Seeking Out Australian Native Orchids #24

I crafted a new plan to revisit the site of the withered orchids of #21 and add in a new road to explore. I did something I very seldom do. I put the bike in the car!!! Shock horror!!. The drive saved me an hour cycling to get to where I started today's ride. That meant I could cycle further into the National Park and explore a road I have not used for orchid hunting. I have cycled it a lot of times. The road to West Head is one of the best cycling roads in Sydney. The road surface is amazing (courtesy of a keen time trialist who works in the roads department - he persuaded them).

I did stop to check the the spotted withered plants, I found in #21. No real change there - so I rode on. I then made my way onto the West Head road. This runs for about 12 kms right into the heart of Broken Bay with distant views every now and then of the water on either side of the road. This is a dead end road - so the traffic is light. There were quite a few cyclists out. When I first started riding this road in 2002, I had it to myself.

I was treated to a flash of pink and a pair of Rosy Hyacinth orchids

Photographing them was really hard - the plants stand about 18 inches high (45 cms) and the wind was blowing quite hard. With focal length set to around 35 mm ( 1.5 inches) and a shutter speed of 1/1600 secs - still could not keep it still. I was holding the stem - no fingers in the photo (just)

The context photo shows the challenge of finding the orchid - it was on the right of this photo

When you see the height of the plant and the flash of pink - it really is quite easy if you are on the lookout

It's quite funny as there was a lady cyclist I met on episode #21. I had told here what to look out for. I saw her again today - she had not seen any. I saw 2 locations and 3 Rosy plants.

I stopped at the headland at West Head for the customary tourist photos. It was very windy and the photos are hazy. I was treated to a fly-by by the RAAF C130 flying into Richmond Airbase and the Navy Seals doing their thing. The best photo was the one across to Barrenjoey Lighthouse

And the Goanna (Monitor Lizard) came up out of the bush (excuse the grey thing in the picture - it is the retaining wall). He was giving me the eye.

I did stop at Spotty site on the way out. I had been chatting to a person I met for over an hour and figured that it might have been enough warm weather to open. Good news is that there are still quite a few plants that have not withered. With cooler days, we have a chance. One photo gives me clues as to what this orchid may be - it's the spots. The outside of the bud (sepals) are showing distinct spots with a white base.

Now I have seen in this area an orchid that has distinctive spots like this. Here is a picture from last year taken further down the road (say 1.5 kms - 1 mile) (Variegated Hyacinth Orchid)

This is just speculation - that flower photo was taken on January 19 and we are now November 29. I will be surprised if this one does not flower within a week or two. If it is the same species, there is some good news. The site from last year was burned out two weeks ago. I will be surprised if the orchids will come up this year - next year maybe. I will be back to check it out. I also think this is the same species as the spotty orchids from yesterday #23 and last week #22

Last picture is the context photo taken back up the road. The arrow indicates the sign board for the start of the National Park. - just 50 metres up the road. We are so blessed to have these National Parks on our doorstep.

Note: Photos taken with Canon PowerShot G16 on November 29, 2016