Views from Manning Lookout and Twin Falls

Kangaroo Valley from
Manning Lookout
East from Fitzroy Falls, off the Kangaroo Valley Road, (after you pass over the Canal) is a sign pointing left, saying Manning Lookout. I have seen this sign for many years, without ever having gone in to see the view. What a delightful place!



Cliffs from Manning Lookout
The day I was there, I was surprised to find several other groups of people there, while I was there (because it seems so out of the way, and I have never seen any photos of this place).

The dirt road is about 1.5 Km long, with a short walk from the car park to the main lookout.




There is also a side track which goes to a more secluded viewing point, with nice views of the first lookout. More importantly, for me, I loved the walk through the bush. The Banksias (B. ericifolia) were heavily in flower, and as a result the New Holland Honeyeaters and Spinebills were very active in these shrubs.
I explored the Manning Lookout area, finding many leaves of Ground Orchids, (but only a few Long-leafed Greenhoods in flower).
View over Twin Falls
I then went back to Fitzroy Falls, and then walked down to Twin Falls (with the seemingly inappropriate name).

It is a lovely small waterfall, where you can look out over the very top of the water, to the huge valley beyond. In the late afternoon light, the view is gorgeous.




Twin Falls
I understand that even the locals do not know why Twin Falls bears that name. Who cares? It is a lovely small volume waterfall, but as steep a drop as the main falls (Fitzroy Falls) which is about 800 metres away.

Rainfall - from Hunter to Southern Highlands

Hunter and Central Coast
rainfall records 9.6.07
You might have seen the pictures of the rain, wind and flooding in the Hunter Valley. Here are the Stats to go with the pictures.

The Hunter River valley is subject to occasional serious flooding, when conditions are right. Usually, as in this case, when a "low" moves down the coast from Queensland, and then intensifies, and sits there lashing the coast.

This map is freely available from the Bureau of Meteorology website, which shows rainfall and flood warnings

http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/nsw/midnorth.shtml

You can tell the screen what you wish to "Display on Map" (top right hand section) - rainfall last 24 hours (till 9:00am) -i.e., yesterday. You can also select rainfall since 9:00am (which is usually what one wants to find out).There is also another option, where you can select river conditions.

The trick with this map is that the various "readings" are "clickable" select Singleton, and a box pops up telling you whatever it is you have selected - rainfall last 24 hours, rainfall since 9:00 am, or river heights (flood warnings).

"Pasha Bulker"
Photo: Sue Warlin SMH
You can read about the shipwreck of the bulk carrier "Pasha Bulker" on Nobby's Beach at Newcastle in the Sydney Morning Herald here.





Photo: Mark Baker/AP.
Associated Press (on Nine MSM) carries a different aspect of the story.
This photo shows how close the ship is to the beach.






By contrast Robertson has been only relatively wet, not "flooded". We got our bucketing back in February, as you might remember. We got more rain than fell in the Hunter Valley this time. But unlike the Hunter, our area is localised, so we do not produce the large volumes of flood waters, also, being on a hill, we don't flood easily.

For future reference, you can go to this site, and then click "save as favourite" (or "bookmark" the page.












My back deck in rain
This is the view from my back deck in such weather (a quick shot, before one blows away). Grey skies and horizontal rain do not lend themselves to lengthy photographing sessions.

I do hope that the central coast and Hunter Valleys managed to get some of this water in their catchment dams, as I know the central coast in particular has been desperately short of drinking water.

The rainfall in the Warragamba Dam catchment has not been heavy - mostly of the order of 30 mm, so not much run-off will occur. Still, it is better than nothing.

Mr John Howard - Please read this.

John Howard -
at Question Time
in the Australian Parliament
(Photo: A. Taylor)
The Age's website tonight carries this story from Reuters.

"As politicians squabble over how to act on climate change, Greenland's icecap is melting faster than scientists had thought possible." .....

"If the icecap melts entirely, oceans would rise by seven metres. A total meltdown would take centuries, but global warming — which climate experts blame mainly on human use of fossil fuels — is heating the Arctic faster than anywhere else on Earth."

"Greenland, the world's largest island, is mostly covered by an icecap of about 2.6 million cubic kilometres which accounts for a 10th of all the fresh water in the world." .....

