Well we have decided to make a weekend of our orchid hunting and will camp overnight in our trusty Ezytrail camper trailer. Planned overnight camp is at Lilian Stokes Rock in the Frank Hann National Park. So we head north up the Coolgardie-Esperance Hwy to get our trip started.

First stop is the side of Boydell Road, a left turn off the highway. This is the first visit to this location for Deb and she finds the first orchids. Typical!! Seems to be Crinkle-leafed bunny Orchid (Eriochilus dilatatus subsp. undulatus) growing in the gravely verge. I change my direction to check them out and stumble across some as well. Whilst I’m busy taking photos Deb moves on.

I’m still getting shots of the bunnies when Deb calls out, as she has found a Hare Orchid (Leporella fimbriata). Excitedly I make my way over to get a photo.

A few more bunnies are found only, so we move to the north side of the road. Here we find some Banded Greenhood (Pterostylis vittata). Most were yet to fully open, however luckily we find one plant with 2 open flowers.

Making our way back to the Triton we collect discarded bottles from the verge. Doing our little bit to clean up the countryside, plus we now get 10c per bottle. I direct a turn north up Hillermans Road so we get to check out Speddingup Nature Reserve. Here we find some Banded Greenhoods in flower.

Crossing a watercourse/lake/saltpan we surprise 4 emus who run off. At this point we rise up to what appears to be a Gimlet woodland. As this is very different habitat to the sandy plain we had just driven through, we pull over to have a look. No orchids in flower located, however we did find Pygmy orchids that had finished their season and many small Pterostylis rosettes. Within these many rosettes where some stems popping up. These baby orchids had no rosette so I believe they will be a Shell orchid when they finally bloom. We will need to come back in a few weeks to check on the progress. After crossing 3 such water courses we come to one that is too boggy, so we had to turn around and head back to Speddingup Road West.

From here we head toward Fields Nature Reserve where we plan to have lunch. However there is nowhere to pull off the road, so we continue until we reach the intersection of Neds Corner Road. Here we pull over at a great tractor sculpture and Deb knocks up a sandwich.

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We then continue on Griffiths Road to Griffiths Nature Reserve and turn south down Edwards Road to get back on track. Cascades Road reached and we make tracks for our planned destination, Frank Hann National Park, more specifically Lilian Stokes Rock. We were shocked to see the destruction of the park due to a bush fire.

After setting up the camper trailer we explore the rock. Deb finds the only orchid in flower. A fertilised Crinkle-leafed bunny orchid. Other leaves found of an unknown species. We then collect wood that someone had kindly sawn up. Campfire lit, drinks poured and dinner cooked. We sit back and enjoy the serenity.

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