Onward to Melbourne, after koalas and orchids

Tuesday 15th September

A Koala posing nicely

It rained during the night and I woke to a very drippy awning which I hoped would dry out a bit before it's time to pack it up. 

I measured the distance to the amenities block and the kitchen and I've covered half a kilometre before I sit down to drink my first coffee. 

The shower with its timer appears to need an intelligence test to operate. The large print instructions on the back of the shower cubicle door do not correspond with the instructions on the timer button mechanism which are in much smaller print and are actually the instructions that worked for me.

However, it is an overly generous timer allowing 8 minutes. A minute was over before I actually got it to produce water. I was dried and getting dressed by the time the timer ran out. (I had turned the water off after 3-4 minutes.)

The instructions on the back of the door tell one how to operate it for a second 8 minutes. That to me seems particularly excessive. 

As I walk across to the kitchen for boiling water for my second coffee there are a pair of kookaburras on a wooden tower, one of which has a frog in its mouth.

I pour my coffee and look around at the trees and notice a lumpy bit in the fork of one of the gum trees. I go to investigate and it's a koala. 

Koala

And a few minutes later it started to get active.

Proving that koalas do have features!  Lots of zoom and not so much focus!

Later when I go to the kitchen again, I spot a really attractive moth - dangerously located where the sliding doors close - so I relocate it. Given its level of activity, I suspect it's an ex moth.

Very attractive moth - one of the geometridae I think

Large Bird-Orchid (Chiloglottis valida)

I head for a short walk in the Bushland reserve across the road and think it doesn't have a lot to offer and then I spot what seemed to be the tiny leaves of a bird orchid and then there's a small patch of them with flowers. So I am happy about that.

Large Bird-Orchid (Chiloglottis valida)

Large Bird-Orchid (Chiloglottis valida)

And I find some sundew.

Scented Sundew (Drosera aberrans)

 

I always like a good carnivorous plant

There are also some chimneys of what I presume is a sort of yabbie. 

Front door for a yabbie?

iNaturalist tells me more orchid species have been found in this little area in the past so I continue searching.

I walk very carefully and find a small patch of tall green hoods. Mostly the flowers are finished but they are identifiable 

Tall Greenhood (Pterostylis melagramma)

Tall Greenhood (Pterostylis melagramma)

Tall Greenhood (Pterostylis melagramma)

I spot some mauve-blue flowers and I'm immediately excited by the prospect of some more orchids but they are purple flags. Still pretty 

Short Purple-Flag (Patersonia fragilis)

 

I also spot another tiny flower which I think is a Hovea

Common Hovea (Hovea heterophylla)

I continue my wandering and find another couple of greenhoods which might be tall greenhoods or they might be a different species, I'm not sure. 

Pterostylis sp

I stopped to wash my car and  Murphy's law immediately presented me with a heavy rainstorm and provided trucks with lots of muck to spatter up at me as I continued my journey. 

I stopped at the Montrose brickworks flora reserve which iNaturalist tells me should have some orchids and while I found some leaves and buds of bird orchids, I did not find anything more.

Large Bird-Orchid (Chiloglottis valida) (I think)

But I do find a rather attractive pea type flower

 

I continue on to Nina's new residence in East Brunswick and it is lovely to see her.  We catch up over cups of tea and some bubbly and sushi.