Ice Crystals in the soil
- in our one-off freeze-up
last year, in Robbo.
"The more the surface melts, the faster the ice sheet moves towards the ocean. The glacier that Swiss Camp rests on has doubled its speed to about 15 kilometres a year in the past 12 years, while its tongue retreated 10 kilometres into the fjord."

"It is scary," Dr Steffen said. "This is only Greenland. But Antarctica and glaciers around the world are responding as well."

Chiloglottis reflexa identified (oops - C. seminuda)

Chiloglottis seminuda
Today I went back to my friend's property, near Bundanoon, where I had seen a slightly unusual "Wasp Orchid" (formerly known as a "Bird Orchid").

The reason for the return was that Gaye from the Hunter had suggested to me the other day that the photo I had put up was the same species as she had seen recently - Chiloglottis reflexa. I had suggested that my plant was Ch. seminuda, a species I had previously found in Kangaloon.

I had never identified that species, so that was a challenge I could not resist.
I had other reasons to go back too, but more about that in a few days time.

So, armed with my macro lens, and with some time available to me (I had previously been with a group, and I consider it is bad practice to take 20 minutes to line up a series of photos, with a bunch of people waiting for you). So, back I went, today.

The first thing I did was take with me all the relevant books I have. That's a start, I figured.
Then the trusty 10 power hand lens. That actually did the trick for me.
There is another feature, and that is, overall, this plant is more purplish than the other species, in the lateral sepals, and even the stem.
As soon as I found the plant (only one plant out of hundreds was in flower, so even finding the one flower took a little doing) I looked closely at the lateral sepals. They turned out to be slightly cupped along most of their length, until the last 1 cm, where suddenly they thickened up, into rounded "clubs". The terminology is not mine, but that used by the Orchid people. This species is now known as the "Short-clubbed Wasp Orchid" - Chiloglottis reflexa.

This feature is clearly visible in this photo, and the last photo (below), with my finger supporting the lateral sepals.
These plants were growing in tall Eucalypt forest, on deep sandy soil, over sandstone. Apparently this soil type is classified as "Mittagong Sandstone". There is deep leaf litter, where these plants are growing.

From this angle, you can see that the later sepals do not curl back under the labellum (as in my photo of 17 April), nor do they almost touch the stem, as they do in Gaye from the Hunter's photo.

Here you can see the lateral sepal on the right hand side (when looking at the plant) is relatively broad, and suddenly it tapers to a rounded point - the part described as "club-shaped". In fact the part just above my finger is in fact slightly "hollowed" (not flat, but curved, almost in a hollowed out manner).
DJW says: The word I was searching for was "concave".

I was going to ask you to trust me on that point, but I have gone back to the original photos, and I have been able to crop the image of the lateral sepal, at the place where the broad, slightly curved (concave) profile changes suddenly to the short, rounded "club" tip. This is a diagnostic feature of this species.

I know this sounds crazy, but don't blame me. I don't make the rules!

Now you know why Orchid enthusiasts need their 10 power hand lenses.

Climate Change and Agriculture in arid-zone Australia

Today's Age reports:
"PROMOTING a biofuel industry makes little economic or environmental sense unless agriculture expands in the tropical north, a farming think-tank says."
"The latest issue of the Australian Farm Institute's Farm Policy Journal says governments should invest in technology that can make biofuel from cellulose in the leaves and stalks of crops, otherwise crops will have to be planted for fuel or food. Not enough is produced for both.

Institute executive director Mick Keogh said that "global biofuel experiences show that crop-based biofuels are generally only viable with high levels of government support, and have at best a limited capacity to meet future energy needs".
If all of Australia's wheat and sugar output was diverted to produce ethanol, it would supply only about 20 per cent of the fuel needed for transport. The belief that biofuel helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions was also questionable, Mr Keogh said.

However, Sydney University's Inakwu Odeh and Daniel Tan, from the faculty of agriculture, say Australia could boost its biofuel capacity by using 20 million to 30 million hectares of marginal land to grow exotic crops.
Source: The Age 4 June 2007

*****

These are just a few "hares" which John Howard's lack of understanding of the environment has set "running". No sensible Government would contemplate feeding people like these, if it had a clear understanding of the impact on the true natural environment of Australia. But Howard has a close friend in Bill Heffernan, and it is his inspiration which is at work here. Turnbull is off saving the Humpback Whales (NOT), and saving his own political skin, as we speak. The last thing he wants to do is hose down these crazies, who are working to bring alive Farmer Bill's dream.

