19/04/2019

My sister Lorraine and her husband Ken are passing through in their caravan, on the way to Handorf in South Australia for a holiday with another couple. They arrived Thursday afternoon and will be heading off Sunday.  So today being Good Friday, we are taking them on a visit to Stokes National Park.

Specifically we are visiting the Eastern side of the park to see Moir’s homestead and Fanny Cove. The weather is currently wet and windy but is planned to clear up in the afternoon. As we drive west it slowly but surely improves.

First point of call is the historic Moir homestead ruins which date back to the late 1800’s.

One of the small outbuildings

Walking towards the main dwelling

Peak-a-boo

After a good look around the historic ruins it was time to move onto Fanny Cove. We drove straight to the beach. Well there was not much of a beach due to the large swell and high tide. So we moved to the day use area to have a bite to eat, as it was past lunchtime.

After checking out the camping area, we head off towards Shoal Cape. At the intersection of the track Deb spies some little White bunny orchids (Eriochilus dilatatus subsp. dilatatus) growing on the track verge. Sorry guys but I have to get a photo or two.

White, forward spreading lateral sepals

Leaf can be up to 100mm in length. The largest of the WA Eriochilus species

Labellum is prominently down-curved

Can stand over 350mm in height. This specimen though would have been around 150mm

A little further up the track Deb spots a triple header, so we stop again for a photo.

Can have up to 7 flowers per orchid

After a steep decent down from the escarpment we reach the camp ground at Shoal Cape. We walk to the lookout over the ocean where I grab a candid shot of the group, before we move off. On the way back another White bunny orchid was found so of course I had to grab a photo.

Deb, Lorraine, Ken, Sharon, Glen

The Colorado parked in the largest bay

Common , coastal bunny orchid. The location attests to this.

The destination for afternoon tea is a Shire of Esperance managed camp ground at Quagi Beach. First up we drive around the newly improved camp ground, which was 100% full, then made our way to the day use area to have afternoon tea. After a cuppa and some Easter biscuits we moved to the viewpoint over the beach.

Viewpoint from the steps to the beach

Time to head back to Esperance. It was a bonus finding some white bunny orchids, which topped off an awesome day on the South East Coast of WA. I trust our visitors enjoyed themselves.