Over this last couple of weeks I have inundated you with posts, however both Lisa and I will be back at work next week. That means there will be less time for adventures and of course less posts coming through. Being the last weekend of our holidays we headed back to Wellington National Park, with the intention of walking the Kurliiny Tjenangitj Trail. This trail includes a bit of the track along the Colie River and then veers off up the granite hills for some specky lookouts before looping back to the riverside track:
As it was the lookout loop section of the walk was closed, as well as the trail we had done last week. Despite it being school holidays, a weekend, glorious weather and every campsite in the park booked some clever person decided to close some of the trails and do a controlled burn. We did however have a backup plan and that was to take the Jabitj Trail, which followed the Collie River upstream all the way to the café near where I usually climb. As you can see we were immediately greeted with some stunning flowers:
The first two images are of Scented Sun Orchids, which can come in a variety of colours. I’ve had to do some investigative work for this post and can say that what makes me sure of these is that unlike the Blue Lady Orchid the petals are less rounded and more pointy shaped. Continuing on our walk Lisa somehow spotted these two skinks hidden behind a small shrub. We watched them for a while, one can be seen biting the other and they ended up coiled together in a tight knot and we assuming they were mating:
The trail followed the Collie River, but didn’t run right along the water’s edge. It instead wove along the bank through tall trees in the gullies and then over open rocky areas, as it went over the ridges that dipped from the top of the valley down to the river. The gurgling sound of the river as it cascaded down the rocky channel came and went, as we moved further and closer to the channel and also at times being masked by the vegetation:
Despite a late start, having left the car at 11:30, and it being predicted to be a warm 23 degrees the shade of the trees made it a lovely temperature to be walking in. While the images may not show it there were flowers all over, and the next find was what I think may be a Beautiful Donkey Orchid. I have to admit to struggling with this one, and have come to this conclusion due to the mauve-tinged labellum:
It is also different to the Common Donkey Orchid, as you will see later on. Below is the first open section we came across and the ground and lower storey shrubs were littered with flowers. We spied a Splendid Fairy Wren in the shrubs, but these little birds rarely stay still so we just enjoyed seeing it briefly before it went on its way. Out of the shade you could feel the bite of the sun, a warning that summer is on its way:
Regardless of that bite went spent a bit of time checking out all the flowers in this area, and of course I managed to find yet another beetle to photograph. I have joined QuestaGame, a global web based platform on which you can post any flora or fauna findings and other people using the system can help identify them for you. This is one of the ways that Howsie has helped me before, so now I will be popping some of my better finds that have me foxed to see if I can get an answer:
In addition to the Splendid Fairy Wren we saw the usual suspects including Willie Wagtails, Fantails, and both the Long Billed (below) and Red Tailed Black Cockatoos. Most kept their distance and could be heard but were hidden from sight in the tall trees, but this one was quite low down allowing us to get a really good look. It was hard to know whether to look up or down, and on this trail it seemed whichever we chose there was so much to see:
The great flower, or more precisely orchid, hunt was what really drew my attention. And as such I was super excited when I found a small patch of these very dainty Rabbit Orchids. It is also possible to find Bunny Orchids and Hare Orchids, and I first thought that I had found the latter. It was not until checking the various guides at home that I learnt more about the three very different types, so there is no mistaking that this one was a Rabbit Orchid:
Lisa was also getting into it spending time to get that perfect picture and marvelling at all the finds. We were maybe going a little over the top with her phone camera (which is actually pretty damn good), my little point and shoot, as well as the big SLR. But when I get home I need a range of images to check all the fine details of each flower, including their stems and leafs. Without that level of inspection it can be near impossible to narrow down what we have actually seen:
I’ve got a field guide for orchids, which is now a bit outdated but still acts a good first check. Glen has put me onto a more contemporary and comprehensive web based guide that has loads of images that allow me to compare what we have seen. Below was the solitary Little Pink Fan Orchid we discovered. We also came across just one of these last time we came to the area, and I couldn’t resist including this image just because I feel these are very beautiful. The compressed image in this post may not show it clearly, but the outside of the petals and sepals are covered in fine hairs:
Using this new resource that Glen sourced, I reckon that the next find was a Twisted Sun Orchid. The colour made me think of a sun orchids, of which there are a few variety. While it is hard to see, due to the glare in the image, it has a slight purple colouration at the rear and top of the column, the bit in the middle of the petals and sepals. While only just visible in this image, in other sun orchids this colouration is far more pronounced with a couple of prolonged purple antenna visible:
Below is the Common Donkey Orchid, another one that we saw on the last walk in the area. If you flick between this image and that of what I believe to be the Beautiful Donkey Orchid you should see the differences I pointed out, i.e. the mauve-tinged labellum (which is also slightly differently shaped). We came across a couple more repeat finds including stacks of Cowslip Orchids and one Purple Enamel, which made Lisa happy.
It was a bumper find of orchids on this walk, but there was still one more that we found. I could immediately tell this was a little different, and due to the stripes on the side of the fringe I was thinking it may be a zebra/spider cross. But it is in fact a Leaping Spider Orchid, and I can be sure of this not only due to the petal and sepal configurations and distinct wide and plainly coloured sepals, but also the densely packed black calli on the apex of the labellum. The bit that looks like caviar:
We had seen all of these amazing flowers and other fauna in the first three kilometres of the walk. By now Lisa was getting peckish so we found a spot where the path got close to the river and found a boulder to perch on for a snack. While my trick photography makes it look like we had the place to ourselves, that was not the case. There were a number of others out walking on the trail, and at this spot a bunch of people who had parked on the other side of the river were picnicking:
That was the busiest spot that we came across, so I was pleased to leave it and carry on with the walk. From here the track got more rocky with more outcrops and a few steeper inclines and declines, but nothing too serious. We seemed to go a bit faster on this stretch and it wasn’t too long before we could see Wellington Dam. The trail ends at the café, which we were not interested in going too. So rather than hoick up the final hill just to turn back we carried on until we got close to the base of the dam before starting the return trip:
As we spun round and checked out the trail in reverse we could see the plume of smoke lifting from where they had decided to undertake a controlled burn. This changed the afternoon light and we could on occasion smell the smoke. Part way back we came across a couple of ladies who had taken a different walk trail from the café, and almost without warning walked into where the controlled burns were being undertaken. It seems that not only was the timing probably not all that sensible, but the warning signs were not adequately put out:
We didn’t hang about anywhere near as much going back, no snack breaks and only stopping if we saw something really worthwhile. Before we knew it we were on the homerun with another 10km wander under our belt and a heap more orchids found. I do wonder how many orchids were out there that we didn’t spot. I guess that is all the more reason to come back for another looksee, but maybe when they have finished with their controlled burns and opened up Kurliiny Tjenangitj Trail:
Sandbagged 