*****

Regular readers may have seen links to Miss Eagle's blog. She has written about Senator Heffernan's pipe dreams of "opening up the North". I suggest you have a look, as Miss Eagle knows of what she speaks (the North, that is). Check out the hot link above.

For myself, I note only that the alarm bells in my ears ring when I see academics talking about using "marginal land". I am of the old school which thinks that marginal land is just that - marginal, and that it is not suited to permanent farming. My comments here relate to arid and semi-arid zones, not the tropical north, but while the problems might be different, the lessons not yet learnt are the same, I believe.

In fact, if pressed I would argue that the arid zones ought be closed to all hard-hoofed animal husbandry - sheep and cattle. Goats, Donkeys and Camels have shown that they can survive un-managed "out there", but have become pests of a huge proportion. So, we know we have been grazing the wrong animals, but it seems we don't now what to do about it.

We did at least realise that we had stuffed up, with the Water Buffalo. Hopefully, in time to save the "top end" wetlands. But then again, there is always the "cane toad" - which we brought in for another "exotic crop" - sugar. It will do as much to destroy Kakadu as the Buffalo ever did, I predict.
Different animal, similar result.

Same problem - ignorance, greed and short-sightedness.

*****

Remember Goyder's Line? He proposed a ban on agriculture in the arid zones of South Australia. We need a modern day Goyder.

If pressed further, I would say, we ought graze our native animals - Kangaroos. At least they are adapted to the climate, and the lack of water, and have learnt to control their fertility to the climate, etc. All we need to do is learn to eat them, without thinking of Skippy!

Wool? Well, from what I hear, wool is a luxury which this country cannot afford any more. It is hardly being used in clothing any more. Let the New Zealanders grow coarse wooled sheep, for carpets. Forget it out beyond the middle of NSW.

Many the animals we think of as growing wool, end up on slaughter-boats going to the Middle East anyway, in a trade which is totally reprehensible, by "humane" standards. At least, remove the sheep from the arid and semi-arid zones. When you are down to one sheep per 30 acres, or less, it is a nonsense.

We are frightened about what the politicians and bureaucrats would call "rural reconstruction". That is code for sending thousands of farmers off their land, and in so doing, risking closing down hundreds of small rural towns.

But the thought of "opening up" entire new industries, based upon a dream of farming "marginal land" with "exotic crops" is madness. Are Miss Eagle and myself the only people out there who have heard of the Ord River Scheme, and Humptydoo, before that?

*****

Untested crops, with little or no knowledge of their weed potential, their susceptibility to insect predation, let alone analysing their impact on water resources is just idiocy of the worst case.

It is as if people had never hear of the problems of farming cotton in arid Australia, and the devastation that is causing. Cotton is not viable, or even sustainable, in most of the areas where it is grown. It is only worthwhile growing when we place little or no value on the land, and allow huge farming enterprises to open new lands every 10 years, and to abandon the lands they have ruined (usually with salinity). And these enterprises are often subsidised by huge tax losses, and indirect grants from Government.

Rice is another case in point. Both are unsuitable. Both should be closed down, at least in the arid and semi-arid areas. The Murray-Darling basin is the centre of both these industries. Turnbull's "Murray-Darling" $10 billion pipe dream is not about saving the Murray-Darling, but about privatising its water supply. He is the last of the free market idealogues, who has the freedom to speculate, because he has no responsibility for its outcome. If and when it goes wrong it will be someone else's fault. Probably Macquarie Bank, or KKR, or some other group of nameless, faceless international financiers. Australia - the people and the environment will pay the cost.

Wake up Australia. Stop the madness - and it is starting from the very top.

A wonderful bit of bush.

