Tallow Beach
September 2010.
Living on the edge of a National Park, there are many opportunities for nature walks.
In Australia we call them bush walks because we refer to our forested areas as "The Bush"
Anything outside of "The Big Smoke", the city, is referred to as "The Bush".
"I'm going bush." "we're going on a Bush Walk."
There are many walks within five minutes of our house.
For a few months, Anji and I have been planning to do one we haven’t done. Last Sunday was a beautiful Spring day, the best so far this year. So we decided today is the day and set off about 10 30 am.
We took only ourselves, a camera and a bottle of water (and hats of course).
You can probably follow our walk on Google Maps.
We started at a small hamlet named Wagstaffe. The path, or trail, goes half way up a hill and then traverses across the range, steadily climbing until you reach the top and then drops down to end at a secluded beach known as Tallow Beach. Camping allowed but absolutely no amenities. Not even fresh water. No problem, it’s only a two and a half hour round trip.
We found some interesting wild life along the way and Anji met her first Australian snake. A large, Red Bellied Black snake. Like most of our local snakes, extremely venomous.
But leave it alone and it will scurry away from you. They are out very early this year because we are having an early spring.
So enjoy my photographic journey and the beautiful day.
A row of wild flower bushes all ready to fully burst out. The noise of the bees was almost deafening.
A beautiful view.
Notice how the trees on this headland fold back away from the beach like a brush back hair style (the grey area has also been burnt recently). The beach faces south and the prevailing winds here are southerly and strong. Most of our headland plants are stunted because of the strong, on-shore winds.
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| The start of the trail |
The mountains, such as they are, are not solid rock. Loose soil and rocks make up the ranges around the Central Coast. So there are many strange rock formations that look as though someone has made them.
Looking back along the trail.
This little bird is about the size of a man's thumb. We almost missed it because it was so small.
It was jumping around and we realized it was guarding its nest which is a burrow in the dirt wall. That's the black circle you can just see behind it.
There are many native flowers starting to blossom. The warm weather seems to have brought them all out at the same time. This one is known as the Bacon and Egg tree. If you look closely at the blossom, it looks like there is a fried egg with two strips of bacon. The insect enjoying the blossom is what we call a BEE :-)!!
Looking from one ridge across to the other side. The forest is mainly Gum Trees and the one in the foreground, framing the scene, is a Red Gum.
I am not a flower person so I don't know this one. Sweet perfume and small in structure like most Australian wild flowers. Rain is too scarce to have big flowers.
This caught my eye because of the contrast of the rocks and the dead Red Gum behind, balanced by the blue sky. Look close in the dead tree and there is a Crow.
The dead tree from a different angle. Found the crow yet?
These are Banksias. Commonly called Bottle Brush because the flowers look like, well, a bottle brush. They need extreme heat and preferably a bush fire to open the seeds.
The next three photos are not from the walk but are just to show what the Banksias look like when in bloom, about January.
Mae Gibbs, a famous Australian writer from the early days of last century, wrote a series of children's books which are considered national treasures. The stories personify the Australian native flowers by turning the gum tree blossoms into child-like creatures known as the Gum-nut babies and the Banksias become evil men who try to capture them. When you look at the dried seed pods, you can see how she got her inspiration.
The opened seed pod of the Banksia or the Bad Banksia Men.
Like all Australian native plants, trees have to be hardy. This one is actually growing from between two large rocks. It is strong enough to have pushed the top rock out of place.
The view at the half way point. Looking across the entrance to Brisbane Water.
This a native bush orchid. They grow on the side of rock formations. Much sought after but very expensive. Even more expensive if you get caught trying to steal one from a National Park.
This is a Bush Turkey nest. Have a look at one of my previous Blogs about bush turkeys. The base of this one is about 3 metres diameter and is made up of scraped up leaves and sticks. Eggs are laid deep inside the mound and the heat from the rotting vegetation keeps the eggs warm.
Anji's Black snake. The photo is a bit blurry because I didn't have much time to line it up with the little camera I took. But I am sure you get the idea. It's about a metre and a half.
Kookaburra sitting in the old gum tree
Merry merry King of the bush is he
Laugh Kookaburra, laugh Kookaburra
Gay your life must be.
These are the words of a well known children's song, usually sung in a rounder.
The Kookaburra is the largest of the kingfisher family and has a raucous laugh. It is one of the most recognisable Australian bush sounds.
Again, I don't what these are called. I had to take them because there were just so many flowers in bloom and it appeared that they had all started within a few days.
Not a good picture but the white verticles are a plant called Flannel flowers. They don't bloom until the hotter months. They are unique because the flowers are not what they seem to be. The petals are actually the sepples and the head contains hundreds of tiny flowers that can only be clearly seen with a magnifying glass. The walk is actually called Flannel Flower Walking Track.
You'll notice that this area looks a bit sparse. I put this one in to show you what happens during one of our bush fires. This area was decimated by a fire one or two summers ago. You can see the rocks through the trees and some of the close trees are black sticks. But in the foreground you can see bushy green growth. Such is the power of regeneration of the native bush that, within a short period of time, new growth will start and, around two years, all will return to normal.
This one shows the thick, new growth.
And this is what we see at the end of the walk. This is the baby beach, Little
Tallow.
And this is Tallow Beach. Looking south toward Little Tallow.
That's it folks. I hope you have enjoyed our little bush walk.
Anji and Ian
It is beautiful!!Ienjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting!!