it did pass over, provided some welcome relief from the rays of the sun. We had headed out to the Meelup Regional Park, a place I have been to heaps to climb at Castle Rock. But today the intention was to wander along the coastal path starting from Dunsborough and seeing how far north we would go:
The path is a well-trodden and mostly level path, perfect for Lisa today. On the first stretch to Castle Rock we were passed by many runners and families with children keen to scamper ahead. We however took our time and checked out the plants, colour was splattered all around with some familiar and some new ones to find. This area is the only place where it is possible to find the Cape Spider Orchid, and there are only six known populations and their location is a well-kept secret. Needless to say we were not lucky enough to find any of them:
As we walked along I kept a keen eye out, but didn’t see any orchids. I did however spot a big round rear end of an animal with brown fur and a slim short tail, which makes me pretty sure that it was a Quenda, or Bandicoot. Normally a nocturnal animal I was a little surprised but am convinced that is what I saw. We also came across something a little slower. This Red Headed Cockchafer beetle was laboriously hobbling along the path, I have previously come across their larvae when walking out from Bobs Hollow and it is considered a native pest:
Shortly afterwards we came across the first orchid, one that many would possibly walk past like Lisa would have. This is a Mignonette Orchid, also called an Onion Orchid. It has a single onion like leaf and a single stem, being nearly all green I believe it is the common variety and as such can have up to 100 flowers. Each of them only being about 5mm in length. The flowers do not portray the distinctive orchid sepal and petal configuration. On these flowers these parts are much smaller and the main distinguishing feature of the tiny flowers is the labellum that sticks out like a tongue and has a frilly end:
We passed Castle Rock and as we approached the next headland I suggested a little detour out to Copper Rocks. Not to climb, but just because it is such a lovely spot. Here Lisa had a snack and lay down to chill for a bit while I explored the nooks and crannies. The best find being this King Skink basking in the almost sunlight on the beautifully coloured granite that gives the boulders here their name. Just as we were about to move on Aaron and some from the Forest Adventure crew rocked up intending to have a boulder, so we had a quick chat and left them to it:
The next headland we passed was Sail Rock, and along the way we spotted a Purple Enamel, Cow Slip and Pink Fairy orchid. Only one population of each, and the Cowslip was a variety that didn’t show the familiar patterning, just being a plain yellow flower. The next find was a single Forrest Mantis Orchid, the green upright fringes and deep red pointy labellum giving it away. Not forgetting the two upright sepals at the front that mimic a praying mantis:
There were lots of other types of flowers in abundance, but we didn’t find any more orchids. The next landmark was the centre piece of the regional park, Meelup Beach. This is where most of the tourists end up, and it was pretty busy, so we didn’t hang about and carried on passing the headland of Gannet Rock. Shortly afterwards you come to Point Picquet, which we decided was far enough. By this time the sky was mostly clear and the bays separated by each of the headlands we had passed was the sort of turquoise colour that you had to see to believe. The images simply don’t do it justice:
On the way back we decided on another slight detour. This time taking the Meelup lookout path, which wove it’s way uphill. Near the start of this path I spied a stink bug, the intricate patterning of the shell was stunning and had what looked to be a couple of false eyes. Maybe to trick would be predators as to where the head was, and allowing it to run the other way. With Howsie’s assistance it has been identified as a Nymph of Gum Tree Shield Bug. Not quite an adult yet (adults have wings, nymphs are wingless), and is likely a later instar nymph (3rd or 4th) by counting the segment of its antennae. The nymphs go through 5 instar stages before they become adults:
The path took us high enough to get a great vista of the bays. As we made our way uphill and along the crest we came across quite a lot of Purple Enamel Orchids, but no others. Some may recall these are Lisa’s favourite orchid and I feel that they were rewarding her for managing to get out and about today. After soaking in the views we followed the path back down which eventually took us back to the masses at Meelup Beach, which we passed through quickly once again leaving the crowds behind us:
For most of the walk we had the company of birds hiding in the undergrowth, this included the New Holland Honeyeater that seemed to be ever present and not as shy as the others. We passed Copper Rocks just as Aaron and the boys were just packing up, so I said a quick hello as we moved on. We didn’t stop as much on the final leg of the walk, as we were getting hungry and the stuffed jalapenos at Occy’s were calling us. Hopefully Lisa will be feeling up to getting out for another wander tomorrow:
Sandbagged 