Wildflowers, silo art and a pink lake
Thursday 27th August
I stop in Sea Lake to admire the murals on their silos and are most amused by the sign that says their creation, along with the light installation, is designed to separate money from tourists by encouraging you to stay overnight in the town.
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| Silo art in Sea Lake |
After a very peaceful night, marred only by managing to catch my sleeping bag inner sheet in the waistband of my warm track pants as I pulled them on at 1:00 in the morning to go to the toilet block, then finding that I had been dragging a tail - aka my silk inner sheet for my sleeping bag - that was now damp and dirty. Bother.
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| Sun rising over Natimuk "Lake" |
I awoke to a mist sitting over the lake and magpies dominating the bird song. As the sun rose, I hoped it would evaporate some of the dew that was on my awning, but I don't hold out too much hope.
Over my first coffee, I consulted inaturalist about the possibility of orchids on Mount Arapiles, and inaturalist responded affirmatively.
The temperature overnight I believe got down to 2° and I am sitting looking a little like the Michelin man with my down jacket over my fleece over my Merino jacket. My body is warm even if my fingers are cold.
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| Scented Sundew (Drosera aberrans) |
I head towards Mount Arapiles, noted as a bit of a biodiversity hotspot on the top of a pimple in the landscape. It's also a preferred area for rock climbing. The first interests me more than the second.
The rock is silicified sandstone and there is apparently extensive evidence of chipping of the rock to produce the stone tools used by aboriginals.
The summit is rather attractive with its panoramic view of the flatlands around and its tumble of rocks and wax flowers in full flower.
I do find a small patch of green hoods on the way up which is pleasing and some gorgeous Sundew
The panoramic views of the plains do include canola fields in flower.
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| Leopard Orchid (Diuris pardina) |
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| Common Heath (Epacris impressa) |
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| Scented Sundew (Drosera aberrans) |
On my way back down from the summit lookout I see more dwarf green hoods and they really are quite tall for something that has a labelled dwarf and also some of the sun dew in flower which is rather lovely. And a couple more leopard orchids.
I stop as I'm driving further to investigate a creeper in flower and it's one of the clematis and then just across I look closely at the Hibertia which I had noticed on the drive up.
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| Small-leaved Clematis (Clematis microphylla) |
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| Guinea-Flowers (Genus Hibbertia) |
I stopped to look closely at something else I've noticed was quite extensive while I was driving and inaturalist identifies it for me as Flame Heath
I travel north through Horsham and a handful of other towns I've never heard of before, crossing Dorothy McKellar's 'sweeping plains'.
I am positive that Google maps took me on some serious diversions. I spent about 40 km driving on very narrow roads that were not wide enough for two vehicles and I did pass one car. We both put one wheel on the gravel verge then there was a truck and I chose to get right off the road for that since there was a big branch across the verge up ahead of me and I was disappointed that I didn't even get an acknowledgement for doing so.
As I enter Woomelang I notice a silo with some lovely murals on my left but road work vehicles inhibit my stopping. However, I stopped at the grocery store and the public conveniences and noted another small silo with a spider orchid and on the reverse side was a monitor lizard and a wonderful python on the wall and another painting on a board around the corner.
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| Silo art in Sea Lake |
Maps confuses me by showing me a completely different route to Lake Tyrell. So I go looking for the information centre which is supposed to be open from 10:00 till 4:00 everyday but there's a sign saying it's closed, please consult websites. Instead I go and consult a local in one of the shops and she was particularly helpful so I was very grateful for that.
Lake Tyrell is a saltwater lake, it's pink hues created by naturally occurring microorganisms.
Down by the lake. I admire the pink and look at some of the rusting equipment which was possible left over from the earliest salt mining in the late 1890s.
I walk a little way along the edge and notice the grains of salt glittering in the sand. It's rather gorgeous.
There's very healthy saltmarsh plants around the edges of the lake, both salt bush and samphire.
Since my original interpretation of information, which suggested I might be able to camp around the edge of the lake, is incorrect, I retraced my path a little way and then head north.
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| Lake Tyrrell |
My destination for the night is Manangatan travellers rest stop. It's a rather weird arrangement. There are no signs to say that one may stay overnight, but the internet tells me one can. So I walk across the road to the pub and ask. The lady affirms, and suggests a good place for me to be with my setup which is really nice of her. So I am on a slightly grassy area which is the maintenance access for the playground. But nobody's going to be doing maintenance on the playground tonight. It's close to the railway line, but shielded by a lot of weeds! And I can hear the frogs across the other side of the track, and the birds. there's some traffic, but not a lot. There's couple of bigger caravans but they are over beyond a couple of trees.
The arrangement, according to the internet, is 'by donation'. I ask the lady in the pub about that and she confirms. Rather than second guess, I asked her how much people normally give and she said caravan people normally give $10, but I could give $5. I'm happy to donate $10, there's a hot shower that I can avail myself of in the morning and flushing toilets, which is better than some camp sites I've stayed at.
By 5:30 I have not only set up, but I am settled down with my pre - dinner glass of bubbly and some gluten-free crackers, courtesy of my shopping stop along the way, and some olive dip. Life is feeling pretty good. Now to work out what I'm doing tomorrow other than just driving north.
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