Oh, I love getting up early and heading off for a walk. Today I amble towards Brunderee Lake, just a short distance from home. The sun’s just beginning to light up the world. As I enter the track I spot a kangaroo. He stays with me for quite a distance, pausing every so often to have his photo taken. I oblige: snap snap snap. And each time he hops away when I’ve finished and waits till I catch up. I finally refrain from snapping, and he too loses interest and bounds off into the bush.
This leaves me free for the real business of the morning: orchid spotting. The rock lilies on the granite boulders beside the highway are flowering in lavish sprays and this suggests that I may find smaller native orchids beside the track where I’ve seen them in other years. And sure enough, there’s a small pale donkey orchid (Diuris sulphurea) lurking alone amongst the grass and kangaroo poo. So I pay due homage, flat on my belly with both cameras in operation. A few steps further on there’s quite a colony, their colour more saturated.
I return to the track and continue towards the lake, which I can see sparking in the sun. Everything is very dry. We badly need rain. The palette of the bush is desiccated leaves, and the sound under foot crunchy. But that doesn’t deter wax lips (Glossodia major), one bright purple bloom flaunting itself by the track and another more demure, more pallid one hiding amongst the prickles of bell-shaped heath.
By now my eyes are well attuned and I notice something else orchidaceous, which I take to be the bearded orchid my friend Rosemary spotted in just that place on her last visit. On close inspection it proves to be a tiny greenhood, possibly Pterostylis pedunculata.
When I have satisfied my urge to worship, I walk on down to the lake.
Acknowledgements to Jude channelling Becky, who has challenged bloggers to go square in September with flower photos.
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