Our planned adventure commences today as this is our first full day in Albany, our original holiday destination, that is until we decided to head to Perth for the Lightscape in Kings Park.
So where to first?
After weighing up the many options we choose to head out to the Torndirrup National Park.
First up though we check out the Albany Windfarm. There is a great walk trail that winds around the turbines and goes down to the coast for some spectacular views.
Now have a guess as to what the first orchid found is. Not surprisingly it is the Banded greenhood (Pterostylis vittata) which is a common wide-ranging orchid that flowers from late April to early September. the first specimen was over 300mm in height and had more than 10 flowers open, whilst those found later in the walk were smaller, under 200mm in height and with only 3 flowers.
However, our luck was about to change as I discovered a small patch of Common helmet orchids (Corysanthes recurva) flowering on an open slope in the surrounding heavily vegetated dunes. These small orchids reach 30mm in height and have a ground hugging leaf 10-30mm in diameter. The Latin name alludes to the way the flower is arched backwards to expose the labellum. They are found flowering in forests, woodlands and shrublands between Mandurah and Albany. Prior to 2002 the orchids were included in the Corybas genus.
Next, we head into the National Park and make tracks for the location that includes both The Gap and Natural Bridge, which are both famous landmarks. Beautiful blue skies add to the views, but it is chilly as it is very windy.
Driving back along The Gap Road we pull into the track leading to the Cave Point Lighthouse and Cable Beach. We pull up at the gate and walk up to the lighthouse looking for orchids along the way. We find what we believe to be Mosquito orchid leaves, spent bunny orchids and some Pterostylis rosettes and buds. No photos taken though. On the way back we check out the rocks above the wooden steps down to Cable beach. Here we find sun orchid leaves all over the place.
Time for a bite to eat, so we head off to Goode Beach where we enjoy a picnic lunch. So now where to go? Back to the National Park and first stop is the lookout over Salmon Holes a popular beach fishing location. However, we need to find some orchids, so we move on to the Bald Head carpark and start the walk trail. We are definitely not walking the whole trail as it will take 5 or more hours. We decide to walk to Isthmus Hill for starters then see how much further we go.
The walk trail is very steep in places with overhanging branches, shrubs etc, so glad we are only going a short distance. Looking at the map of the trail it seems we make it to about the 1km mark, so not too shabby.
Now to record the orchids found on our trek. First up we found some snail orchids, which are hard to ID as they are not fully formed. The long lateral sepals rule out quite a few options, however the rosettes are quite different between the orchids found at the lower section of the track compared to those found higher up in the moss of the granite. So possibly two species found.
Now an unexpected find up on the hill was the Scented Autumn leek orchid (Prasophyllum sp. ‘early’) which is found flowering from April to July between Bunbury and Israelite Bay. The related Autumn leek orchid (Prasophyllum parvifolium) is also found during July over a larger region, including Albany. They are distinguished by their colouring with the latter being more coloured. Both may actually be found in my pics.. Thoughts??
Leaves of other orchids were found, so I will post pics of them just for the record. Leaves from the Thelymitra, Caladenia, Pyrorchis, Diuris and Cryptostylis genus were found. So, a return later in the orchid season should produce results.
We trek back to the Triton and move on to the Albany Historic Whaling Station where we enjoy afternoon tea and buy some gifts for the grandies. Next up we head out to Stony Hill which was the location during World War II of a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Signal Station (1939 – 1943) and a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Air Warning Radar Station (1943 – 1945). Just foundations on the granite rock remain.
Orchids were found in the scrub surrounding Stony Hill. The Mosquito orchid (Cyrtostylis robusta) was found hiding on the edges of the track under the overhanging foliage of the coastal scrub. These orchids have a near circular ground hugging leaf and a very unique flower with thin sepals and petals with a very broad labellum in comparison.
As with Isthmus Hill there are also leaves and buds of other orchids found. This time it is some Diuris, Cryptostylis, Prasophyllum and Pterostylis orchids.
Another spot close by is Peak Head carpark. We trek along the trail a bit and make tracks for some more granite rocks. More Mosquito orchids found plus some greenhood orchids and finally some snail orchids that are fully formed. These little guys appear to be the Fawn snail orchid (Pterostylis parva) which flower from June to early August. They occur from Albany eastwards to Eyre, so we find these back in Esperance as well.
It is now after 5pm so we make tracks back to our B&B. We decide to walk to a nearby fish’n’chip shop for dinner. So glad we made this choice as the Buttermilk chicken salad we had was amazing. Would highly recommend Ocean and Paddock on Middleton Beach Road.