September 30 - destruction and regeneration abounds.

Mesmerising thunderous surf

There was a haze over the coast all day and we could almost visualise what it might be like with bushfire smoke choking the trees.

Everywhere was black and ash grey but tucked about with vivid green and here and there splashed of colour. Cape Conran Coastal Park is bordered by long expanses of white sandy beaches. When we were there the surf was thunderous and the beaches not too safe - it is around the time of year for very high tides. The sights and sounds held me spellbound as I was taken back to my youth and Easters spent at Point Lonsdale watching the huge waves crash over the barely adequate sea wall. The thundering of the waves was surround sound the whole day as we walked the Conran Nature trail from East to West Cape and back. The trail is a not too challenging 7km return - apart from a few steep climbs which had me gulping for breath. 

Contrasts

Wonderment

So many banksia seeds were sprouting. In fact banksias evolved with and rely on fire to release their seeds.

Kangaroo apple were a soft green understory peppered with fragile mauve flowers and bunches of green fruits providing food for birds and insects alike.

We were shocked at the devastation all around us: Tea tree thickets burnt out not to recover I suspect, heathland wiped out but recovering, coastal banksia woodlands charred a black so dense it swallow all light. Yet this is a place on the road to recovery with small plants taking advantage of a rare view of the sky: orchids and every lasting daisies, grasses and flax, flowers peeked out at us from every corner and under banksia trees seeds were sprouting a whole new population of hardy trees. 

One of my favourites - a sundew which is a carnivorous plant. This one is a Drosera binata v. Multifida

Burchardia umbellata - milk maids

Senecio pinnatifolius 'cluster' - probably 

Helichrysum - the everlasting daisy flowers after fire as do some orchids maybe because they have greater access to light. It’s hard to get a well focussed shot of these flowers they are so dense and detailed.

We both crept around crouching over to take pix of flowers and investigate other interesting things.

We wandered stopping often to find an elusive bird, listen to the surf and photograph a flower which were many and varied from native violets, sun dews to orchids and weird tenacious scraps of life. 

Caladenia carnea - pink fingers orchid

Pyrorchis nigricans - red beak Or fire orchid - they usually only flower after hot fires

Diuris orientis - wallflower orchid

These sweet little posies are Pimelea humilis

These were everywhere. Solanum laciniatum - Southern kangaroo Apple. It is a fast growing colonising plant which is short-lived (5-6 years) appearing after fire or on disturbed sites.

Such a wee thing - the tip of my walking pole for comparison and to hold up its shy little face. Wahlenbergia gracious - Australian bluebell

Sweet little thing out foraging for lunch. We need all these little insects.

Lunch was munching down on a smoked salmon sandwich (with capers and horseradish - yum) sitting on one of the huge rocks at West Cape watching a breathtaking ocean and crazy surfers riding the waves towards treacherous rocks. 

You could stare at this collage of pretty remnants of life for ages trying to fathom the myriad colours, shapes and sizes - and I did!

Near West Cape Joiners’ channel remains (centre foreground). The Joiners were the first crayfishers in the Cape Conran area back in the early 1900s. They blasted this channel so they could access the sea safely. They also built a cray holding ‘box’ on the side of the channel which the sea replenished with fresh water to keep the crays alive and fresh for market.

We arrived back at the car pooped but replete and drove home through bushland festooned with garlands of white wedding bush as dusk was trembling on the horizon. It was a wonder-filled and memorable day. 

Ricinocarpos pinifolius - Wedding bush. There are male and female flowers. I think this is female.

September 27 - encouraging signs of life!

We’ve been surrounded by insects which is very heartening in light of some predictions about insect devastation during the fires. I don’t know if anyone is counting them but they seem to be abundant. Apart from my wee Lerps, in the same area I found acacia leaf gall looking like a tiny wee red apple. Each gall reputedly has one small pale pink larva inside - a relatively new genus of gall midge, the Austroacacidiplosis. You live and learn. 

And then there was this cheeky fellow who insisted on getting his pic taken while I was snapping a pic of a grass-like plant. Everyone want to get into the act! 

September 26-27 a grand tour!

Having not long arrived here at Orbost in Eastern Gippsland we started exploring the district for good places to visit. The list is growing fast! 

A wild windy beach at Point Ricardo

We saw many signs destroyed by the fires but all around there were vivid signs of new life.  

After a quick visit to Cape Conran, we took the Snowy River Country trail. A long spectacular drive, gentle and pretty easy going in parts but in others, narrow and rather hazardous with precipitous drops into dizzyingly deep gorges. 

The blackened forests were confronting 

Glorious spot for a picnic silent but for the constant chatter of the river and birds. 





Rather horrid but there are lots of feral animals throughout the mountains and forests. We even saw a huge buck deer slinking off into the trees. 

The restored Ambyne bridge over the Deddick River 

Hillsides were cascades of rocks into rivers way below  











We ogled and stopped to hop out to stroll along river banks and across old bridges. 

Just a wonderful day which was really an orientation exercise to have a look-see at this new part of Victoria for us. Let me tell you there are oodles of places on our list to go back to explore and/or walk. We might even see if we can visit Buchan Caves, a place I haven’t visited for maybe 40 years although Anne-Marie went abseiling there when she was a teenager. Too adventurous for us but a visit would be marvellous. 

It was well after dark before we got home anxious to get back out exploring. 

September 27 Lerps - now here’s a whole new taste experience for your menu!

Pic source BirdLife.org.au

Most of you will have seen these little things on leaves but like me that was as far as it went - that is until yesterday! I’ve been reading my Wild Food Plants book ever on the lookout for edibles. Yeah yeah I know! And found an entry for Lerps and Manna - yes perhaps manna from heaven! 
So ..... Lerps are tiny white protective shields produced on eucalypt leaves by sap-sucking psyllid bugs and look like tiny balls of glistening fairy floss. They’re made largely of sugars and starches extracted from the sap and excreted by the bugs. These sugary delights and the even sweeter (they say) mannas were eaten by Aborigines - and birds love it. 

I found some and tried one yesterday. It wasn’t very sweet but I’m prepared to try others. Under the wee sugar confection I picked off I found the little guy responsible for it. I’ve tried green ants but NO I didn’t eat him. There could be worse things - ‘insects’ are the new or rather next big super food in the western world. Evidently they are one of the most widely eaten food in the rest of the world. 

Like crystallised spun sugar 

Of course I videoed it wiggling about exposed to the sunlight poor wee thing but will save you that bit of trivia

Another unexpected sweetie in Australia is manna which according to Tim Low (author of my new best paper friend) is soft and white and appears after insect attack on the leaves or trunks of particular eucalypts, especially Manna Gum and Brittle Gum.  Talking of which he suggests the Old Testament ‘manna from heaven’ may have been the sweet congealed fluid secreted by tamarisk trees under attack from bugs.

We live and learn. Nature is so bountiful if you only know how to look - and are prepared to try something new. What a wonderful world 🎶🎶🎶

September 30 - the aftermath of fierce bush fires: blooming orchids

This is a sneak look at our walk - a special orchid, Pyrorchis nigricans, commonly known as red beaks. It’s endemic to Australia - and usually only flowers after hot fires! 

Quite lovely. 
We were walking the Cape Conran nature trail through which the shocking summer bush fires had swept earlier this year and saw so many of these beauties and a couple of other species. More of that walk later.