It seems that there is always something on to stop us from dragging the camper trailer out of the shed. Which is where it has been stashed since April this year, but this weekend the stars aligned and we finally got away. The last time, despite it being glorious weather at home, we drove straight into some pretty bad weather that stayed with us for the two day trip. It felt like this might become a bit of a trait, and again left home only to drive through the rain. Fortunately, our destination was dry so we popped the trailer up straight away in case it changed:
It felt wintry and cold and was hard to read the sky. So to warm up we took a gamble and headed out for a hike, which had been our original intention. However, Lisa wasn’t feeling like she had much energy so put a limit of 5km on the walk. We followed the Sika trail, a walk we have done before but neither of us could recall the length. No matter, as Lisa would simply track our progress on her Fitbit and we would do a 180, heading back from where we came when we hit the magical 2.5km. My recent walks looking for orchids have been through bush with flowers starting to burst into life:
And while there were some flowers out today the landscape, like the weather, had that wintry feel to it. We mostly saw browns and greens, with the occasional splash of yellow that was predominantly a result of two plants. The first being the below Yellow Buttercups (Hibbertia hypericoides), which is one of the most common understorey shrubs to be found both in Jarrah forest and coastal plain alike, all the way from Geraldton down to Albany. But today it wasn’t these flowers that caught my eye as I took this image:
I was of course looking for orchids, and there is a Pink Fairy Orchid (Caladenia latifolia) nestled underneath the protective covering of this common shrub. What with Lisa not having her usual energy, I could take advantage of the slightly slower pace and look about a bit more. And whether to reduce the pace further or not Lisa was also on the hunt. Unlike the banksia woodlands on the coastal plains, the orchids here look to be a little slower in making an appearance. And we only spotted two other variety being the below Silky Blue Orchid (Caladenia sericea), and Slender Snail Orchid (Pterostylis crispula):
The other thing that slowed us down, was all the up slopes. This became a bit of a joke as we walked round, and came about from a group of four not so serious mountain bikers. They had just been round this loop, and the one at the tail end had said while it was a lovely trail it was marred by the fact that there was way too much uphill than downhill. Despite the slower than normal pace, which was not due to the orchid hunting for a change, we both enjoyed being out and the need to check for the 2.5km mark was forgotten:
I’m sure Lisa was aware of this, but made no mention of it and I was more than happy to keep walking. As a result we ended up completing double the nominated distance, by finishing the 10km circuit. In addition to the wintery feel and lack of flowers, we also noticed that there wasn’t much chatter in the forest. We only heard a solitary Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, and there were very few other birds out and about. Maybe they were huddled away to keep warm. We eventually caught sight of the reservoir, and then we knew we were close:
Our chosen campsite being Potters Gorge, on the edge of the Wellington Dam reservoir. As we walked the last section the ground looked to be lit up once more by thousands of little light bulbs. Being the bright yellow pompom flowers of an acacia, and the second yellow flower that seemed to be out in force. With so many species of acacia, I am not game to narrow this one down. Back at camp we had a snack and made a cuppa, but once the food was gone we started to feel cold and decided it was time to have a lie down in the camper:
We never came back out, and by the time we thought about it darkness had descended and neither of us were hungry enough to make the effort. And instead stayed warm and cosy inside the trailer. And in the morning, as light crept into the sky beyond the tops of the trees that towered above us, Lisa stayed continued to stay put. Nothing new there from whenever we head out for a camp, and I made a brew for each of us before going on a solo wander as she read her book drifting in and out of sleep:
I walked a short couple of kilometres to the quarry. Knowing that I would have a few hours to kill I the morning, I had brought my climbing shoes just in case the chance came up. the lack of orchids out at the moment resulted in the opportunity indeed presenting itself. Being by myself and only having my shoes, I endeavoured to boulder up to and back down from the first bolt on every line. It may not sound like a lot but resulted in approx. 240m of climbing if I counted both going up and back down. Arriving back at the campsite right on time Lisa had just finished her cuppa and was keen for a second:
The intention was to allow Lisa to continue stay in bed reading until she had finished the second cuppa, but sadly this didn’t happen. It started to drizzle and the clouds were rolling in across the reservoir. And rather than deal with a soggy trailer when we got home, we both agreed it was worth packing it away quickly. Something that takes no more than a couple of minutes. We could still make breakfast in the dry due to the camp shelter conveniently located next to our campsite, which we did before hitting the road. And as we had the day before we drove in the rain. I’m not sure the trip out energised Lisa’s batteries, but we both thoroughly enjoyed and felt better for the short getaway:
Sandbagged 