Seeking Out Australian Native Orchids #71 - Mackenzies Beach, NSW

The South Coast of New South Wales is punctuated with National Parks and State Forests. We had a chance to stay in Batemans Bay in my wife's company apartment. Rent for the week was economical. We had 5 days which would give enough time for me to do some cycling and some walking. I cycled through this area in 2015 with my friend Phil who hails from Bellingham WA. He was cycling from Melbourne to Sydney. I caught a bus down to meet him at Bermagui and we cycled back together. I was looking for orchids then but was not really at liberty to take side roads and to walk in the bush looking. Now was the time to redress that.

The apartment is located in Surf Beach which is about 5 miles (8 kms) from the centre of Batemans Bay and is located on the ocean side. Batemans Bay is a little inland on the banks of the Clyde River. The apartment has a great view out to the ocean and the small islands standing offshore.

First day's riding plan was to cycle South along the coast towards the village of Broulee. I would explore the remnants of virgin bush along the way and seek out orchids. The road rolls up and down through mostly bush areas and mostly away from the coast line. I would ride a few kms and find a track into likely looking bush between the road and the sea and see what I could find. First spot at Barlings Beach had a mix of schlerophyll forest and rain forest areas. There was a loop track that connected the houses on the hill to the beach - I did find a few leaves but nothing in flower. This area does have a strong wallaby population - they like orchid tubers. The photo taken down the road looking south west shows the bush covered terrain heading up to the mountain in the distance. Keep going west along that line and one lands up in the Great Dividing Range and the Snowy Mountains - Australia's highest - some 300 kms away (200 miles)

I wandered down to Broulee beach - a much quieter place in the winter especially in a howling gale. This picture taken from a video taken on my Samsung Galaxy S5 phone.

compared to visiting on a summer's day.

The beach offers a nice combination of ocean swimming and creek swimming - a perfect summer playground for big and small alike.

My recollection of cycling through this way last time was that there was a bicycle path that ran through the bush away from the roads. I went looking for that so I could see if there were any orchids. I did find one path but it soon disappeared into a sandy track. I am guessing the path must have been a little way out of town coming in from the South side. I did explore a few sections of coastal bush/heathland. These are good orchid areas according to the experts - I was not having any luck though. The bush was heavily overgrown with a lot of grass in the understory.

I turned around at Broulee and followed a different road out until reaching the turn off to Mossy Point. Then it was back on the route I came in on and focused on the strips of bush on the inland side of the road. Sections of this bush are less thick in undergrowth. I spied out a likely area at the top of a hill with a large area of eucalyptus forest not far from Mackenzies Beach. There was a path that followed the road line just over the Armco barrier and then made its way down to the creek below. I found a few acianthus leaves in one location but nothing else. I went all the way down towards the creek area. There had clearly been a camp or picnic area here at some time - maybe when they built the road. I was making my way back along the track and between the track and the Armco I spotted the rosette of leaves on the ground and this greenhood

Nodding Greenhood - Pterostylis nutans

http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Pterostylis~nutans

Taken at f/5.6, 1/50 sec, ISO-400

Next photo of a flower that is just past its best - note the more parched look of the hood and the slight shrivelling of the labellum (the sticky out bit). I am beginning to notice on all the shots of the nodding greenhood that there is a brown spot on the inside of the hood just behind where the sepals arch up. I do not know what this is - would require some surgery on the hood to see inside.

The location shot shows where the flowers were relative to the road. There are two in the bottom left hand corner.

This photo from my 2015 visit is of Mackenzies Beach - there are 83 beaches along this section of coast.

I finished off the day eating Clyde River oysters from the wine and oyster caravan on the banks of the Clyde River near the marina. These are the best oysters in the country - a little smaller than a Sydney Rock Oyster but as creamy as a Pacific Oyster. Photo taken back towards the lift bridge that crosses the Clyde river at Batemans bay

and a close up from 2015

And to end the day a photo from the balcomy overlooking the ocean and Tollgate Islands at Surf Beach

A great day to ride, 39 kms ridden and 3 personal records which is not surprising really as the last time I rode those sections I was towing a trailer with about 25 kgs of gear.

Note: Photos taken with Canon Powershot G16 on August 5, 2017. Earlier Broulee photos taken with Canon X600D on February 15, 2015

Map image comes from Strava.com