Firstly, I would like to ponder how it is that no matter how long you go away for, you seem to pack the same amount of "stuff". Two night, you say? Hey, let's take EVERYTHING that we took when we went away for TWELVE WEEKS! YES! That makes sense. Okay, I AM exaggerating slightly. We didn't take the camper. But the back of the Mighty Trity was packed to the roof. I guess you can never be TOO prepared...... and, considering some of our camping history, it IS good to be a prepped as you can. And then there's those things that you stuff in so you can try to be cooler than the other campers in the group. Little known fact - camping is VERY competitive. In a deceptively subtle kinda way. And we don't talk about it, but secretly we live for the kudos generated from a "Ooh, I haven't seen one of THEM before - where did you get it?".
So, the purpose of this trip was an orchid hunt. I warn you now - lots of flower shots! :D "There's 123 different types in the Stirling Ranges!", says our intrepid team organiser, in a wonderfully joyful tone. Specifically, we were on a search for the ultimate of orchids, the Queen of Sheba. And we had success! But, hey, let's start at the beginning...
THIS..... is included as it was out last glimpse of civilisation before we left. We were THIS CLOSE to having dinner there...... and then Marc turned up to guide us to our campsite.
So we drove.... and found that Marc had found a MAGICAL spot in behind a small pine plantation, with a glorious open view to the Stirling Range. This is the view we woke to each morning.
And this is our little protected campsite. Just perfect!
So Saturday, the INITIAL plan was to climb TWO mountains - Mt Trio AND Bluff Knoll. Crazy talk. Yes. We started out at Mt Trio, which is the second or third highest peak in the range, but with a much less civilised climb than that of Bluff Knoll. We took the kids as well - they managed better than me! Amazing, considering some of the steps up were over knee high to Miss J. This is almost at the top!
And this is the view from just below the top. Lots of canola fields made a pretty patchwork. There was a cache up here, but we discovered that the GPS we had was out.... and so no find.
The trek back down was almost more difficult than going up, and much more so for the kids. Lots of cajolery involved, with lots of pauses to snack, drink, take photos:
And she was very happy to get down the bottom again!
And after a pause for lunch
we were off to hunt the elusive Queen! There was meant to be some around the base of Mt Trio, but we didn't find any there. There were some other wildflowers around though - here's the first ones in the series of super-macro camera shots!
We moved on to another location where the queen had been seen, and it took a LONG time, through some very aggressive and spiky scrub, but eventually one was found - kudos to the Queen of Orchid Finding, Colette! :) It's amazing - the colours seemed much more muted to look at, but in all the photos, they came out this intense. Very cool flowers.
So THAT'S the Queen of Sheba orchid. Cross that off the list.
There were some other pretties around as well. This one is a jug orchid.
And these
Marc was on a bit of a roll, and proclaimed himself Orchid Man. Perhaps a little work on the Orchid Man pose is needed?? :P
From there, we stopped at the Central lookout, as there was a cache. Luckily, it was well described, and we could find it using the description, and not the GPS that was telling us we were still 1.3km away!
I was pretty happy! The kids were entranced by all the swappable "treasures" -
unfortunately I forgot to bring one, so they had to leave them.
Pete did some enthusiastic orchid searching:
And found this one - a leafless orchid. Look, it has no leaves!
More treasures to be photographed!
Onward from there, in search of more macro-camera opportunities, we came across this guy, who didn't need the application of macro:
And then stopped at White Gum Flats, where more treasures were found. Firstly, a Donkey Orchid
I had discovered by this stage, that I have no eye for finding flowers. I took it upon myself to search for fungi. It appears that my eye is much better suited to finding the gross slimy things. Boo-yah!
Mic and Pete found another jug orchid.
Then Pete hit a roll of his own and found a series of spider orchids.
And decided that the Orchid Man title was now his!
A snail orchid
And then it was back to camp for dinner and a well deserved relax around the campfire - bliss! Helped by a glass or two of red wine. :)
Fire photography!
Can you see the fire dragon? Can you??
Sunday brought us more clear skies - making it a bit brisk in the morning! Nothing a campfire and a hot coffee couldn't fix though.
And who could complain when you're looking out at this?
The plan for the day, after the discovery that there were more than one set of slightly achy legs, was for more orchid hunting. Or fungi. I chose fungi. And this one was so cute and furry! I believe it's called a hairy panus. That just sounds...... wrong....
More fungi. Slightly out of focus!
But there were flowers too
M found a tiny flower - I've enlarged it in the circle! :)
Miss J and another spider orchid.
Yeah...... another fungus!
And flowers...
And a cowslip or two....
and another white spider orchid (with Miss J as a black backdrop! We take the kids with us for a reason....)
The rarely seen popcorn orchid. Total coincidence that we were eating a bag of popcorn around the same time.
And some pink fairy orchids - Pete found lots of them! He's gifted with the pink fairies....
A baby kangaroo paw
Not a flower. A cockatoo eating a gumnut.
I'm not a mushroom, I'm a fun guy!
I like to hang out with the fun guys....
Donkey orchids always look annoyed. Look, this one's got its arms crossed, and is DEFINITELY frowning.
Then some more driving...
To another random search spot. With more flowers. I think it's a lemon-scented sun orchid. But I didn't smell it to check.
No idea. Just pretty.
We had chosen a bit of a muddy trail. These are some tracks. Possum? Numbat? Teeny-tiny person doing a handstand?
Some really intense colours!
Mic celebrating his victory on winning the race against the children back to the car! :D
Two seconds after this photo, the cross beam fell off, and there wasn't smiles anymore.
More flowers.
Another cowslip - evidently their colouring varies greatly from population to population. This one is markedly different from the previous one.
This spot was covered in white flowering shrubs. Beautiful.
You figure out why I felt obliged to include this photo. It may help to look at the upside down version.....
Ok, errrm, moving on - a sundew, that had caught a couple of white flowers from the shrubs.
When I first saw this, the beetle's head was buried in the flower. Then I scared him with my macro-focus.
More fungi!
And a last group photo!
Within 15 minutes of leaving...... :D
And how's this for a view on the return drive in to Perth!
So, a trip with no mishaps! Unheard of.
Hope you're all well, until next time!
K, P, M & J
