Lisa and I, encouraged by a lovely but short walk last weekend, headed out today for a longer hike inland. Neither of us had been to Greenbushes before, and I have only ever know it as a lithium mine with a town site tacked on. That’s a bit harsh as Greenbushes has been round since 1888, and has been a mining and timber town ever since. But we hadn’t come here to wander round the streets of the town looking at the numerous information boards on many of the buildings telling us what they had been used for in years gone by:
We had come here to hike round the fifteen kilometre loop walk, which started right in the centre of the town. Being a small place it didn’t take long before we got off the tarmac and headed into the forest. This comprises both old growth and rehabilitated areas. While signs of former mining were evident, which gave us a hint of areas that were probably rehabilitated, I have to say that we really couldn’t tell which was which. One thing was however very clear and that was there were heaps of mosquitoes out:
As a result Lisa was less keen to stop, as I found little treasures to capture. This included many Pink Fairy Orchids that seemed to be scattered along the path almost from the very beginning. I had also brought my SLR camera today, as this walk would take us past numerous dams of various sizes. I had in mind that I would today spot a few birds and get some good shots of the numerous water birds that are reputed to be found here. The first dam was Greenbushes Pool, and was a day use area equipped with play equipment and jetties:
With more regular use I wasn’t surprised that there were no waterbirds to see here, but it was still a lovely spot. As we walked round the pool, and as a consolatory prize we spotted New Holland Honeyeaters flitting about in the bushes. We managed to somehow get a bit side tracked and missed the signs resulting in us having a self-guided tour of the campsites here, before we got back on the track. Leaving dam number one behind us we entered the forest once more:
The track was lovely, a meandering path working its way through the trees. Wattle bushes were in full bloom, and some had started to go past their due date. They filled the air with a fragrance that is very distinctive, and so loved by many that it is used in oils and candles. I’m not going to try and identify which wattles we saw. Most had the familiar pompom type flowers, but others were more of an elongated cylinder shape. I scoured both sides of the path as we went along and spotted the very occasional Banded Greenhood Orchid, as well as Pink Fairy Orchids:
For those that read every post, you may recall that when Lisa and hiked the Bridgetown Jarrah Park (https://sandbagged.blog/2021/07/25/bleedin-trees/) we came across a plant that looked exotic. However, Howsie advised that it was probably the native Tassel Flower and also that the flowers, which were not out at the time, were supposed to be beautiful. Well today we came across them again and this time they were in flower, and indeed they were amazing to see and very much not as I expected. With many tendrils full of colourful flowers:
I continued to look intensely down at the sides of the path, remembering to occasionally also look up and take in the bigger picture of where we were lucky to be walking today. At first I thought I spotted just another Banded Greenhood Orchid, but this one was solitary and only had one flower atop the stem. Not being one I have come across before I took a punt and suggested to Lisa it was a Pitcher Orchid. They don’t however seem to be native to Australia but I wasn’t far off with the idea, and can confirm it was a Jug Orchid:
I wasn’t only taken by the orchids that were out, in fact other than the Pick Fairy Orchids there seemed to be very few about. There were plenty of other flowers, but it was hard to capture the spectacle that we were seeing. Many of the flowers were small and spread out, so the photos just didn’t do them justice. And with the light of the day becoming steadily brighter, as the sun was getting higher in the sky, the background of greens and browns took over. I did like this flower, which was quite different to the others both in shape and colour and is the brown or scented Boronia:
Soon we were at the second dam, a much larger water body than the first. This was one was called Schwenke’s Dam and was advertised as being a great bird spotting location. As we looked over the still water all we saw were the dead trunks of the trees that had been flooded out when they built the dam. Not a hint of movement and again there was no need to pull out my SLR camera, as no birds were to be seen. The sound of frogs was however delightful. But we know better than to try and find them, it would be a hopeless task:
We carried on back into the forest and here we came across what was probably the best shot I got to capture the colours. The perfume of the wattles came and went as we walked through the forest and the Pink Fairy Orchids were still about along the side of the track. Almost like a series of guiding lights showing us the way to go. We did hear a few birds as we walked, the familiar Ring Necked Parrot and Red Tailed Cockatoo, but all too distant to be seen. There were a few small birds, but they moved so fast that it was hard to make them out:
