Leaving Jugiong, we headed to Leeton – with a stop off at Cootmundra – along the so-called “Canola Way”. The yellow-flowering canola fields were stunningly picturesque.
At Cootamundra, we walked along the Heritage Bird Walk. We saw the Red Wattle-bird:
The Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana):
A new bird to our cameras – the Noisy Friar-bird (Philemon corniculatus):
And furtively keeping to distant trees, a Sacred Kingfisher:
In Sydney’s Royal National Park, the Curra Moors Loop Walk is a 10km trek through heath and coastal sandstone cliffs. A rough and challenging walk normally, after the surreally heavy rains of Eastern Australia’s third consecutive La Nina, the muddiness made this walk quite a dance of fancy footwork! But we had heard that there would be a great display of wildflowers at this time. We were not disappointed.
Coral Heath (Epacris microphylla):
Drumsticks (Isopogon anethifolius):
A King Parrot and his mate posed obligingly for us:
Kunzea:
Native Iris (Patersonia occidentalis):
Dotted Sun Orchids (Thelymitra ixioides):
There were many, many New Holland Honeyeaters around… and they seemed to like the Gymea Lilies (Doryanthes excelsa):
Plenty of lizards:
The Parrot Pea (Fabaceae):
A White-browed Scrub Wren put on a display of singing for us:
In the fading light of afternoon, a Brown Thornbill:
There really was a plethora of gorgeous flowers on display:
But of all the wonderful wildflowers, the Waratahs (Telopea
speciosissima) were naturally the most spectacular:
Bored with the Pink Flannel Flowers yet? Even though we got our Pink Flannel Flower experience in late January, we had to follow the scuttlebutt and head out to Ikara Head (along with half of the rest of Sydney, it seemed) to check out the expansive carpeting of flowers there. These wildflowers have been such a trending topic that there is very little to say that has not already been said. So if you haven’t had enough PFF yet, posted below, without further comment, are some of our pics.
On a day of misty rain and mountain fog, we braved Narrowneck in search of the almost mythical Pink Flannel Flower (Actinotus forsythii). This wildflower requires a pretty specific set of conditions to make an appearance. Its seeds can lie dormant for decades (it seems), and will only germinate after a bushfire is followed up by plentiful rain.
Not wanting to miss what could be a once in a liftetime flowering, we headed out expecting to be searching for hours. But while they are rare, they were very easy to find. They were flowering en masse not far off the fire trail.
As you can see by the scale of the water droplets, they are a lot smaller than the Flannel Flower all Sydneysiders are familiar with (Actinotus helianthi).
It was definitely worth getting a little damp to see these elusive flowers “in the flesh”.
On the way back, we were treated to a Crimson Rosella in the fog…
Bramandagram