Donkey and Bearded Orchids Day : My Actifit Report Card: October 9 2021

A blue sky day. Was keen to check on some sun orchids on the other side of the national park. Weekends in lockdown have become really busy as we are now allowed to picnic with 3 people, more if you are double vaccinated. The busy side is the road down from our side. So the plan for the day was to ride down from our side and go up the other quieter side. That worked better. Fewer cars going my way on the way up from.the water

First stop was for donkey orchids I spied the day before on the way down.

Diuris aurea - golden donkey orchid. I did check the site of the sun orchid - two plants now but not open. I figured I would come back when the sun was higher

Walked a trail under the powerlines that I have not walked before. Found this red bearded orchid in the first 50 metres. The trail has been carved out of thick bush. Not good for orchid spotting is my experience - true today.

Other things to enjoy on a clear blue sky day

This flower is smaller than a US penny and the whole plant is two inches tall. Trail reached a sealed road running parallel to the highway. This is the Depot Road I have cycled past the end hundreds of times - authorised vehicles only. There is a NPWS facility here too.

Only other orchid evidence I found were these two bearded orchid plants - place was a bit bereft.

Spider grevillea in good light. I did look for the sun orchid I found the day before. I used my video footage and GPS location to find the spot

This is what the video showed me and the plant was there but not open. Then rode back to the other spot hoping the sun orchid would be open. First place I parked the bike was this orchid

Calochilus paludosus. It took a while to find the sun orchid again even though I had rehearsed the location in my head.

No more open than an hour before. The ovary has not started swelling which tells me the flower has not pollinated. It might open.

Quite a few donkey orchids here

Snapped this photo thinking it was pollinator action. Nope. A grass seed husk.

Something been eating the ears on this donkey. Stoped further up for photos of the last copper bearded orchid flowers

Five plants and only two flowers left - calochilus campestris

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I started to ride home and noticed I did not have my sun glasses. Time to retrace steps. Normally I take them off and pop them into my helmet. Clearly not this time. Back to the donkeys. Back to where I started the walk today. Back to the copper bearded orchid - that is where I had put them on the ground. Did not record all of that back and forth

Nice ride. Lovely day. Dull track but I did find a new orchid on a track I have.never walked. And it is good to feel free even though we are not free.

My wife was in tidy up mode when I got home. I stayed out of that and frittered the afternoon away with a little garden stuff

Dinner: Pizza.

Decided to stay away from Internet Marketing stuff. Did spend some time on altcoins. Converted a bunch of altcoin losers to BNB on Binance and sold those for LUNA - now #11 on coinmarktcap.com
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Cycling, Daily Activity, Gardening, House Chores, Photowalking