Close inspection of
Eucalyptus aquatica
Today I went with the Australian Plants Society to the Bundanoon and Penrose areas, on an expedition led by John Dorman, a very experienced Native Plant observer.
Firstly we went to a small swamp, deep in the middle of the Penrose State Forest. A forestry worker was busy cutting trees with a truly remarkable machine, which is a combination machine, which has a gripping device, a blade, a system for running the trunk along through the teeth, to cut off side branches. The whole machine also acts as a long-armed lifting machine, like a large back-hoe, to dump the cut truck once it has been trimmed.
The first thing we saw was a rare gum, Eucalyptus aquatica, (see photo of the fruit capsules, at left) growing in damp soil, amongst sedges, and other swamp plants.
We also found many other interesting plants, including 3 species of Persoonia - P. oxycoccoides (at 80 cm high, this was a tall species of this normally prostrate plant), P. mollis and P. laurina, with its typical rough sand-papery textured leaves.
Grevillea molyneuxii
We then returned to a private property closer to Bundanoon, where we could walk into the Morton National Park, in a point overlooking the Shoalhaven Valley. This was a great location.
We walked along a fire trail until we got out onto a rocky shelf, in a quite exposed position, where we were able to see the rare Grevillea molyneuxii in flower. Just small shrubs, with narrow leaves, and these stunning bright red flowers.
This plant was first discovered in the 1930s, but was not formally described until re-discovered by Bill Molyneux in 1976. It has a very restricted distribution, along the western edge of the Shoalhaven.

Grevillea arenaria
This Grevillea is quite common in this area, but it has an interesting flower shape, with the "tepals" having distinctive pointed tips, below the little "sacs" where the pollen is held. These features are quite clearly visible in this photograph. (Click on the image, to enlarge it). Most Grevillea flowers have rounded ends to the 4 tepals, and they are not normally curled around as in this species.
The long tall structure in the top of this photo is the "pollen presenter" which holds the female structure, (the stigma) at the end. It starts out acting as a false male organ, carrying pollen which was stuck to it when it was curled around into the centre of the flower (as in the flower on the right of the screen). When that structure develops, it straightens out, taking with it the fresh pollen. Then, when the pollen has dried, or been taken by a bird or insect, this organ becomes green, and sticky. It is then receptive to being brushed by pollen from another flower. At that point it is fulfilling its true role as the female organ, the stigma.
Chiloglottis seminuda
This is a tiny Ground Orchid, which was found growing in the tall forest closer back up to the top of the hillside. It was growing on a different soil and rock base, and amongst tall Eucalypts. Once we found the first of these plants (two leaves growing flat on the ground) we realised that there were literally hundreds of leaves of these plants under-foot.
This tiny flower has a structure resembling an insect on its lip (labellum). The column (with pollen visible) is held above the tongue. This plant is pollinated by male wasps, which attempt to mate with this flower, because it emits a scent resembling the pheromone of particular female wasps, this confusing the male wasps. This process is known as "pseudo-copulation".

It was a great outing by the Southern Highlands branch of the Australian Plants Society.

Some things disappear - to be replaced by others

Last week I photographed a new Greenhood Orchid bud, just opening. I went back today, but it had disappeared. Things which live in the bush appear to like to eat Greenhoods. I have seen flowers apparently eaten by slugs or snails.
Bunochilus longifolius
Today there were numerous shoots of the Long-leaved Greenhood chewed by either wombats or wallabies, it seemed.

This one had a nice tall stem with one open flower, another about to open, and a series of buds on top, yet to open.

Note the lateral sepals (which in the species below form the "points" or "ears"). Here they are deflexed (downward pointing), touching the stem. That leaves the underneath part of the hood open - to facilitate pollination.

Diplodium grandiflorum
This is the Cobra Greenhood, a large-flowered Greenhood, with a medium tall stem, with several "cauline" leaves (leaves along the stem).
These plants are so photogenic that I end up lying flat on the ground photographing them in profile, to get a shot of the distinctive "tongue" inside the flower.







Lycoperdon pyriforme - from side and top









But while some things disappear, others appear. I have been going back to this area since March, and the fungi have changed over, several times. Today I was surprised to find these Puffballs. This one has a Latin name which means pear-shaped, for fairly obvious reasons.
This is mass of fungal material (what one would think of as "roots" if they were plants), on the deep leaf litter in a perpetually damp area in a creek bed - underneath a thicket of Melaleuca squarrosa plants.
I will keep monitoring this area, and see what turns up here, in due course. This mass of hyphae (if that's what they are called) is more than 3 metres long, spreading around the base of many, many Melaleuca plant stems.