26/08/2018

Woke up to thick fog, so this delayed our departure as we waited for the campers to dry out before we packed them away. Once on our way we followed the Trip Notes from the “Explore the Holland Track and Cave Hill Woodlines” Explorer Series: Western Australia No.1 3rd Edition  booklet and made our first stop at the side of the Katanning-Nyabing Road in Ewlyamartup. All 3 of us go exploring and we discover Cowslip orchids (Caladenia flava subsp. flava), Jug orchids (Pterostylis recurva), Western wheatbelt donkey orchid (Diuris brachyscapa) and Dark Banded greenhoods (Pterostylis sanguinea) all of which have been previously found this season.

Further along the road we stop at an old church, St Peters Church in Badgebup which was built in 1922. Toilet break in Nyabing, before heading to a Holland Track landmark, referred to as Holland Dam just off Guelfi  Road.  

We found the government water tank and a track into the scrub which lead to a cleared area, which may have been the remains of the so called dam. We quickly walked around and found further Jug orchids, Cowslip orchids, Dark banded greenhoods and Sugar orchids (Ericksonella saccharata).

Quick bite to eat before making tracks to the Holland Rocks Nature Reserve. Here we park up at the Water tank and search the south side of the road. First up I find more Dark banded greenhoods then excitedly the first wispy spider orchid is found. On the way over to see my orchid Deb also stumbles across some spider orchids.  I believe these to be Chameleon spider orchids (Caladenia dimidia) which range from Paynes Find to Scaddan and flower August to October. The upswept to horizontal petals, incurved dorsal sepal and dark tail filaments lead me to this classification. 

Very close by we also find Sugar orchids, then further afield Deb finds lots of them and Donkey orchids. From our location the donkey orchids must be Yellow granite donkey orchid (Diuris hazeliae) which is a common inland orchid flowering August to September in a range from Paynes Find to Salmon Gums

On the way back to the Triton we find other specimens of the Chameleon spider orchid. There is even a solitary pink-red variation.

 We keep following the Trip notes and make our way NE to Silver Wattle Hill Nature Reserve. We jump out and find the track leading to what we hoped was a spot where the original Holland Track had carved wheel ruts into the granite. No luck in finding the wheel ruts however we were lucky enough to find some orchids. On the walk we found Sugar orchids, Wispy spider orchids (unknown species) and a Cowslip orchid and Jug orchid.

So a bit disheartened that we did not find the old wheel ruts we also check south of the spot we had parked up. Lucky we did as I found a Blue beard (Pheladenia deformis) on the edge of the granite rock, a Drooping spider orchid (Caladenia radialis) which flower August to early October in a range from Northampton to Jerramungup, growing in the Resurrection Plant. Deb found another Wispy spider orchid also growing in a Resurrection Plant. Unable to confidently name the species though. 

Leaving Silver Wattle Hill N.R. we again follow the Trip notes and make our way through Lake Biddy (abandoned townsite)  into Dragon Rocks Nature Reserve from the south. We actually have to drive through a farmers property which felt a bit intrusive, but we then passed through a gate into the Nature Reserve. Less than 3km into the reserve we find the rock and set about setting up camp, lighting a fire, cooking dinner, having a few drinks, talking some BS and then hitting the sack. It has been a great day following the Trip Notes and finding at least 9 different orchid species, with a couple of unknown Wispy spiders thrown in.