Soon we hit dam number three, this one being called Mount Jones Dam. Before we got here we passed Flat Rock Falls, and the sound of the cascading water caught our attention and we stopped there for a bit. Listening to the frogs and watching the water bubbling over the rocks. At the dam it was time to have a cuppa, this was the third-way mark of the walk and provided a lovely outlook. Thankfully as the day warmed up the mosquitoes started to disappear, and as we sat drinking our tea we also pondered where all the birds had disappeared too:
As we crossed the dam wall I finally found a bird worth stopping for and spending time to observe. It is the first Bird Orchid I’ve come across and it was stunning, and looked to me just like a little humming bird. Everything about it looked delicate and perfect, and I took heaps of images from all angles, as I doubt I’ll get to see one again for a long time. Needless to say, having found this bird I wasn’t so worried about trying to find the real thing anymore, and wasn’t disappointed that we didn’t see any birds after this:
Passing the third dam the track joined up with the Bibbiblium trail, which goes from Albany on the south coast all the way to Perth. I continued along this path with an ear to ear grin, and while we didn’t see any new flowers or orchids, other than Pink Fairy Orchids my mood could not be dampened. The track remained small and meandering, but the soils changed from gravel to sand as we went over the ridges, and then returned to gravel as we came back down. As the soils changed the vegetation also changed:
Through this section the wattles seemed to disappear, and the Banksia’s took over. Overhanging the track with branches leaning heavily with cones that had already flowered, but still look amazing. When we stood still the forest was almost silent, other than distant birds and it was a wonderfully peaceful place to be. The amount of flowers in this section also seemed to reduce, but that didn’t worry us any. And of course there was the occasional Pink Fairy Orchid, just to indicate we were still on the right path:
Something that was missing from this walk, which we had seen plenty of in our walks this year was fungi. Despite all the dams and creeks here, the landscape through which we walked seemed reasonably dry underfoot. I could count on my fingers how many times we came across fungi, and most of the species were similar to what we have seen before. This little collection was however too nice to pass by, and might be my last fungi image for the year unless we come across some really spectacular:
Just before we left the Bibbiblium trail and got back on the Greenbushes Loop walk we came to the edge of the forest and had a great vista across the farmland. This was the two-thirds mark of the hike and a bench had been strategically placed here, making it an ideal time for our second break. Out came the flask proving us with another lovely cuppa, as we looked out across the lush green grass. A sign that there was still plenty of water about, despite the lack of fungi on display:
As we hit the trail again I spotted a single orchid, one I wasn’t able to identify while out on the walk. I knew it wouldn’t be too hard to work out due to the distinctive cluster of deep purple calii on the labellum, which looked a little like an overflowing plater of caviar. The sepals and petals also had a distinct deep purple club at each of their ends. This was the only orchid I found that wasn’t of the greenhood genus, other than the Pink Fairies of course. And it is a Leaping Spider Orchid, another new sighting for me to add to my list:
I mentioned the greenhood genus of orchids. They are distinguishable by their mainly green colour, also the dorsal sepals and petals being joined and forming a hood. This is true of the Greenhoods, Jug and Bird Orchids we had seen today and then also these Tall Snail Orchids, which we found soon after. It was clearly the Tall Snail Orchid as the plants stood some 250mm or more high. However, the flower itself is quite small, and to give an indication of size the flower above is approximately 70mm tip to tip, whereas this snail orchid flower is no more than 30mm high including the tall antenna:
Soon after leaving the Bibbiblium trail the meandering little path became a wide dirt road. One that was under construction, and it looked like they may have been laying a water supply pipeline. There were dieback spray stations for the vehicles, the track was wide and disturbed, survey pegs lined the side and the feel of the walk completely changed. At this point it seemed we might need to wade through the water, until Lisa spotted the original path with a small wooden crossing:
The wide track continued for most of the way back into Greenbushes, and we sped up the pace. It was harder to watch out for flowers on this really wide track with the sides all disturbed with gravel piled up. But the ever present Pink Fairy Orchids stayed with us till the end, right up till when we popped out of the forest and back onto the tarmac. As we approached the car the signs had proven right and it had taken us close to five hours to complete the loop. And it had been five very well spent hours:
Before leaving Greenbushes we drove a short distance to take a look at one of the now disused lithium mines. A deep pit of near vertical walls, making you wonder how they had managed to construct and mine from it. It was then time to jump in the car and head home. It wasn’t until we were back on the highway heading north that I realised I had left my buffalo jacket on the roof rack to dry out. Sadly despite retracing our tracks it was nowhere to be found, but I wasn’t going to let that dampen another great day out:
Sandbagged 