Pics: Southern Cross flower, Western Blue-tongued Lizard threatening my foot! (Mark Holmgren photo), Cowslip Orchid
Poor night’s sleep for both of us as the beds have heavy quilts on them so we were either boiling or freezing. Mark came over from his “dorm” room (actually a four bunk room which he had all to himself with a slight hike to the bathroom) and on our little two-burner stove cooked up eggs with potatoes, green onions and mushroom- all leftovers from previous meals that we had carried along in our cooler bag. Thus fortified, we walked over to the office and signed up the a birding walk at eight. About ten of us set out for a walk around the property and got good views of a lot of birds that we had seen previously, but also several active nests which was very interesting.
Afterwards Mark and I spent an hour in the office sending out blogs, UC business, etc. Bob thought that was a poor use of the day so we piled into our car and took the 40 km loop drive through the park. We stopped several times and hiked a bit, checking out the amazing flora of the region. The hills resemble the chaparral-covered slopes in California on first glance but when we walked around, we were stunned by the diversity of plant life. Eucalyptus of every height and shape, bottle brush, acacia, tiny orchids, etc. It was really amazing; everywhere we turned we saw a new plant. We also saw quite a few new birds, but there are far fewer species of birds than plants.
Mark screeched to a halt when he spotted what turned out to be a Western Blue-Tongued Lizard that swelled up its body and flashed its bright blue tongue at us. Quite a sight!
We kept seeing large decorated trucks coming towards us and apparently there is some kind of road race of funny trucks marked with “The Trek“, which it kicks up a lot of dust as they race along.
Got back at 5;30 to find all the trucks parked at our Retreat with music blaring! Hope they don’t plan on partying all night! We walked over to the Café and had a very good dinner of spinach, tomato and cheese tart, herbed chicken pie and cannelloni. Back to our cottage; the middle aged truckers seem to have crashed as well. Found blankets, got rid of the quilts and slept much better.
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