Blue Mountains Rambling and Ladies Tresses: February 5 2022

Wake to fog swirling up from the valley below. It was cold and bleak. It rained a little. We are staying in a motel - made breakfast eggs in airfryer - looked good but it was a tad overcooked

My wife dropped me off to walk this track down to Govetts Leap - a track I have not walked.

In my head I had 2.3 kms as the distance. Got confused down the track seeing a sign saying 2.5 kms

Saw the distinctive two leaves opposed on the ground under the ferns and a flower spike. Hard to ID without seeing the labellum but the horn on the column looks like chiloglottis seminuda

Found a cluster with buds further along

Some fab moss and fern banks

Track ran into the National Park section burned in 2019 fires - canopy is gone and grass is growing vigorously = no orchids

Creek photo shows the vigour. I kept going to see the leap and then the rain became steady. Raincoat on and turn around. If there are no orchids I am less interested. Made it back into the suburb and found a covered spot for pick up. I was wet - sweat inside the rain jacket

We drove down to Evans Lookout - a first for me and dry enough for photos and swirling fog

Watched this fog lift up from the river - amazing

My first visit all the way to the lookout. Next visit I will walk the loop to the bottom and back up.

Popped back into town for shopping for dinner stuff and to pick up art work my wife had bought. Went walking again after a nap

Nice views to the south over Cox's River Valley. Walked the cliff walk toward Scenic Railroad.

Huge orchid cluster but no flowers. Track was muddy and quite hard work

Orange fungus - next one I thought was the same colour

I started to walk down to the lower station but it was muddy and dark for photos. Turned back to track along the road. Road verges are often the place for orchids

The road skirts one of the picnic areas. Rather than follow the road, I went along the access road. I saw someone heading back to the road from the public toilets through the gap in the fence. I went that way and saw the flash of purple in the mown grass

The spiral of flowers around the stem is the clue to ID - it is an orchid. I have not seen them in the Blue Mountains but have seen them at high altitude on Gloucester Tops and Dorrigo Mountain both in NSW

Ladies tresses orchid - spiranthes australis.

Close up.

This bug is chomping away. It was still there the next day - I moved it on then. Only a two orchid day but two orchids on new tracks is always a big win.

Dinner plan was butter chicken steaks. Rather than cook in airflyer, I donned the winter gear to cook on bbq outside. I always pack winter gear for the mountains - was glad for that

Barbecue plate was disgusting cooking pitch black. Our picnic basket has a roll of baking paper - works a treat to save the food from grotty bbq.

Dinner worked well.

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