Day 7: Roadsides of Eyre Peninsula

Yet more meandering in LEP.

I began the day with a run over to Shelly Beach and back. A whole 4km, but better than nothing. On getting 'home' there was a nice dawn to look at!

We then went back to Ricky Bates Reserve and still could not confirm whether the new "new" orchids were a different species.  Some of them had red undersides to the leaves suggesting Acianthus pusillus but

1.      the labellum, while mainly maroon, and matching quite well the illustration in "Start with the Leaves" by Robert Lawrence, appears to be a lot paler than in the images I have from an electronic copy of "South Australia's Native Orchids" by RJ Bates for A.  pusillus;

2.      in one case at least the labellum has a point (like Cyrtostylis robusta); and

3.      the leaves were not, in any case, above the ground.

HELP!

Ask and ye shall receive.  At least you will if you ask the people from the Native Orchid Society of South Australia.  They have kindly confirmed that the identification of this species as Acianthus pusillus was correct.

At least two dolphins were out in the Bay and off the tip of the point, where we turned, an oysterperson was doing their business.  As we neared the exit on the return a Nankeen Night-heron flushed from some scrub above the water.  A nice addition to the trip list.

We had noticed that the catch on the gate to the Reserve had been broken since we last visited.  I was able to find a short length of fencing wire and close it to keep the ins and outs in the correct relativities but would like to know who to call about the breakage.  It turns out the area is owned by a local resident and I visited his home to tell him.  In short, they are breeding bettongs in there and the fence is to keep foxes out.  He tries to allow public access so that folk can get in to go fishing.  The gate was going to be fixed.

After a sit down and some lunch we headed off to explore some roadsides and reserves towards Wanilla.  This area was recommended in "Wildflowers of Lower Eyre Peninsula" by ANPS SA Region.   Although the weather was a little ordinary, with a number of showers passing through, we found a whiole bunch of pretty and interesting plants.  We weren't able to identify them all

●         Acacia spinescens- easy with a spiky stem and no phyllodes!  Three (!) other Acacias proved to have homes in the 'too hard' basket!

●         Astroloma conostepioides

●         Astroloma himfusum

●         Boronia coerulescens

●         Callistemon rugulosus

●         Correa reflexa

●         Cryptandra tormentosa.

●         Hakea cycloptera (and another Hakea in the 'too hard' basket)

A Drosera sp was snapped with a flower in the background, Gahnia deusta made an interesting shape and a Xanthorrhoea was found in flower!  A number of other flowers have been given names of the form "unknown <colour>".  One of these was obviously some sort of daisy, but was notable for having a small spider in situ!

Near to Wanilla we found our second Eyre Peninsula Shoe Tree. 

I have no idea why folk do this but it is probably better than slinging unwanted footwear over power lines!  This was near a marker just outside Wanilla explaining about the soldier settlement scheme in the area.

As it was beginning to micturate down we decided to leave Wanilla and take the signposted hypotenuse (but dirt rather than bitumen) route back to Wangary.  A bit along this route it seemed that a visit to a Conservation Reserve was possible as an optional extra.  However after one interesting 'foot to the floor and hope the 4WD works' moment we went back to where we were going.  It was  perplexing that after the sign at the start pointing us towards Wangary all the other signs along the road mentioned road names (mainly local identities - probably race horse owners) and a small amount of faith and navigation by landmarks was required to arrive at, or at least adjacent to, at the metropolis of Wangary (which aspires to reaching the status of one-horse town any time from now).

Bird of the day:                     Nankeen Night-heron

Plant of the day:                    Boronia coerulescens

Interesting sight of the day:  Looking down from the Reserve and seeing sea urchins and starfish in the bay.

What we learnt today:          That with roadside remnant of vegetation one can bird and plant-watch as well as in formal parks.  Without all the official rules that bugger things up in the formal areas.

Oystercatchers walked forth and back

as though they owned the beach.

Pacific Gull ate octopus (black)

As though it was a peach.

Back to Index page

Read on