Rapeseed (Canola)
It was a long drive from Lesueur National Park down almost to the southern coast to Stirling Range National Park. Along the way we passed big fields of yellow flowering plants that we finally figured out was Rapeseed, from which canola oil is derived.
Our guidebook listed a place to camp just outside the park; we had a little trouble finding it because it was dark, but we made it to Mt. Trio Bush Camp and Caravan Park where we set up the tent and crashed.
The next morning we got up when we heard some kind of disturbance outside the tent; we found kangaroos foraging nearby.
After breakfast we decided to hike up Mt. Trio, and set off in the car for the trailhead.
The Stirling Range is a rugged bump in the otherwise mostly even, relatively flat surrounding country. As we drove to the trailhead, we passed lots of farmland growing more rapeseed.
We were hoping to see both wildflowers and birds along the trail. We found some of each, but neither in large numbers. Some of the wildflowers were pretty cool though.
The entire mountain appeared to be covered in thick brush, all greens and browns. But if you looked closer there were little bursts of color here and there.
When Dona got down and scrounged around she found some cool orchids.
We found some Kingia plants with their comical seedheads bobbing on top.
We decided to turn around at the saddle; it didn't look like we were going to get into more open terrain and the trail was increasingly brushy.
After our hike back down, we drove a loop back west through the middle of the park, stopping here and there to check out all the crazy flowers. Boy, did we find some!
The trigger plant is pretty cool. As described in the referenced article, the anthers containing pollen appear on the trigger, before the stigma is mature; when an insect lands to check out the flower, the "tongue" snaps and deposits pollen on the insect. As the pollen is shed and the plant matures, the stigma pushes the anthers aside. Now when the tongue snaps the plant will acquire pollen carried by the insect and be fertilized. The staged development prevents self-pollination. Is nature cool, or what?
This next one was pretty strange, with a tall flower stalk at the top. It looks half like a tree and half like a shrub.
The flower below looks like some kind of mutant with two centers; too bad it's fuzzy...
We found a cool Jug Orchid, but only because we stopped at a picnic table and the only person we saw all day was there and she told us where to look.
Some of the flowers had blossoms down at the base instead of up along the leaves.
Towards dusk as we drove back to camp we saw a few more birds.
The next morning we went on a hunt for orchids with a local guide. It was amazing the number of orchids in a relatively small area around the camp. We had been walking past some of them unawares. The variety was astounding to me.
While walking around the campground we noticed a small flock black cockatoos. While we found them interesting, the local farmers find them a nuisance due to crop destruction.
We didn't have a lot of time overall on this trip, but we wanted to visit Fitzgerald National Park so we packed up and headed that direction.